Deciding Cromwell's future
Some bold proposals are being suggested in a masterplan being prepared for Cromwell as the town anticipates a near doubling of its population within the next 30 years. Pam Jones looks at the options being considered to cope with Cromwell’s modernday growing pains.
IT started out as a miners’ camp on the banks of a gold-edged river, and within 30 years might be the size of Oamaru.
Cromwell is not only geographically at the centre of the golden Queenstown-WanakaAlexandra triangle, but also at the centre of some serious planning, as the town and outlying areas work out how to cope with the unprecedented growth that has sent property prices skyrocketing and has locals scratching their heads about what to do next.
What do they want Cromwell to look like in 30 years?
How can the people who live in a district control what happens in their patch?
Those questions have prompted the Cromwell Community Board (CCB) to develop a masterplan for the area, the first of several planned in the Central Otago District Council area.
Consultation for that masterplan has culminated in a shortlist of options for the future, which were launched on Thursday. More consultation will now be done, and it is hoped the final masterplan will be adopted in June next year.
Cromwell Community Board chairman Neil Gillespie said growth pressures so far had seen Cromwell development occur in an ‘‘adhoc way’’, and this was impacting ‘‘on our landscapes and the way the town functions’’.
Cromwell lacked the range of housing types needed ‘‘to make sure Cromwell is affordable and a good place to live for everyone’’, and also lacked a town centre ‘‘heart’’ for visitors and locals.
Development of the town centre is one of the three things central to the masterplan.
The other two areas are where future residential development should go, and the creation of an arts, culture and heritage hub around the Old Cromwell Heritage Precinct.
For each of the three ‘‘workstreams’’, three options have been presented, each ‘‘more ambitious than the next’’, Edward Guy, of Rationale, which is doing the masterplan, said at the launch presentation on Thursday.
Mr Guy urged people to make their views on the options known ‘‘and let us know how ambitious you want us to be’’.
But he also encouraged people ‘‘not to get too caught up in the detail at this stage’’.
None of the plans have costings yet. Once the masterplan team ‘‘had a feel for where the community wants us to go’’, costings would be developed and released, and projects consulted upon and staggered through council annual plan and long term plan processes.
The masterplan options document said community land sales, land exchanges, central government grants and private investments would all help fund developments, which could involve a mix of privatepublic partnerships.
Two other key things were noted at the Thursday launch.
Plan Change 13, requested by River Terrace Development Ltd to allow an 840house development opposite the Highlands Motorsport Park corner, was ‘‘an entirely separate’’ process that was not part of the Cromwell masterplan process, Mr Gillespie and council staff said.
It is not mentioned in any of the masterplan options. However, the possibility of creating another town near Cromwell had been considered during the masterplan process, and decided against, Mr Guy said.
‘‘We did consider a new town, but that flies in the face of what we’re trying to achieve, which includes how the [Cromwell] mall works.’’
Mr Gillespie reminded that legal and planning processes needed to be followed when considering Plan Change 13, and elected members had to remain impartial to not predetermine outcomes.
However, separately, CCB members have this week requested a report for the Central Otago District Council to consider next week, asking the council to lodge a submission against Plan Change 13.
The other thing to note was that Cromwell’s growth could not be stopped, Mr Guy said.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of comments from people saying ‘let’s stop the growth’. But we can’t do that. There are no statutory mechanisms that allow us to do that. We can’t stop the growth. We can only manage it.’’