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A multisport facility at the Warkworth Showgrounds, which has been trying to get off the ground since at least 2015, is still chugging through design and consent processes.
The plan is to build the facility between the Mahurangi Rugby Club clubrooms and Kowhai Arts.
Earlier this year, the Mahurangi Sport and Recreation Collective was hoping to start a major fundraising campaign after securing Land Owners Approval and an Agreement to Lease from Auckland Council.
However, collective co-chair Paul Manton says the committee has re-visited the design to accommodate an additional basketball court. This has made the footprint slightly larger, necessitating an amendment to the resource consent.
“The delays are frustrating, but the last thing we want to see happen is that we open the facility and then find out immediately that it isn’t big enough,” Manton says.
“We’re conscious of Warkworth’s predicted population growth and felt the facility would be too small if we continued with the existing plan.”
Manton said the project is being driven by volunteers so the risk of volunteer burnout and funding fatigue were also factors in the decision.
“We don’t want to have to go through all this a second time.”
The project is already planned in two stages with the first stage including a gym-sport facility and indoor courts catering for a range of sports. It is expected to cost $6.5 million.
In 2018, the Rodney Local Board approved a grant of $150,000 for design, planning, architectural drafting, geological engineering and preliminary site works for Stage 1. Then in 2020, Council put aside a grant of $2,250,000 for the project, which leaves the collective to raise the remaining $4.25 million from grants, donations and fundraising.
Manton says some grants have been secured, but can’t be realised until the resource consent is finalised. He hopes this will happen before Christmas and then the next step will be to seek building consent early next year.
The committee is also working on a governance model for the new facility.
The second stage of the project could include lounges, bars and changing rooms.
While Covid has undoubtedly contributed to delays in the project, Manton says that organising such a large project solely with volunteers has also been challenging.
Meanwhile, the bike and skate project at the showgrounds has been on pause while volunteers look at options to source about $70,000 to fund more detailed plans.
Nicola Jones says this will enable final stormwater and planning reports to be done so the group can apply for landowner approval and a resource consent.
“I am in contact with a sports-based crowdfunding organisation and will send out a link to the local community in due course to see if I can raise the funds that way,” Jones says.
“The demand for this park is there as I get questioned about it all the time. Unfortunately, money is not as quickly forthcoming.”
