Celebrating Age Centre re-fit approved but plans may change
Councillors have backed a $3.5 million-plus plan to restore the water-damaged Celebrating Age Centre in Hamilton’s Victoria St for community use.
But they’ve given themselves wriggle room to back an alternative approach before the long term plan is finalised.
At yesterday’s community and natural environment committee hui, they agreed to a motion amendment asking staff to seek further clarification from Momentum Waikato Community Foundation about possible plans for providing neurological services at the site.
Finding out more detail about Momentum’s ideas would allow for further discussion on the centre’s future during upcoming 2024-34 long term plan deliberations.
A report on the options for the meeting had said staff still planned to report back on “partnership conversations” about future development of the site, including with Momentum Waikato.
Partnering with Momentum to accommodate other community activities at the site would involve raising external funding to cover any works over and above the minimum renewals required, one option said. The favoured plan for the council-owned centre is subject to funding being confirmed for repairs in the long term plan, currently out for public consultation.
The decision to go with the $3.5 million-plus option follows on from long-standing discussion over the centre and various ideas on what to do. The plan - supported by lead tenant Age Concern Waikato - involves a “do minimum renewal” approach covering various works which would allow the centre to re-open in several years.
Age Concern and others could then return to deliver a full range of services and provide bookable space at the site, the report said. Speaking at the meeting, Age Concern Waikato trust chairperson Meredith Osmond said moving back from temporary premises would mean “we will be able to extend our education services”.
Re-opening the centre would also help Hamilton be an “aged-friendly city”, Osmond said. The building had been occupied since 1979 by community groups serving older people in the city. But it had to be vacated in 2021 due to water tightness issues. Leaseholder Age Concern shifted to commercial premises in Grantham St at council expense of more than $70,000 a year. Asked how confident staff were about the projected $3.5 million cost, parks and recreation unit director Maria Barrie said the calculation was rounded and as close to the final figure as it could be “at this stage of the design process”.
She said a total of $12 million was set aside for a range of repairs and refurbishments to council buildings in the long term plan’s first three years and it was intended to give priority to the centre repairs.
Councillor Sarah Thomson supported finding out about more from Momentum but noted there had been a two-year delay already in making a decision about the centre’s future.