Controversy has surrounded a council call last month to reduce the seating capacity of the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena (CMUA) from an initial concept of 30,000 seats to 25,000, after saying the budget had already blown out by $131 million.
The decision has divided the city, with thousands signing an online petition to stick with the original capacity, fearing they could miss out on big All Blacks matches and other key events.
Councillor Sam MacDonald is one of five city councillors – including Phil Mauger, Catherine Chu, James Gough, and Aaron Keown - who voted to keep plans for a 30,000-seat stadium, due to open in 2024.
He says the "short-sighted decision" must be revisited – and even thinks it might not have been made within the rules.
"I'm not even convinced it's consistent with the Local Government Act and I suspect, but I don't know for sure, that the Mayor will be taking some legal advice today on whether the decision we made 10 days ago is in fact even valid," he told Canterbury Mornings with John McDonald on Newstalk ZB today.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel has been approached for comment.
MacDonald, a trained accountant, also believes the numbers that council went by last month - costing another $88m on top of its $473m budget - don't quite "stack up".
"It's a game-changer," MacDonald says.
"It does bring it back to, I think, council needing to relook at this.
"The reality is, we're an elected council, with a mayor, deputy mayor, and councillors, and we should be able to critically analyse information presented to us."
The figures are included a public excluded city council report from July 22 – which was released yesterday.
Mary Richardson, general manager of citizens and community for Christchurch City Council, said the original contractor's price estimates were provided to the council and had been independently verified.
Dalziel said earlier this week that the decision was the best one for the council and the Canterbury region.
"People just have to realise there has been a reduction both nationally and internationally in attendance of sporting events," she said.
"The reality is we are building a multi-use arena that is right up close to the central city, unlike anything else in the country."
Concept plans released just before Christmas 2019 showed a design similar to Dunedin's popular Forsyth Barr Stadium, with a clear, plastic roof and spectators seated close to the action.
Red and black sports lovers were devastated when the February 2011 killer earthquake ended more than 100 years of sporting history at Lancaster Park – or AMI Stadium as it was when the violent shaking sunk its giant concrete grandstands and saw liquefaction swamp the once-prime turf.
For the past nine years, top-flight rugby and other sports have been accommodated at a "temporary" AMI Stadium, now known as Orangetheory Stadium, in Addington on the old rugby league showgrounds.
Meanwhile, the old Lancaster Park site has since been razed and cleared to eventually make way for club sports fields, with the new stadium earmarked for already three cleared CBD blocks bounded by Tuam, Hereford, Madras and Barbadoes Sts.
