Dunedin city councillors voted unanimously at a council meeting on the draft 10-year plan yesterday, to include an architecturally designed bridge as its preferred option in the draft plan for public consultation early next year.
An option for a basic and cheaper option, which could be a bridge, underpass or improvements to the Jetty St underpass, was also included.
A budget of $20 million has been included in the draft plan for an architecturally designed walking and cycling bridge as part of the city-to-waterfront connection.
Of the $20 million, it was expected the NZ Transport Agency would contribute about $4.5 million.
The council’s backing comes after Dunedin architect Damien van Brandenburg designed a bridge as part of his vision for the redevelopment of the Steamer Basin.
Formal consultation on the draft 10-year plan is set down for March and April.
Cr David Benson-Pope said Mr van Brandenburg’s design was a stunning piece of architecture, and was the first step in the long-awaited redevelopment of the harbourside.
"I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for the city, which would never have happened if Mr van Brandenburg had not come forward with his vision."
Cr Jim O’Malley said he completely supported the bridge design, but wanted to make it clear other options could be put forward during the public consultation phase.
"I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I would like there to be consideration given to possible architectural designs in the public consultation process."
Cr Lee Vandervis said he was very supportive of the project, but thought it would need some tweaking, including its length and where it was located in the harbour area.
The bridge by itself was "a thing of beauty" but the council also needed to embrace the whole vision for the Steamer Basin.
"We need to keep in mind what can be achieved in the harbour basin area, not by us, but facilitated by us."
Mayor Dave Cull said it would be "bizarre" for the council to support the vision for the Steamer Basin then just build a simple bridge.
"This is the only way to go and is a big aspirational step."
What the council was already doing to enable the proposed development of the Steamer Basin area was also discussed.
Cr Marie Laufiso said while she supported the bridge she was conflicted about the amount being spent on a bridge when there were parts of the community still suffering economic hardship. The council’s chief executive Sue Bidrose said two different models for how the council could enable the development of the area were being investigated — a public trust and a commercial model.
Dr Bidrose said the commercial model would likely work better, as most of the land in the Steamer Basin area was privately owned.
Options included "pre-consenting" the five-star hotel included in Mr van Brandenburg’s proposal, which was similar to what had been done in Auckland.
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Cart before the horse! I fail to see how building a foot bridge is going to get the harbour redevelopment to happen. Are there investors out there who have said they will only invest once a bridge is built? Maybe the $20m would be better spent enticing investors directly or here's an idea, why not build a modern state of the art hospital there? This would also help in attracting investor money into ajoining projects.