Reserve gets nod for new library
country, to give us some diversity in the investigations’’.
The investigations are the third set into the official information practices of the public sector announced in the past eight months.
Reports into the investigations for the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the Ministry for the Environment, the Department of Conservation and Land Information New Zealand were published on September 27. In October, four more investigations were announced – Treasury, Horowhenua District Council, Christchurch City Council and Callaghan Innovation.
‘‘Central government agencies, generally, have started to lift their game significantly in relation to official information legislation,’’ Boshier said. ‘‘We want to see if councils are making the same progress, as both the LGOIMA and the OIA [Official Information Act] are lynchpins of openness and accountability in our democracy.’’
For those people who have engaged with Tasman District Council, the online survey can be accessed via surveymonkey.com/ r/HWKZNWC until January 28.
In September, Stuff complained to the Ombudsman in an attempt to have a debate and vote by the council on the controversial Waimea dam held in public. A new multimillion-dollar library for Motueka will be built at Decks Reserve.
Tasman District Council’s community development committee yesterday chose the site for the library upgrade, preferring Decks Reserve over the option of redeveloping the existing library on its Pah St site, which could have required the relocation of the Motueka Senior Citizens hall and Laura Ingram Kindergarten.
The decision comes after a survey found just over 50 per cent of the respondents preferred a new library at Decks Reserve, compared with 34 per cent who wanted a redevelopment of the existing site. Questions in the survey were based on the positive and negative attributes for each option as summarised in a feasibility study by Jerram Tocker Barron Architects, which was received in September.
The feasibility study concluded that a new library on the reserve was the ‘‘clear preference’’ and the most viable option, as the site can accommodate the required development. However, there is the potential for loss of green space.
After the decision, committee chairman and Motueka ward councillor Peter Canton said the existing site posed a range of challenges, including the need to relocate other organisations, and limited the design options.
‘‘Decks Reserve was the best option, even though it may mean we lose some of the green space in the reserve, depending on the location of the building,’’ Canton said.
‘‘We’ve asked staff to limit that loss as much as possible, and that will be an important consideration in the design process.’’
Updated cost estimates from the feasibility study put the price at just over $4.7m for a new library at Decks Reserve or $4.8m for an expansion of the existing site. A council staff report says these updated estimates are about $1m over the budget contained in the Long Term Plan 2018-28. Libraries manager Glennis Coote told councillors staff would look at ‘‘alternative options’’ for the additional funding.
Construction of the new library is scheduled to begin in 2020.