Waikato District Council has explained some dollars for Raglan in its Long Term Plan that have had Raglanites scratching their heads. Under a heading of ‘Raglan Community Centre – 2022’ the LTP has a provision of half a million dollars. There is also another provision headed up, ‘Raglan Community Facility’ with a sum of $2.833 million.
As there is no facility called Raglan Community Centre, we asked WDC what the money was for? A Council spokesperson said, “I can confirm that the $500k is for seismic work at the Town Hall. The structural engineers have done an initial seismic assessment but are unable to give a confident scoring on the integrity of the building until Geotech work within the Raglan area has been completed. This fund is to undertake that work and any additional repairs required to bring it to an acceptable building standard.”
Back in 2012, WDC engaged engineers to look at its Raglan pre 1935 buildings. At that time they seemed to miss the Raglan Town Hall and CEO Gavin Ion said, “The council plans to carry out a structural assessment on the Raglan Town Hall. We are currently working on a timeframe and will keep the community informed.” We later heard that the Raglan Town Hall did not require earthquake strengthening. It seems now that the issue is being checked again.
In regard to the larger sum of $2.833 Million, the Council spokesperson said, “The other money is earmarked for extension or potentially new build for the Raglan Library/Hub. There is a presence strategy being undertaken in the current year to provide direction for how WDC will “appear” in the community in the future.”
So it seems that the extension made to the Raglan library just seven years ago was inadequate and another extension is needed or even a completely new building.