Council to consider $72m flood fix
The Christchurch City Council expects to spend $72 million on flood issues along the Heathcote River.
The river is expected to be dredged early next year to remove 60,000 cubic metres of material, at a cost of $14.2m. Council staff have proposed to continue work on four storage basins in the Upper Heathcote at a cost of $41m.
The work could be done within three years, depending on funding, council senior water resources engineer Peter Christensen told the council’s Infrastructure, transport and environment committee yesterday.
About $28m has already been approved and another $44m would
"There's no silver bullet."
Keith Davison, council land drainage manager
be needed from the council’s land drainage recovery programme.
The committee recommended the council approve the proposals including its flood intervention policy, which would involve buying up to 35 homes at risk of frequent flooding.
Council land drainage manager Keith Davison said the solutions were complex and for many years were put in the ‘‘too hard basket’’, but it was not going to get easier.
‘‘There’s no silver bullet, no single solution. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle only when you bring pieces together you get something that works.’’
The full benefit of the work was not expected for several years, so staff were recommending voluntary buyouts to provide homeowners with ‘‘timely relief’’. The cost of buying the homes was expected to be $16.5m.
The committee recommended the council lift the buyout cap from $600,000 to $750,000 for individual houses and from $400,000 to $500,000 per unit.
Davison said if the policy was approved, the council would engage one-on-one with property owners it believed to be eligible for assistance under the policy.
Properties would only be eligible if the quakes exacerbated the flooding, council strategic policy head Helen Beaumont said.