A slice of land will be added to the site of Cromwell’s new hall project at no cost, after the chair of the Cromwell Community Board questioned the logic of an original indication that it had to buy the land. 

The strip lies between the existing Memorial Hall and Melmore Terrace as unformed legal road, and in March the board was presented with a report from council staff stating its value was $550,000.

Those working on the development of the new facility wished to utilise the land to “maximise the design options and overall development”. 

At the time the board agreed in principle to the ‘stopping’ of the unformed road but raised concerns regarding the value of the land, and the impact the purchase would have on the Memorial Hall/Events Centre budget. 

No decision was made and chair Anna Harrison later met with Central Otago District Council (CODC) chief executive Sanchia Jacobs, explaining that the existing site was quite “limited and challenging”.

The question was raised as to why the board was required to pay for land when a community board cannot own land. It was believed that the board would effectively be buying council land, as the council, from the council. 

Anna asked if it were possible for council to consider transferring the stopped road to the board for $1.00 and if the matter could be expedited to avoid additional delays to the project.

No discussion resulted this week (at the CCB’s six-weekly meeting) when the board was given the chance to secure the land at no cost and the move was accepted immediately. 

The strip’s legal title would be amalgamated into the adjoining hall site’s legal title with only minor costs involved in the transfer coming from the hall project’s budget.

CODC had resolved to deal with such situations on a case-by-case basis, opening the way for the land to be taken up for the hall project without payment being necessary. 

Meanwhile, design aspects of the much-awaited new hall will remain a secret for now after the community board excluded the public from a discussion of ‘design scope approval’ at Tuesday’s meeting. 

The matter was deemed to be commercially sensitive.

A date is yet to be set for the demolition of the old hall, built in 1960 by the community and now closed.