Councillors voted 10-1 for the former Queenstown Arts Centre building, on the corner of Stanley and Ballarat Sts, to be removed from the council’s strategic assets register on the condition it must not be demolished and efforts are made to keep the building in the district.
The building, which dates back 100 years, was at first part of the original Queenstown District High School, and it most recently functioned as a hub for Queenstown’s creative arts community, until it was vacated in March when its lease expired.
It is on a site earmarked by the council for either a temporary car park or laydown construction area, before work on Project Manawa, a civic and cultural centre, begins.
At an impassioned public hearing on July 14, the vast majority of submissions supported removing the building from council’s strategic assets register and wanted to see it relocated to Frankton’s Country Lane precinct.
While Cr Esther Whitehead supported the subsequent recommendation to the council that the building be relocated, she said she held concerns about its removal from council ownership.
"I think the situation that we find ourselves in is that the majority supports this is a repurposed building and stays within the community, which is wonderful, but the issue ... is we have essentially privatised a public asset and I don’t think the community got an opportunity to address that.
"Why wasn’t there any options around us keeping it, for example putting the asset on 516 Ladies Mile or other council land, where it could be maintained as a public asset?"
Cr Niki Gladding, who opposed the recommendation, questioned whether the sale of the building could be conditioned by the requirement it be repurposed for public use.
While council chief executive Mike Theelen said it would be difficult to enforce or define "public use", it was within the council’s prerogative to decide who the tender was awarded to.
He also said that although the building had "some heritage value", it was no longer an asset the council needed to deliver long-term services.
Cr Penny Clark said the relocation would free up space for much-needed parking in the resort, while Cr Craig Ferguson, who chaired the hearing panel, commended the council’s decision to "save" the building.
"We hear a lot across the country about the loss of heritage and in this case I believe we have saved it and it will potentially be in safe care well into the future."
