11-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Ideas for asset fund sought
The Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board is calling for bold ideas from the community on how to spend over $4 million in asset funds.
The board had its monthly meeting on Thursday and began discussing what the community plans to do with its asset funds.
Ideas and issues around event management, traffic control, transport and social infrastructure were brought forward by both board members and local organisations.
The asset sales reserve is currently about $4 million but is expected to grow substantially once the board sells land in Ironside Dr.
Improving event management was a key topic, especially following the success of Wheels at Wānaka.
The event held over Easter weekend brought record numbers of visitors to Wanaka as it sold over 60,000 tickets, causing severe traffic congestion.
Board member Linda Joll voiced her concern that traffic management was unable to accommodate the growth of events in the region.
"I felt like there was no traffic management plan or a very inadequate one," she said.
Oliver Harcus, spokesman for pride group Out and About, spoke during the public forum and further expressed the need to improve event capacity in Wānaka.
Mr Harcus focused on the increasingly limited capacity of the Lake Wānaka Centre, saying the building was a better fit for meetings rather than events.
"Is this an attractive place to hold an event?" he said.
He used the Festival of Colour as an example, saying it would have been hard for the festival to make money as its ticket sales were limited by the building's capacity of about 500 people.
Mr Harcus also argued the building did not reflect the diversity of the town nor was it adequately accessible for someone with a disability.
Queenstown Lakes District Council arts and events relationship manager Jan Maxwell said the region held more events than any other district of the same size.
"We're not matching that need ... I do know it has its limitations," she said.
Ms Maxwell, alongside a team from the council, presented a draft of the event policy review which promised to work on streamlining event services.
This would include a single point of entry for anyone wishing to book a space for an event.
Chairman Simon Telfer said the board was encouraging bold and large ideas that would be valuable to the community.
He said this could include a new performance arts centre, potentially a sports fields and an artificial turf.
Aside from event management social infrastructure, the board also heard from Electrify Wānaka, a local group advocating for the town to be powered by electricity rather than gas or petrol.
The final recommendation on what to spend the asset fund on will be shared with the council in November while discussing the region's long-term plan.
