Clubs lead riverside revival
Several Hamilton sports clubs are combining their resources in a bid to create a new multi-purpose hub
Hamiltonians could soon be enjoying a new venue on the banks of the Waikato River with several sports clubs making a bid to create a new multi-purpose community hub that will breathe life into a key part of the city.
The precinct, located on the western side of the river near the Victoria St Bridge, would include boat ramps, landing terraces and buildings that would be used as the headquarters for the various clubs.
BCD Group managing director Blair Currie, representing the Aranui User Group, presented plans for what will be known as the Roose Commerce and Ferrybank Landing Precinct to Hamilton City Council’s long term plan hearings on Wednesday, where he was greeted with an enthusiastic response from the city’s politicians.
The group’s members are combining their resources and asking the council for a $100,000 per year contribution to the development for the next three years – seed funding which would be easily matched by the private sector, Currie said.
The user group, which joined forces in 2019, comprises the Hamilton and Waikato rowing clubs, Nga Tai Whakarongo, the Tetoki Voyaging Trust, the Waikato Dragon Boating and Waka Ama clubs, the Hamilton Hawks, the Waikato Sports Fishing Club and Kerr and Ladbroke Catering.
It is helmed by a focus group that includes Currie; former Olympic rowing champion Rob Waddell; fellow Olympian and Schick Civil managing director Pat Peoples; and cultural and environmental specialist – and city council ma¯ ngai Ma¯ ori – Norm Hill.
There had been much preliminary discussion and consultation with the council and iwi groups, Currie said.
‘‘To date it’s been extremely well received . . . but like anything like this, it’s a very difficult project to navigate and we are under no illusions we have a lot of work to do still.’’
The group’s goal was to create a facility the city could be proud of: ‘‘A facility that was self-prophesying in terms of enabling access to our river [as a] sporting, recreational and cultural space.’’
The riverside walkway and cycleway could be expanded to create ‘‘a node that all will benefit from’’.
There was little chance the group would be back before the council in a few years time asking for ‘‘$10 million, $20m, $30m, $40m, like other projects you have seen before you’’, Currie said.
‘‘We’ve got quite a significant amount of private sector backing’’.
Waikato-Tainui had not yet been asked if they could contribute to the cost of the development, and neighbouring residents and organisations such as Age Concern had not yet been consulted, Currie said.
The council’s money would go towards quantity surveying and geotechnical testing, although there was already much information on the area available in the council’s Hamilton City River Plan, commissioned in 2015.
Deputy mayor Geoff Taylor, who has led that plan, has previously been fulsome in praise for an earlier vision of the Ferrybank vision. He repeated those sentiments at the hearings.
‘‘It looks like a real exciting and visionary concept to me.’’
Currie said while earlier versions of the River Plan had included apartments, this was not part of their plan.
Sport Waikato chief executive Matt Cooper, who was also at the hearings and spoke after Currie’s presentation said he supported the Aranui proposal.
‘‘I’ve always been a fan of what we are trying to do to swing our city around, and also . . . if ever there was a sport that’s synonymous to Hamilton city, to Waikato, it’s rowing.