There's a real risk Tauranga City Council is raising community expectations past what it'is capable of delivering over the civic heart project, warns Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stan Gregec.

'The Council has done a good job of selling the sizzle on its plans to create a new Civic Heart, but needs to be careful not to serve up a cold sausage,” says Stan, speaking after Monday's submission hearing.

A new council building will not solve CBD woes warns Stan Gregec. Photo: Supplied.

With most of the civic amenities proposed being dependent on finding funding from private developers, 'it might even be a case of the Council inviting people to somebody else's barbecue”, says Stan.

The Chamber is calling for better communication of the over-arching vision and master plan for the downtown area, and says part of the challenge is to find a more effective way of describing the big picture of what is proposed and how everything fits together.

'Names like ‘City Centre Spatial Plan' are not very user-friendly or inspiring,” says Stan.

'The public and the business community are not going to get excited about a new Council building, but they will get excited about a rejuvenated CBD that's designed for people and works for people.”

While the Tauranga Chamber is broadly supportive of the Civic Heart proposals, the project will not be judged a success if all it delivers is a new Council building and civic square, says Stan.

The Chamber strongly supports private sector involvement and potential financing of some or most elements of the Civic Heart proposals.

'We think Council should look for a funding and ownership model that allows it to progress with both the building and with other much needed amenities – as early as possible and at maximised value for ratepayers,” says Stan.

The Chamber's submission also recommends the creation of an external implementation body – that takes all of the detailed work and planning out of the Council, and puts it under a separate entity that can get on with the job, and have a stronger focus and access to relevant expertise.

This could be a Council Controlled Organisation (CCO), successful examples of which already exist.

'The brief of such an organization would be to promote the revitalisation of the whole downtown area – and to work out how all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit together”, says Stan.