Napier City Council purchases multi-million dollar site for drinking water reservoir
A multi-million dollar purchase by Napier City Council will see Napier Hill's old hospital site used for a new drinking water supply reservoir.
The three hectares of land was bought from property developer Templeton Group for $11.35 million.
The Enfield Road reservoir is nearing the end of its life and needs replacing, council said.
The current site, the site of the land purchase and several others have been investigated and assessed for their availability, capacity, ease of development, and proximity to infrastructure.
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said: "It is an ideal spot for us to tell the story of Mataruahou (Napier Hill), given it is a significant and historic site".
"This project provides an opportunity for co-design with local mana whenua and to build the infrastructure in such a way so the site is accessible to the community.
Templeton Group chief executive Nigel McKenna said council approached them to "explain the criticality of the asset from an infrastructure perspective".
"Given that this site has been a long-held Government asset which provided health care support to the community for many years, a return to Council ownership for the site to maintain its role as an infrastructure asset that supports its community going forward seemed appropriate.
“While we’ve made a considerable investment in development plans and are disappointed we cannot proceed with the development, we are pleased we were able to achieve a result that benefits Napier City Council, Mana Ahuriri and the wider community into the future.”
With adjacent land being part of the Deed of Settlement between the Crown and Ahuriri Hapū, represented through Mana Ahuriri, NCC says there are opportunities for them to work with Mana Ahuriri to achieve complementary benefits across both sites.
“The purchase by NCC signals the beginning of collaboration with Mana Ahuriri for the overall development of that area of the Hospital site,” Piri Prentice, of Mana Ahuriri, said.
The purchase of the land is the first of a series of steps to be taken. The planning and construction of the new reservoir has not started yet.
It is expected that this project will take several years to complete, with 2024 the earliest it could possibly be completed.
Council said Ngā hapū and Hill residents are regarded as key stakeholders in this project and will be part of any future consultation as the project progresses.
Mana whenua engagement will also be a key part of the design development.
