The two that I put on this morning are:

Democracy and Consultation

Capital Value versus Land Value Based Rating

Sorry they are a bit long!

One idea that will be discussed is whether to build a new one that would include the functions of the Pearson Park Pavilion, also earthquake prone. 

Relocated to the Pearson Park area, it would then be possible to combine the funding that it is proposed to allocate for earthquake-strengthening of both buildings: $2m for the Town Hall and $150,000 for the pavilion.

The Council is currently going through its Long Term Plan preparation.  We haven’t finished yet, but we have already made some decisions on what we want to consult the public on.

We are proposing a new combined library and museum on the site of the current Kaiapoi library.  We are not proposeing a repair because geotechnical investigation has shown that there has been some liquefaction and lateral spread on the site. A building needs new, deep foundations.

The existing building has become too small and the meeting room upstairs is also of a design and size that made it not as useful as it could have been.  Paradoxically, the kitchen is too big!

The museum will be combined with the library, and an art space, similar in size to that in the Rangiora library, will also be included.

The total cost will be about $8.6m, owhich it is likely that about $2m will be recovered from the current library and the former museum.

This time, the earthquake and the justified heightened sensitivity to earthquake-prone buildings, has left us with three big ones all at once:

• The Kaiapoi Library/Museum
• The Rangiora Town Hall
• The Oxford Town Hall

These are amongst the problems facing the Council for its Long Term (10 Year) Plan.

But wait there’s more …

                … a new bridge over the Ashley north of Rangiora.

It seems that the cost of repairing the roof will be met by insurance.

However, may had complained in the past about the inadequacy of the changing rooms.  The Council would like to redesign these and the entrance area and is seeking funding from an outside earthquake-recovery source to pay for this.

Let’s put the pool back, but make it better!

The Town Hall in earlier days

On the face of it, there are a number of options before the community when it comes to fixing the earthquake-prone buikding – it is currently assessed at 28% of new building standard.

Central Canberra

The Kaiapoi New World reopened last month after being rebuilt - the previous building was, of course, badly damaged by the September quake.  That was great for Kaiapoi and has been one of the signs that commercially Kaiapoi is on the road back.

In the meantime, the Rangiora New World has undergone a significant expansion.

Next week, the new Countdown in Ivory Street, Rangiora, will be opened. That will make two Countdowns in Rangiora, along with the one in Kaiapoi..

People often ask me if Pak ‘n Save is coming to Southbrook after all.  The latest information that I have is that it has been delayed while Foodstuffs get a couple of New Worlds back open in Christchurch (Redcliffs and St Martins, I think).  The first job that has to be done at Southbrook is to divert the Southbrook stream around the edge of the site.

The new building going up beside St Mary’s Anglican Church in Southbrook Road is the Rangiora Mazda building, replacing their site on the Pak ‘n Save site.

The Sovereign Palms subdivision north of Kaiapoi is moving fast and a lot of interest has been shown in the Silverstream subdivision to the west of that town.  Given that most of those in the Kaiapoi red zones have indicated hat they want to stay in Kaiapoi, this is not surprising.

Local will have noted the houses springing up in the new Horncastle subdivision on the eastern side of Rangiora and in the Arlington subdivision in the north-west.  Pegasus has got going again, too.

Real estate firms are reporting that there is also strong demand for rural life-style blocks, particularly in the Clarkville-Ohoka area and for rural-residential properties in the likes of Mandeville.

This all suggests that many of those who are having to move out of Christchurch are looking north.  Historically, this has been the pattern for some time, but there does seem to be a very strong spile: in November the Council received over 200 applicatons for building consents.  The strongest year that we have had in the past has been on the 600s.

The Oxford Town Hall will cost a lot to bring it up to an earthquake rating of 67% of new building standard.  It is currently closed because it is rating is about 25%.

Some in the community are saying that it would be better to build a more modern building, possibly somewhere else.

You will be hearing more about this!

What NZTA think the Main North Road / Woodend Road intersection might look like with trafffic lights

The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) are still considering the results of the consultation that was carried out last year.  At that point, they asked for comment on three bypass options and three widening options for Main North Road.  I gather their next move will be to come back to the community with a final two design options: one for a bypass and and one for a Main North Road widening.

Williams Street Bridge, Kaiapoi

This came out of the earthquakes quite well – it’s the approach on the nothern side that is now rubbish, and getting worse. As for the bridge itself, the Kaiapoi Town Centre Plan proposes that parking be removed and the footpaths made wider to allow people to linger and look up and down the river.  There will be seating on it as well.

Ashley River Bridge at Cones Road, Rangiora

The Council is endeavouring to get a replacement put on to the Canterbury Regional Transport Plan and the chances are very good.  It is intended that this will be wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians to cross it in safety.   The total cost is likely to be in the area of $10m, but it will attract a 60% subsidy from the NZ Transport Agency if the project it approved.

Old Waimakariri Cycle & Pedestrian Clipons

Not much joy here, I’m afraid. The bridge is jointly owned by Waimakariri and Christchurch and neither Council is very keen on doing the work without NZTA subsidy.  To get this will require a change in Government policy direction towards pedestrian and cycle facilities.

Waimakariri Gorge Bridge

This bridge, jointly owned by Waimakariri and Selwyn, is to get a new deck very soon.  Both councils have budgeted for it.  The common claim that the two councils have been arguing over it is urban myth.

The Waimakariri Gorge Bridge with a train about to cross it, ca.1921

The “Kaiapoi” Fault is the new name for the one they’ve discovered under the sea off the Waimakariri mouth.  It does not pass underneath Kaiapoi.

Most of the recent aftershocks have been out to sea and although they are trending north-east, they aren’t affecting this fault.  The seismologists told us that the Kaiapoi Fault has been active periodically in geological time which means that there has been a progressive release of stress along it.  That should be good news for us in North Canterbury because that release of stress means that it is less likely to be a big one if the fault ruptures.

We are likely to continue to get aftershocks in this part of Canterbury for many years, although as time goes on they will become imperceptible.  Aftershocks from the 1968 Inangahua quake are still going on.

The aftershocks experienced in the Oxford area after the September earthquake were not unexpected.  Apparently the Mount Oxford area is quite seismologically active and, once again, the periodic release of stress is a good thing.

None of this, of course, takes away the very real threat to the region of the Alpine Fault, which is on the boundary of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates.

Compass FM is launching –

Queen’s Birthday, Monday 6 June!

You can hear it now on 104.9, broadcasting 24 hours a day.

During the day you will hear that we are hosting the Radio School of the Aoraki Polytech – forced out of their Christchurch home by the February earthquake.

Compass FM is North Canterbury’s new Community Access radio station, broadcasting from Kaiapoi to Hanmer.

The article covered the ground well, although I would make the point that we need the housing mainly for people who have to leave their homes while they are rebuilt or undergo major repairs.  People who have left their homes up until now have obviously found accommodation, although if they are finding their current locations unsatisfactory, they may be interested in this new housing.

The Department of Building and Housng (DBH) is building and managing the housing.  The Council’s role is to help in assessing needs, find sites and make sure that the provision coordinates with other recovery work.

Two things are happening. 

A stormwater retention system is being built to take stormwater from the recently-zoned business area bounded by Flaxton, Fernside and Todds Roads.  An increase in the coverage of hard flat surfaces – mainly roofs and concrete – will mean that will be much more run-off.  The Faxton Road Drain will not be able to handle all that water, so it will have to be held back and released slowly.

The second thing that is happening is that the Fernside Road intersection is being made safer. That horrible little bridge by the car-wash ford will go, and Fernside Road will meet Flaxton Road at a right-angle with much better visibilty.

In some ways, Waimakariri and Selwyn might have been able to get by without it, but both Councils decided that there were some potential advantages for us – even although our damage mostly came in the September earthquake.

The Act gives the Authority powers that might need to be used as we in Waimakariri undertake land remediation on behalf of the the Government and EQC. We also didn’t want to be forgotten about as CERA tackled the horrific damage in Christchurch caused by the February ‘quake.

It’s as simple as that. Provided we two Councils look as though we are coping with our own damage, CERA will probably let us get on with it.

There were fears that CERA might ride over local concerns and charge ahead in spite of the people of Canterbury. Early indications, however, are that this is not happening – there seems to be a real attempt at engagement.

And the post-September Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission (see below)? It’s gone.

CERC was set up by the government in the early days after 4 September and its functions include coordinating the Government and local body recovery effort. It is also supposed to be the chief means of communication between the three councils and the Government.

It consists of three Government appointees, an ECan Commissioner and the Mayors of Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri.

They are retiring Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry director-general Murray Sherwin, Canterbury regional council commissioner Dame Margaret Bazely, earthquake engineer David Hopkins, social expert Arihia Bennett, Mayor Kelvin Coe, Mayor Bob Parker and yours truely.

It could be anywhere between $10m and $30m, depending on government and council decisions and a whole range of unknown factors. Costs of this size are normally funded by loans because this means that future beneficiaries also get to pay for it.

But to give you an idea of what we could be in for …

The underground infrastructure, notably sewers and water mains, will be covered mainly by insurance.  Additional costs to the ratepayers could come if we, i.e. the Council, decided to relocate sewer mains in the Feldwick Drive / Gray Crescent area, currently located behind the houses, into the streets, which is normal modern practice. (Quite a few sewer mains in Kaiapoi and Rangiora are located behind houses.)

Roads are mainly covered by an 83% NZ Transport Agency subsidy.  We have to find the other 17% but we are trying to persuade the Government to lift the subsidy to 90%.  There should be an opportunity to redesign streets, where residents want it, for little extra cost: it doesn’t, for instance, matter where new kerbing is put from a cost point of view.

Fixing up the parks is totally our cost.  They can’t be insured – although play equipment is.

Community buildings are insured, but in some cases they weren’t adequate before the earthquake, so why would we build back the way they were?  The Kaiapoi Museum, for instance, was owned by the Council.  It was actually a former court house and had become too small.  It seems reasonable that when we build a new museum, that is designed for the purpose and meets the museum’s needs. Insurance won’t cover the improvement, however.  The library was cramped and the associated offices and meeting room (the former Kaiapoi Borough chamber) were also inadequate. A decision on this will not be easy.

The council is also putting staff time into social recovery, although some of this is government funded too.  We take the view that the hardest part is going to be helping the people of our District through what is going to be a very dfficult process.  It is also important that we, the wider community, help community organisations and businesses in the Kaiapoi area through this time. This is why we have already given some financial assistance to the business community through Enterprise North Canterbury and the Kaiapoi Promotion Association.

Another cost has been the loss of income through the remission of rates for those who are not able to live in their houses.  This lasts until 30 June because that is the end of the financial year.  The Council has yet to discuss what will happen after 1 July: whatever recommendation is made will be part of the Draft Annual Plan which will be out for public consultation in February-March.

Damaged House in Kairaki – photo from Governor-General’s Website

Who is responsible for repairing or rebuilding insured houses?

http://canterbury.eqc.govt.nz/publications/2010/11/stage2?page=0,0

Perimeter Treatment is the work that will be done in areas adjacent to rivers, such as the Avon in Christchurch and the Kaiapoi and Courtenay in Waimakariri.  The diagram on the left gives the general idea.

During the 7.1 Earthquake on 4 September, some of the worst damage occurred when soils liquefied and then moved sideways toward the rivers.  Big cracks opened up and houses started to fall apart.  Many were held together only by their roofs.  This process is known as lateral spreading and occurred near rivers because there was nothing to stop the liquified soil moving sideways. (The diagram comes from the Tonkin and Taylor Stage 2 Report.)

The perimeter treatment is designed to reduce this lateral spread in the event of a future earthquake.  Remember that the Kaiapoi area experienced liquefaction in the 1901 Cheviot earthquake.  A future quake could occur somewhere else in Canterbury other than Darfield.

The perimeter treatment has been described as “barriers” or  “walls”.  There are actually different ways that they will be constructed.  A common method will be to insert a vibrating probe into the ground to a point below the liquefaction layer.  This vibration consolidates the soils and makes them less prone to liquefaction. Gravel is then poured into the hole and also consolidated.  It takes about 30 minutes for this work and the then another one is done in close proximity.  They are totally underground.  Once done, the ground surface can be built on, have a road put over it or grassed back into parkland.

There will be something like 22 thousand of these columns inserted in the Kaiapoi area.  That’s a lot of half-hours!

Watch out for their exhibition on 12-13 February – to be held this year at The Mill in Waikuku Village on the Main North Road – because the Waikuku Beach Hall will still be closed for earthquake repairs.