Expand and Upgrade the Trevor Inch Memorial Library and Rangiora Civic Building

With our population projected to be between 95,000 and 100,000 by 2050 we need to think about the capacity of the Trevor Inch Memorial Library in Rangiora and Council’s accommodation needs to serve a growing community.

There is a unique opportunity in Rangiora specifically for the land we call the ‘Civic Precinct’ - the Rangiora town centre area between High St and Victoria Park which includes the Rangiora Service Centre, car park and the Trevor Inch Memorial Library.

During the last LTP the community supported a planned expansion of the Trevor Inch Memorial Library and recognised the need to ensure the accommodation requirements for the Council were fit for purpose now and into the future. Currently, Council staff are accommodated across six buildings in Rangiora.

The planned library expansion was scheduled to take place between 2022 and 2024 to meet the needs of our current population and we have $7.2 million aside in our last LTP accordingly. However, we also have the nearby Rangiora Service Centre that requires updating and have started considering how we might merge these projects to achieve the most cost-efficient solution.

Investigations into how best to accommodate these needs have led to considering the appropriate planning for and timing of implementing these projects in an integrated way, as key elements of the Civic Precinct part of the recently approved Rangiora Town Centre Strategy.

There is a synergy and an opportunity to combine the library extension with an expanded Council service centre while creating more welcoming green areas and open spaces, building facilities for community groups and private businesses, and improving parking while making more efficient use of the budget (turning this into one project vs multiple projects).

This would best utilise space across the entire Civic Precinct area and pull several different projects into one work-stream. Due to Covid-19, through the 20/21 Annual Plan we have scaled back needed upgrades to the existing service centre to the minimum to make it serviceable for the next few years.

Through deliberations on the draft LTP we have carefully considered the scope and timing of the larger scale, longer term Civic Precinct project against other more immediate economic recovery priorities, uncertainty due to possible local government reform (which may change our required staff numbers) as well as overall affordability. The results of the reform activity may influence the size and scale of building required by the Council which supports the rationale for a delay.

For this draft LTP we have retained the $7.2m set aside for the Library extension but pushed the overall project out in our programme to 2027-2029 to be coordinated with a provision of $22m for an extension and upgrade for the Rangiora Service Centre. The shift of the library project to later years means the project costs will increase to $8.3m due to inflation.

This will enable the Council to focus on our role in Covid-19 related economic recovery and better achieve economies of scale in the larger project in the long term.

We expect to revisit this in the lead up to the 2024-34 LTP in three years’ time and make the best of what we’ve got meantime.

OPTIONS:

A: Council’s preference

The proposal to financially reflect the Civic Precinct Project in the LTP is supported. But the timing is deferred to 2028 with this being revisited through the 2024-34 LTP process.

This is currently budgeted for so would have no additional costs per property per year. The rate increase would take effect from 2029/2030.

B: Bring forward funding provisions and timing. Projects would be completed by 2025/26.

This would see financial provision brought forward with consequential increases in debt and rating to pay off loans sooner. There are a range of possibilities here, but for the reasons set out above the Council does not recommend this at this time.

C: The proposal overall is declined

We do not meet the community needs for library services and Council operational requirements as part of the Civic Precinct in line with our growing population. The library extension would defer to as planned in the previous LTP. Other alternate options for provision of community and Council service delivery will need to be investigated at costs yet to be determined.

There are no additional costs per property as the proposal would be declined.

* Cost - The rate includes construction/operation costs and debt servicing.

Click here to make a formal submission for the Draft Long Term Plan 2021-2031.