The Waitaki District Council’s property overlooking Oamaru Harbour has a controversial history, and is back in the spotlight after the council announced last year there had been approaches by several parties interested in buying it.
At a council meeting in August, councillors voted to carry out a public engagement process, and ask Waitaki residents what direction the council should take.
Several different options have been assessed by council officers, and in a report, to be tabled at Monday’s additional meeting, the preferred options to put to the public are: sell the land; undertake work to establish the land as a reserve; or do nothing and continue to hold the land as endowment for capital gains.
There is some uncertainty around the council’s ability to establish the land as a reserve, as it would likely require an Act of Parliament to remove its current endowment status. This would involve a local member’s Bill effectively seeking to reverse the outcome of a previous Bill, which passed in 2013, and changed the status of the Forrester Heights land from reserve to endowment.
Because most of Forrester Heights is endowment land, the "do nothing" option would only be viable if the land continued to be held to generate revenue by way of capital gains, and it would effectively mean "do not change what is happening now" rather than "do nothing ever" with the land.
Selling the land in its current state would meet the purpose of the endowments, and the council would outline some possible uses of proceeds of a land sale as part of the consultation process.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said it would be difficult for the council to quantify in the consultation process how much it could make from a sale, because it was such a "unique" piece of land.
"We certainly can’t guarantee what [the sale price] is going to be," Mr Kircher said.
"But equally, if we decide we’re going to sell it and then it’s not worthwhile, because we’re not going to get enough, then probably that then might turn into ‘do nothing’ and let it appreciate a bit more."
Seeking reserve status for the land would present some difficulties, Mr Kircher said.
"It wasn’t easy last time, and to go back to Parliament and say, ‘Well, actually we’ve changed our mind again as a community ...’," he said.
"I mean, if that’s the decision we make, that’s the decision, but it’s not going to happen very quickly."
The council was keeping an open mind on all options, and a decision would be made after a proper consultation process with the public, he said.
The timeline for public consultation, which will run for at least four weeks, will be confirmed at Monday’s meeting.
