City council asked to 'take a pause, have a cup of tea'
Bob Simpson has suggested that the Invercargill City Council buy the former H&J Smith department store site in the inner city with the plan to develop a new museum there.
A submitter has suggested the Invercargill City Council “take a pause, have a cup of tea” and consider the former H& J Smith department store site for a new museum.
Although, councillors have noted that it has already decided to build a new museum at the current Queens Park site and they believe the public simply wants them to get on with it.
A hearing was held on Tuesday where the council sought feedback on the proposed reclassification of reserve land at Queens Park.
The reclassification will allow for an extension of the museum footprint at Queens Park towards where there are currently tennis courts.
Invercargill resident Bob Simpson spoke in opposition to the reclassification of the land. He wants it to remain for recreation purposes.
He also would like for the pyramid building to not be demolished and instead be repurposed into a community hub.
On top of that, he has suggested that the council buy the H&J Smith site in the inner city with the plan to develop the new museum there, as well as an art gallery, town square, and potential civic conference rooms.
“The Invercargill City Council is now pushing ahead with several projects. Today I ask you to take a pause and have a cup of tea.
“Then you should have a brief holiday and in 2024 you can reconsider your priorities. If the council pauses and makes better decisions, we will all benefit.”
Although Simpson didn’t gather any support around the council table, in regard to halting the current Project 1225 development and instead focusing on the CBD for the new museum. Or for retaining the pyramid building as a new community hub.
Mayor Nobby Clark said they had already consulted with the public two years ago and the feedback was that people wanted a new museum located at Queens Park and not in the CBD.
“Certainly, from my perspective, I’m not here to debate what we’ve historically agreed on and we are too far down the track,” Clark said.
“I think in 2021 we did a survey with our community, and it involved about 1000 people. Some were by email, some were by cold calling, and I think about 90% of the people we engaged with, they didn’t want a museum sitting right in the middle of the city.”
Cr Alex Crackett backed up that sentiment when the council came to voting on the motion around the reclassification of land.
She moved the motion that the objections to the reclassification of the reserve land not be accepted.
“My comfortability centres around the fact only five people submitted on it and there is a community expectation that we just get on and get a shovel in the ground.
“I’m super comfortable that we can continue with this.”
Community Wellbeing committee chair Darren Ludlow added he was wary of “consultation fatigue” around the museum and people would think; “haven’t you already done that?”
“This is just about the reclassification of the land rather than Project 1225, which is on its own course.”
Two years ago when the new museum was being talked about there was no knowledge of the H&Js building being available for development. That surely needs to be at least considered. Years of poor town planning has left Invercargill with a fragmented central business district and any change such as the HWR group bringing their head office back into the CBD does a lot to turn the tide. A vibrant city center needs feet on the ground and with the move to online shopping other options should be explored to bring people into town and a museum should not be dismissed with some thought on the pros and cons.
I think by now everyone is aware of the Mayors grand plan to build a grand council castle on the site which will leave the city with even more debt and this is probably more than a little to do with the refusal to consider this proposal.
The museum needs to be in the CBD in the old HandJ building- it is just plain common sense!
It brings tourists and locals into our new CBD which will help to continue to revitalise the city( rather than further divide it). There is ready made car parking and it will bring more foot traffic to the CBD which will help support all of the businesses who have taken risk with their own money by setting up their businesses in the cbd redevelopment.
The alternative is having an empty shell of a building (which will end up quickly deteriorating) taking away from the beauty of the new cbd and the pride that it is giving us after a long time feeling ashamed and embarrassed by our inner city.
Please show some true leadership council, make the hard decisions you’ve been elected to make (dont waste time with consultation- time is money in the business world), make them now and get on with it!!!