Visitor centre move ruled out

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 684, 29 April 1997, Page 1

Visitor centre move ruled out

Shifting the Ohakune Visitor Centre to the Depart ment of Conservation field centre at the entrance to the Tongariro National Park has been ruled out as an option and instead, a replacement Clyde Street office is now proposed. At their April meeting the Ruapehu District marketing subcommittee considered a presentation detailing the advantages and disadvantages of moving the information centre from its current Clyde Street building. The move was mooted after the council' s property officer advised that continued maintenance of the current building was uneconomic. The present building has had a lot of work done to it, but mostly superficial and needs much structural repair work. Before the building was taken on in 1983 by the then owners of the Bulletin who established the information centre, it had been tagged for demolition. Council marketing manager Bruce Rollinson said there was overwhelming support to retain the current site. He said individuals and organisations pointed out a number of issues covering its key location. It has high foot traffic, it is a focal point for the town, it is on the state highway. The committee needed to look at all the options including the move to the DoC centre before making a decision, said Mr Rollinson. He said the issue of duplication of information centres remained. While DoC had previously ruled out moving their field centre to the Clyde Street site, Mr Rollinson said the committee would continue to pursue this idea and that the coUncil will approach DoC with a new proposal, this time based on building a new centre as a joint venture. Also, the council would look at all the services it provides in Ohakune and will look at combining them on one site. This may include the library, some staff offices, and public toilets.