I have my reservations about the Government’s new fast-track laws, because it encourages that whole “do something for the sake of doing something” mentality.

And my reservations are only being amplified with this news that Christchurch City Council staff want to use the fast-track legislation to get on with the job of rezoning the land where the old temporary stadium is, in Addington, so it can be sold to developers.

It’s not the legislation itself that I’m concerned about today. I’m concerned that the city council hasn’t thought this through enough.

Because, even though I love One New Zealand Stadium just as much as the next person, I think it would be a mistake to put all our eggs in one basket.

And I can see a time when we might actually regret deciding to do away with the facility at Addington.
Because, even though the Crusaders match at the stadium tonight is another sell-out, which is brilliant, it’s not always going to be the case.

So wouldn’t it make sense for us to keep the grounds at Addington? I’m coming around to thinking that it would.
So, what’s happened is council staff are recommending to councillors that they ask Resource Management Minister Chris Bishop to fast-track a change to the land’s zoning.

That would let the site be used for things like retail and housing. I gather it would also allow car parking and parks of some sort.

If city councillors agree with council staff and do go to Chris Bishop, and he agrees to use the fast-track legislation, that would mean most of us would be excluded from the process.

Things would happen much quicker, six months compared to two years, but only those affected by the change would get to have a say.

And you can bet that the definition of those directly affected would be pretty narrow. That’s why I think that, before the council runs off to Chris Bishop and fast-tracks things so it can sell off the land, we need to calm the farm a bit and work out whether it is actually a good idea to get rid of it or not.

And I’m not convinced that it is.

When Newstalk ZB’s Jason Pine was in town the other week for the Super Rugby Pacific Super Round, he was telling me that the temporary stadium is a brilliant venue for football, because of the shape of it, apparently.
But also the capacity.

In fact, he was saying that he would love to pick it up and move it to Wellington. That’s how good he thinks it is. So why would we get rid of it?

What’s more, who has the council actually spoken to about this?

I know the rugby league people would probably love to return there. What about Mainland Football? Maybe they’d like to see the Addington stadium kept on.

See what I mean?

There’s been this assumption over the years that, because we’ve considered it to be the “temporary” stadium, it would go once the new one is up and running.

And that seems to be what city council staff are thinking too, with this recommendation that they try to get things fast-tracked.

There’s no denying that flogging it off would bring in some coin for the council. It’s got a rateable value of $6.6 million. But if it was rezoned for housing, it would be worth $26 million.

Nevertheless, is that something we should even be doing?

I don’t think it is, until we have a much better understanding of whether there might actually be a need for a second, smaller stadium, and not just the shiny new one.

LISTEN ABOVE