Steps towards the long-awaited $16.7 million Wanaka sports facility were made yesterday by the newly-elected Queenstown Lakes District Council.
It was eventually agreed council chief executive Adam Feeley should negotiate for the acquisition of additional land from the Three Parks subdivision's developer, Willowridge Developments Ltd, and report back at the council's final meeting for 2013 on December 19.
Two of the three Wanaka councillors disagreed about whether the Wanaka community had mixed views on what should be included in the proposed facility, and then disagreed about whether Mr Feeley should report back with a draft revised agreement on the land acquisition this year or next.
The discussion on whether to authorise buying additional land for the revised layout was long and convoluted - with an amendment to an amended recommendation.
Re-elected Wanaka councillor Lyal Cocks was successful in bringing forward the date when Mr Feeley must report back to the council, from March 2014 to December 19, while newly-elected Wanaka councillor Calum MacLeod thought it best to allow more time for ''a bit of room to negotiate''.
Mr Feeley said negotiations with Willowridge, which owns most of the land required for the facility proposed for the outskirts of Wanaka at Three Parks, could begin as soon as possible.
Mr Cocks had pressed those around the table to bring forward the date to give some certainty to the newly re-established steering group tasked with creating a report.
He suggested the earlier deadline would send Willowridge ''a strong message''.
Of the negotiations, Mr Feeley said: ''We will either get to an agreement very quickly, or not at all.''
Mr MacLeod acknowledged the project has ''gone on for years'' but said ''everything's changed'' recently in terms of the design and even the budgeting regime, so asked what difference four to eight weeks would make if it ensured pause for reflection.
The original land area proposed was 5.5ha while the new configuration is 6.9ha. The cost has not been made public.
Council general manager of finance Stewart Burns told the council the Local Government Act before Parliament proposed changes to the way development contributions were used and there was a possibility development contributions could not be used to fund the sports centre.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Cocks said the contributions were just ''one part of the funding'' and he was undeterred.
