Policy reversal welcomed

A decision reversing council policy over its approach to stormwater is being welcomed by Mount Maunganui resident Leigh Pettigrew.

Leigh is applauding the decision made at the last working council meeting of the triennium to spend $4-5 million installing stormwater pipes across port land from Nikau Crescent.


The proposed stormwater pipes will go between the two sheds. Photo: Google maps

The decision reverses the council policy to adopt a safety to person level of service and physically intervene only in areas where lives are at risk from flooding.

'I think the inevitable has happened today and the council has come out of the closet and finally found a social conscience even though it took incentive from the Port of Tauranga to do so,” says Leigh at Tuesday's meeting.

'I congratulate all those council members who voted in favour of the resolution which signals a complete turn around and departure from the council's policy in their ten year plan where they stated they no longer intended to keep floodwater away from habitable floors or protect land from flooding.”

He says the health issues presented by sewage-polluted floodwaters should be seen by the council as threatening safety. That happened in April 2014 when heavy rain overwhelmed stormwater systems in three Mount north catchments.

The council is acting on a window of opportunity presented by the Port of Tauranga which is planning work on the No 1 shed at the northern end of the port.

Between October and March next year, when the kiwifruit season resumes, the council will be able to install large stormwater pipes across the port land beside the shed, to discharge into the harbor under the wharf.

The money is coming from the $6 to $8 million per annum allocated to the Stormwater Bulk Fund in the Long Term Plan. Future work estimates to connect the three catchments include a possible $15 million for pump stations in each of the three basin catchments, plus between $5 and eight or $10 million in each catchment for pipework. The three stormwater sub-catchments are labelled the CBD/High Density, Mount Commercial and Mount Residential.

The report to council by storm water programme leader Jane Groves states Mount North is considered unique in that Port of Tauranga and supporting industries, tourism and leisure destinations, major transport routes and businesses operate within the catchment.

The area is considered economically important to the Tauranga region. The characteristics do not exist together in many of the other catchments where flood risk exists, making Mount North a distinctive case that requires reconsideration for initial works while opportunity exists for the Council to consider the opportunity and the risk of acting or not acting.

Each sub-catchment has a long history of frequent flooding because of they are flat and include natural hollows/basins that have evolved over many years. Flooding within the basins is exacerbated by gradual urban development, and the corresponding reduction of permeable surfaces. The factors ultimately serve to limit the future development potential of the area unless flood mitigation measures are implemented.

While the decision is against current policy the decision is consistent with Council's previous resolution specifically recognising that Mount North is a priority area, says the report.

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