Otago Daily Times, 8 Nov 2008

It is hoped an extraordinary meeting of the Dunedin City Council on Wednesday will finally complete an agreement with the Carisbrook Stadium Trust clarifying the responsibilities of both organisations regarding the stadium project.

But deadlines for the service-level agreement, which would also determine how progress was reported, have passed before.

The agreement was part of one of the conditions the council set down in March, when it agreed to keep funding the stadium.

It was expected to be completed by May, and council chief executive Jim Harland said in early September he expected it it to be finalised in the following two weeks.

» Read more…

Otago Daily Times, 1 Oct 2008

Two Dunedin city councillors criticised for not attending a debate on Monday to tighten conditions surrounding the Awatea St stadium have responded their presence would not have changed the overall outcome.

Cr Dave Cull said after the meeting he was disappointed Crs Fliss Butcher and Teresa Stevenson had not “done their job” and stayed to vote for amendments introduced to put timeframes on conditions that must be met before the project could go ahead.

Cr Butcher said she would have abstained from voting if she had stayed….

Cr Stevenson said she had left the meeting to attend a health-related appointment, but there had been no indication of support for placing limits on the project during a preceding non-public part of the meeting….

» Read more…

Otago Daily Times, 30 Sep 2008

The Dunedin City Council has moved to tighten the conditions it has set the Carisbrook Stadium Trust and other parties to meet before it would give the final approval for the Awatea St stadium - but has agreed only to a watered-down version of amendments asked for by three councillors.

Political grouping Greater Dunedin - Crs Dave Cull, Kate Wilson and Chris Staynes - went to a meeting of the council yesterday with a list of seven amendments to conditions the council set in March.

The three have generally opposed the stadium but proposed the amendments, they said, to decrease the risk the project posed to ratepayers….

Trust chairman Malcolm Farry last night said the trust could meet the timeframes included in the amendments that were carried, but the one relating to the rugby union was “unhelpful”.

Opposition group Stop the Stadium president Bev Butler said the move was a good attempt by Greater Dunedin to reduce the “enormous risk” posed by the project, but the council had fallen behind the Otago Regional Council in placing tight conditions on the trust.

The Greater Dunedin councillors wrote a series of amendments to the original conditions which were designed to give the trust a list of milestones to reach as it continued the project.

The amendments added timeframes and funding targets.

» Read more…

Related:

» Swing over stadium

» Otago Daily Times backtracks on Trio’s swing

Otago Daily Times, 27 Sep 2008

Trio focus on stadium risk and affordability

Local government political grouping Greater Dunedin’s objections to the Awatea St stadium remain focused on its risk, its affordability and opportunity costs, Cr Dave Cull said yesterday.

But a series of amendments the group had suggested to conditions the Carisbrook Stadium Trust had to meet had to be reasonable, he said.

“We’re well aware if we had come up with really impossible-to-meet conditions we wouldn’t have passed go. We’ve got to be realistic.”

Councillors Kate Wilson, Dave Cull and Chris Staynes have moved to set timeframes and specify fundraising targets for the Awatea St stadium, an initiative they say will assist a process they have so far opposed….

Asked to clarify his stand on the stadium, Cr Cull said he questioned whether it was necessary and useful, and whether it was going to be viable.

“In terms of being pro or anti, I’m anti to the extent I don’t think we can afford it.”

» Read more…

From ODT online forum, June 08, after the ORC voted to support the stadium, subject to certain conditions. The conditions are listed. Let’s keep an eye on these.

Jeers fail to deter stadium ‘yes’ vote

• The Otago Regional Council supports the Awatea St stadium on the basis of these terms and conditions -The Carisbrook Stadium Trust must provide by February 2, 2009 evidence of a viable construction tender for the stadium for a price not exceeding $165.4 million.

• The final design remains at least the same as that detailed in the March 17, 2008 progress report from the Carisbrook Stadium Trust.

• The Dunedin City Council will:i) confirm it will be the ultimate owner of the stadium;ii) provide independent assurance of project management and cost control;iii) confirm it will manage ratepayer (including Otago Regional Council ratepayer) financial input to the project and provide appropriate audit and financial controls.

• The stadium must have a roof.

• The council contribution will be capped at $37.5 million and the Dunedin City Council will be responsible for $85 million.

• There be certainty of funding from Dunedin City Council, Community Trust of Otago and University of Otago in terms of the amounts and support infrastructure originally requested by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust.

• The council is confident fund-raising and private-sector funding is on track to meet commitments.

• Council contributions for the stadium will not start before:i) the site is cleared for construction;ii) site establishment works for construction have been completed;iii) permanent on-site construction has commenced;iv) the funding is to be advanced and targeted generally to the timing of the costs of the roof construction.

• Any external funding that would reduce ratepayer contributions that becomes available from sources other than the above identified sources and levels of funding will be discussed and sharing agreed with the council and the Dunedin City Council.