The South Waikato District Council has hired APR Consultants to run an intensive consultation process with the community regarding the new Putaruru Community Pool. The Council encourages everyone interested in being involved in the project to provide APR with their details (click here for contact details) so that they can be included from the outset.
APR Consultants will be holding focus groups during the coming months to establish the needs and desires of those interested in the project. The plan is to arrive at a design option that can then be widely consulted with the community. The designs would be detailed enough to develop modules that can be costed out independently.
This is an exciting time," said Mayor Neil Sinclair at a Putaruru Community Pool public meeting held last week. "The Glenshea pool has served this community well for the past 50 years, but sadly she is showing signs of aging. It is time now to look to the next 50 years and decide how best to fulfil the needs of everyone while being prudent with our choices."
The recent Information Evening outlined three options with their indicative costings and rate impacts:
- to completely rebuild the community pool at Glenshea Park
- to refurbish the Glenshea park pool
- to build a new community pool at the Putaruru Primary School
“Council has signalled building a new Council managed and run Community Pool at Putaruru Primary School as its preferred option,” said David Hammond , Group Manager Community Development. "This is because of the advanced deterioration of the Glenshae Park pool and the cost of either replacement or upgrade. One of the major concerns about refurbishing or relining the old Glenshea pool is that we would be spending a great deal of capital lining a 50 year old concrete structure," explained Mr Hammond.
"The structures in both pools – the Learners and Main - are clearly deteriorating rapidly. That's not surprising, because the life of concrete pools built at that time was expected to be 50 years. The challenge is not to provide for the next few years, but to find an option that will serve the community for the next 50 years as well as the current pool has done.
“Adding to the costs is the need to upgrade pool systems that are out-of-date, and in some cases, also in poor condition. There is a lot of consultation to go, and although the evidence points us in a direction, no firm decisions have yet been taken."
"Some concern has been expressed over the management of the proposed new pool because the School site is favoured," said Mr Hammond. "The pool is to be firstly a community pool, but also able to be used by the school for swimming lessons. It is a partnership approach but the parties agree that the ongoing operation and management will be Council's responsibility. What that means is that there is the same level of service available to the community as is presently enjoyed. These partnerships work well in other areas of the country, like Te Rapa and Melville for instance."
Council is providing the public with a number of background documents detailing specific issues relating to the Putaruru Community Pool situation. Please click on the links:
APR consultants can be contacted on 07 349 0609 or mail to:
FREEPOST 144923
APR Consultants - Putaruru Community Pool
PO Box 1715
Rotorua.
Click here for contact details
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