The decision came with a list of conditions allowing the council to withdraw from the project if they were not met.
Those conditions effectively provide a road map for the stadium's future, but anyone looking for definitive dates on which the council might call a halt will struggle.
The clearest time limit - a seven working days timeframe in which the council was to have confirmed the Carisbrook Stadium Trust's contracts to buy land at Awatea St - passed without all the contracts being confirmed.
The council voted to reconsider the issue on April 28 and accepted the contract negotiations on that date despite one tenancy being still unresolved.
Deputy Mayor Syd Brown and finance and corporate support general manager Athol Stephens were asked what work had been done so far on the stadium, what still had to be done, and at what stage the council could withdraw its support if conditions were not met.
Cr Brown identified four exit points.
1.If the trust could not raise private funding.
"If the trust came back in a month and said we've been to the market for three months and we've only got $15 million, it would be pretty obvious what the response would be."
2.If the council did not find the $20 million funding it was looking for this year.
3.If the guaranteed maximum price for building the stadium was exceeded.
4.If the Otago Regional Council decided not to provide its funding, that would mean it was "game over", Cr Brown said.
The responses below provide some new details on the project, including that a working party of Crs Richard Walls, Chris Staynes, Andrew Noone, Dave Cull, Bill Acklin and Syd Brown has been given the job of finding the $20 million.
But pinning down dates for the stadium work, and producing a timeline, was all but impossible. Cr Brown described the project on more than one occasion as "a movable feast".
"How long is a piece of string?" was the answer to some questions about dates.
Asked why the resolutions did not come with completion dates, he said the stadium was the biggest one-off project the council had ever undertaken.
"Therefore, it's more important to make sure that the purpose for which the stadium is being built delivers for the community the outcomes that we require for it.
"If it takes an extra month to benchmark and critique the design, a better result will be had in the outcome of the final product.
"It's a really complex project."
Asked if it was not realistic to set deadlines, Cr Brown said targets did have to be set.
"But for this stage of this project, dates are going to be a movable target, so we get the best bang for our buck."
The March 17 resolutions; the Dunedin City Council's explanation of the progress so far; the work still to be done; and the deadlines for the work:
1. Confirmation that the project cost will not exceed $188 million. The council's share of the cost from July 2008 is a further $79.9 million, which includes $6.4 million for depreciation. $11.5 million has already been committed, making a total of $91.4 million.
Response: Those figures are still the council's budget for the project.
Timeline: Not applicable.
2. Mayor Peter Chin, Cr Brown and chief executive Jim Harland's failure to confirm within seven working days (from March 17) that property contracts for buying land at Awatea St were satisfactory in all respects.
Response: "Everything is finalised," Cr Brown said.
But one tenant, who would eventually be a tenant on council-owned land, had not come to an agreement with the council.
Leaseholders had leases that ran in perpetuity, though they could sell them.
"We're still in negotiation: we're hopeful there will be a resolution."
Cr Brown would not release the cost.
"It's still confidential. All we can say is it fits within the budget. It fits within the budget specifically allocated for that purpose."
Asked what that budget was, he would only say it was within the $188 million.
Timeline for land acquisition to be resolved: No date. Cr Brown said the tenant was "not an impediment to construction".
3. The public tender process and a guaranteed maximum price for construction.
Response: "All we can say in relation to that... [is that] negotiations are continuing," Mr Stephens said.
It was not yet known when a tender might be decided, though a preliminary design was close to being signed off, he said.
The design for the stadium needed to be at a stage where a tenderer knew, for instance, exactly how much steel and concrete was required, right up to the number of door handles needed, before a maximum guaranteed price could be fixed.
Timeline: "The timing is not critical to the council, but we need to have a multipurpose venue in the right place," Cr Brown said.
"The [2011] Rugby World Cup does give us the opportunity to showcase the facility to the world, but it's not the be-all and end-all."
4. The contract with the University of Otago in relation to the land it is to purchase and confirmation of the facilities it intends to build on it.
Response: The university formalised its involvement in the stadium when it signed a heads of agreement with the Carisbrook Stadium Trust last year.
"What's being done now is the university has to enter into an agreement they will purchase the land, and give confirmation of what facilities they will build on the land. That's being negotiated as we speak," Cr Brown said.
Timeline: The contract would need to be signed by the time the tenders were called for, Mr Stephens said.
Trust chairman Malcolm Farry said when contacted the trust was in constant dialogue with the university, which was yet to finally decide what would be built.He expected the contract to be signed this year.
5. A satisfactory conclusion to the planning process and plan change. (This would allow land at the site to be rezoned for educational and stadium purposes.)
Response: The trust's work on the plan change was presented to the council's planning and environment committee on April 24, but councillors' concerns about the robustness of work on issues, including environmental effects, meant the committee had voted to let it lie on the table until those issues had been resolved.
Cr Brown said he expected them to be resolved "within weeks".
Timeline: The timeframe for the plan change is: October hearings, a November decision, and a December appeal period.
The possibility of appeals to the Environment Court could delay the process by an unknown amount of time.
6. The service level agreement between the council and the trust and the establishment of a project control group.
Response: The service level agreement between the council and the trust would clarify accountability, responsibility, roles, delegation and reporting mechanisms.
The agreement was still being discussed, but agreements used for other stadium projects in New Zealand were being used as a template.
A project control group would be made up of three "experienced professional persons", none of whom would be councillors or staff. They would be given a design and management brief.
"Their job is to make sure it's built to that," Cr Brown said.
Timeline: "I would hope and expect [the service level agreement would be signed] by the end of May," Cr Brown said.
The control group may be in place by the end of May or June, and the cost of hiring them would come from within the stadium's budget.
7a. Confirmation of Otago Regional Council funding.
Response: Funding is included in this year's ORC annual plan, subject to consultation.
Timeline: Hearings begin this month, with the ORC expected to make a decision on June 25.
7b. Agreement between the Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) and the trust for the sale and purchase of property assets.
Response: This relates to the sale of Carisbrook to the trust or a third party.
It could be an agreement to purchase it for a minimal sum.
Timeline: No date set.
7c. Approval of occupation and revenue agreements between the ORFU and the trust.
Response: The ORFU lost money in the last financial year and has a $2 million debt with the council. It would need to be seen as a secure tenant, Cr Brown said.
"In my mind, as anchor tenant, they need to be in a position of being a secure tenant."
Mr Stephens said that was "pretty important - as the anchor tenant, the ORFU "has to be successful".
Any terms, though, would have to be not so onerous on the ORFU that they could not be met, he said.
Timeline: No date.
7d. Council satisfaction with the trust's progress in raising $45.5 million private-sector funding.
Response: Tenders for the work could be accepted before the money is raised, but the council had to be satisfied with the trust's progress, Cr Brown said.
"They [the trust] could say we've got $40 million in the bank, and other people who say they've promised they're going to sign for $5.5 million."
Asked how the council would decide whether progress was acceptable, Cr Brown said that was "a judgement call" for the council.
Timeline: No date
7e. The continued identification, by the rates and funding party, of ways to reduce ratepayer contribution by $20 million.
Response: The working party has been reconstituted this year, with Cr Richard Walls as chairman, Cr Chris Staynes deputy chair, and Crs Andrew Noone, Dave Cull, Bill Acklin and Syd Brown members.
The working party had to have success by the time the guaranteed maximum price was tabled.
Timeline: Unknown. "I would be totally surprised if it wasn't this year," Cr Brown said.
He refused to release details of the working party's success, as it "might prejudice prospective funders".
8. Written confirmation of $10 million funding from the Community Trust of Otago.
Response: The trust is applying to the community trust for the funding, which has been agreed in principle.
Timeline: The trust has indicated an application would be made after confirmation of ORC funding.
