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Council backs hillside building! |
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Credit: Site Editor
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Monday, 09 February 2009 |
 Heathcote Valley residents will probably know of the proposals for a major housing project to be built on land above Bridle Path Road. It all took a big step towards reality when the Christchurch City Council backed the proposal at their meeting on 27 November last year.
High density building on the Bridle Path Road site was rejected by Heathcote people in the council's community consultation. This has resulted in fresh geotechnical advice, a site visit, a landscape impact assessment and feedback from the Hagley Ferrymead Community Board.
The Bridle Path Road Area Plan that will allow this project now has section sizes of around 750 m2 to the 20 metre contour and up to 1500 m2 on the higher slopes.
This 750 m2 figure is a significant change from a previous draft that had section sizes as small as 450 m2 on the lower slopes. The cost of this however is that the project now continues up to the 50 metre contour, albeit with some of these sections being of a larger size of around 1,500 m2 at the top.
Ivan Thomson, the council's Principal Planning Advisor, has pointed out that the project will leave up to 35% of the area as open space, with covenants on fence heights, colours, and retention of vegetation to maintain the open character of the site.
Despite this, the community has raised some serious issues. A particular concern is the impact of building on the unstable loess soils found in Heathcote, especially on the steeper contours found above the 20 metre line. It has been pointed out that these soils will end up in the Heathcote River unless this issue is dealt with appropriately.
 The visual effect of building so high on the valley hillside has also been questioned. It has been noticed that previous efforts to protect housing from rockfall have resulted in an ugly scar on the hillside above Morgans Valley, despite promises to the contrary.
It's hard to know how many new sections will result from this project. A figure of 90 sections has been mentioned, but this could change from a low of 80, up to a possible 100. It won't be finally decided until the precise rules are developed and the builder does the subdivision plan.
The traffic implications of the project will be considerable. For the purpose of calculating the impact on the surrounding community, it is widely assumed that each household will create nine vehicle trips per day. This gives an estimated maximum of 900 new trips that will be created by 100 new sections. Residents worry that the possible consequences of this on Bridle path Road will be chaotic.
The difference between 80 and 100 new sections under this traffic calculation is 180 new trips. Maybe this is a figure that could be the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of making the consequences of this project acceptable?
A Heathcote Valley resident, Richard Budd, presented these concerns to the council meeting at which the Bridle Path Road Area Plan was being heard. We were granted speaking rights and Richard, having the greatest understanding of the technical issues involved in building structures on our Heathcote Valley soils, gave a very complete account of our concerns and the reasons for them.
Councillor Sue Wells presented the motion that the plan should be supported. Our Hagley Ferrymead Councillor, Yani Johanson, spoke out in opposition and pointed out that the Heathcote community had not been properly consulted on the plan as it currently stands.
The comments made by Councillor Johanson reflect the fact that although this latest plan now has section sizes of around 750 m2 to the 20 metre contour, it is now significantly different in that it continues to the 50 metre level with up to 1500 m2 section sizes on the highest slopes. It has been pointed out that the community only became aware of this advance up the hillside at a very late stage.
In the end, the council adopted Councillor Wells' motion despite our representations. This means that the plan will, in due course, be publicly notified. At this stage, objections can be lodged and representations made at the hearing that will almost certainly follow.
While we have the chance to support the plan, decline it, or support it in part with changes, we are in practice constrained. Our speaker to the council, Richard Budd, warns us that if points are technically based, we require expertise, and this usually requires money. We can talk based on our local knowledge of amenity issues, historical context and character. But we are wasting our time to enter the arena without the appropriate technical support.
Despite all these concerns, let's hope that somehow, through luck or good judgement, this Heathcote hillside gets a building project we can all be proud of.
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