Timaru Aquatic Centre is being built using 2 sets of plans

Why would anyone in the right mind start building a $23.5 million complex without first establishing if the site it was being built on is big enough to handle the traffic flow.  What you see below are 2 separate plans both provided by the Timaru District Council.

The plan on the left was given to the home owners whose homes surround Maori Park. The plan on the right is for the public to view at the council offices.  You will notice that both front entrances on the 2 plans are totally different. If you go to Maori Park and look at what they are doing it all seems to be different again to both these plans.  What the Benvenue Street residents are not being told is that the buses will be parked in their street and there will not be enough room in the street that already leads to a tennis centre. The map on the left shows only one bus stop but with no room to park any buses. Someone needs to talk to the builders to see what plans they are working from.

Timaru District Council Home Owners Plan- click to enlarge

Timaru District Council Public Plan - click to enlarge

Resource Consent
The building permit that they are using was issued under a resource consent application that was not notified to the public. The activities that were non complying on the building site were a cafe, creche, gym, meeting rooms, wellness centre and steam and sauna rooms. A copy of the resource consent application given to us by the council was a letter written by Peter Thompson Regulatory Services Manager to the Timaru District Council C/ Boffa  Miskell Ltd Christchurch to the attention of Clair Kelly.

Public Enquiry Needed
There is a lot of questions that need to be asked and that means interviewing a lot of people. The first question that has to be asked who is going to be the person appointed to carry out the investigation. We have sent plenty of messages to the news media about the seriousness of the situation but they are not interested. The Timaru Herald is a major sponsor of the aquatic centre and it earns large amounts of revenue from the advertising space that the Caroline Bay Aquatic Centre supporters club spends on their fundraising so they do not want to know about it. Surely there must be someone out in the community that cares enough to help with the investigation.

Updated Plan
Since starting this article I have been told that the plan on the left is the latest version. I have visited the site and I am still trying to work it out how it all fits together. If the plans change during construction then surely the price must change and the one to pay is the ratepayer – like it or not.