To the whatsonivers.nz team – So much good is happening in the city.
We recently won a prestigious Yardi sponsored award at the national Property Council event in Auckland for our Invercargill Central Ltd (mall).
There is a significant list of contributors to our success, which was the largest construction, on time and on budget, while building through the covid period supply chain impacts.
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It is appropriate to highlight that this inner city development would not have been possible if Council did not have the joint venture partners.
So, a special shout out to Scott and Joc O’Donnell, to Geoff Thompson (who is building the new Distinction Hotel), to Jackie at Community Trust Southland, to Amalgamated Builders Ltd and last but not least Geoff Cotton and his team of Project Managers.
The mall is not the end of my vision of the city.
- I recently had a presentation of the proposed experience in the new museum. It was super exciting and will be the most futurist museum in the country when completed.
- We still need to identify where art will fit around our city – a large gallery, a gallery as part of shared services or a series of pop up galleries.
- I can still see a Southern Lights walking track in the city – a loop track through the Otepuni Garden, around past the umbrella, past the Water Tower (with the Invercargill logo lit on it), down to the Feldwick gates, into the band rotunda (with tree lighting), back out and down to the cenotaph (with the soldier lit onto the statute) and back into the inner city past a lit up church and key inner city heritage and the mall.
- CCTV stage one was finally approved this week and will impact the CBD, South City and Sterling Point. This will enhance safety in the city and help deter low level crime.
- I’m keen to develop a shared accommodation future for local government. To that end, I have approached Southland District Council, Environment Southland, Emergency Management Southland and Great South to gauge their appetite to develop and share a common building. I believe this will allow for a ‘one-stop shop’ approach to local government and could allow significant savings to ratepayers (probably millions of dollars).
- Our tourism footprint needs enhancing and the best way to do that is to create a Destination Bluff which covers Bluff attractions like the aquaculture centre at Ocean Beach, the mountain biking trails on Bluff Hill, the new Bluff Hill project, a campervan park in the town to encourage overnight visitors, a relocation of the Maritime museum into the main street and links with Stewart Island.
- A new permanent pump track (similar to the one in Otatara) in Russell Square (South City) alongside a new public toilet complex.
To get this vision, I am looking to new revenue streams for council, to lessen the load on rate increases.
Our other big issue going forward will be the delivery of 3Waters (fresh water, waste water and storm water). While I have an open mind on whether we should work with other councils (and with Ngai Tahu), I am yet to see any benefits for us from that sort of co-operation. We are here to deliver affordable services for our city, not Southland, Otago / Southland or NZ Inc.
And finally, we have kept our next rate increase relatively low in comparison to most councils, while still delivering some large infrastructure projects.
So, roll on project 1225 and our new museum, it will be great.