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Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has promised Hibiscus Coast residents that the sale of the Orewa Service Centre will not see services lost.
Losing Council services to a hub in Albany has been a major concern for the local board, and residents, since the plan to sell the Orewa centre was first revealed in Hibiscus Matters’ March 1 edition.
Auckland Council voted on May 15 to sell seven of its sites, including the Orewa Service Centre in Centreway Road, despite strong local board opposition.
The vote regarding the sale of seven properties was passed 13 to four, with both local councillors, John Watson and Wayne Walker, voting against the sale.
Cr Watson is angry that the local board’s views, presented in person to Council by members Julia Parfitt, Caitlin Watson and Chris Bettaney, were ignored.
“They made an impassioned plea for public consultation and the need to win the trust of the community they represent,” he says.
Crs Walker and Watson’s suggested amendment that the process should go out for consultation and look at all options – including a partial sell down of the land but retaining the main civic centre, did not succeed.
However, last week Mr Goff gave a guarantee that loss of local services will not occur.
He told Hibiscus Matters that Council’s Corporate Property team will work with the local board to identify alternate space in Orewa for the Customer Service Centre, staff workspace, and meeting space for the local board.
“These will all be established prior to vacating the 50 Centreway Road property,” he says. “In addition, Council will refurbish the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board office in Browns Bay.”
He says while the Governing Body respects local views expressed through representative board members and Councillors, these need to be balanced with what’s right for all of Auckland. “Retaining those buildings will incur significant costs to ratepayers to maintain. This is not sustainable given that the council operations teams who occupy the buildings have determined those buildings no longer meet their future office needs.”
Valuable site for community
The sale will include the whole property at 50 Centreway Road – the gardens, a new reception centre built in Rodney District Council days and the large Pacific and Tasman buildings, the latter built at a cost of over $20 million just before the councils amalgamated.
The 1.9ha site is zoned Mixed Use and is valued at nearly $29 million.
It will be six years until the property can be put on the market as Council recently signed a six-year lease with a company for use of the Tasman buildings.
In the meantime, local board chair Julia Parfitt says that the local board will be talking with Waitemata Health about the possibility of a hospital on the site.
