June 05, 2015
Whangarei votes for Hundertwasser plan
Whangarei residents and ratepayers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of building the Hundertwasser Wairau Maori Arts Centre.
The result is a blow to new councillors who used their majority to block a project approved by the previous council.
Mayor Sheryl Mai says it is now in the best interests of the district to embrace the most popular referendum choice.
Council’s capital contribution of $2.8 million to the project has been budgeted for in the draft Long Term Plan.
Turnout in the binding referendum was higher than the last local body election.
As a condition of using his designs to convert the former harbour board building into a museum for his work, the late Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser specified the complex must also include permanent space for Maori and indigenous art.
Wairau Maori Advisory Panel chair Elizabeth Ellis says the community has made a positive choice that will bring arts enthusiasts from New Zealand and around the globe to Whangarei.
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