Board hatches new plan for hub with a view

From page and “to make use of the amazing sea view”.

The latest board proposal would, like the square plan, be tested by seeking public feedback on people’s willingness to be charged a targeted rate to part-pay for it, van Tonder said. If that was not forthcoming then: “We may have to advocate hard to the governing body for support or find something else to optimise,” she said.

“Optimising” is council jargon for selling assets. This could be the Community Services Building by the library, van Tonder confirmed to the Observer. It is home to the War Memorial Hall and offices for community groups, including fitting in those recently moved out of the leaking two-storey Mary Thomas Centre, which requires re-roofing.

Remodelling the library was as yet uncosted, she said. But she told the Observer the board had set aside $100,000 of its $1.2 million local initiatives budget for 2023-24 for Eke Panuku to explore the feasibility of this. This would include establishing the building’s weight-bearing capacity for an added storey. A report is expected to be considered in about six months.

The idea would be to retain the library on the ground floor and the one above, with reconfigured floor plans to use its space more efficiently. Room would be provided to keep the regionally significant northern heritage research facilities and the Angela Morton art book collection in Takapuna, she said.

Community groups would get a new third level on the 1980s-era building. To make the most of the unique site and volcanic viewshaft, an indoor-outdoor flow would provide an attractive flexible space for use and hire. An architecturally-designed uplifting project built to serve the community longer than the existing library would result, she said. While the total floor area would be less than having three buildings, it would be a more modern user-friendly space.

“Community groups might need to have shared space – like we do in council,” she added.

The targeted rate proposal, revealed in the last issue of the Observer, was questioned at the annual meeting of the Takapuna Residents Association late last month.

Van Tonder knows any extra rate will be a hard sell, but she says with the addition of the library option for feedback she hopes people will see the board is dealing creatively with the area’s tired assets in a bid to come up with something future-proofed.

“The question on a targeted rate is whether people want a brilliant future central hub, with an exciting facility on Waiwharariki Anzac Square or to make the most of the library’s unique location and create it there.”

Such an opportunity from optimisation of its major assets might not come again,