### ODT Online Mon, 30 Jul 2012
Building ban in risk-prone areas
By Rebecca Fox
For the future safety of Otago communities, the building of homes and businesses in hazard-prone areas needs to be restricted, and in extreme cases banned, by councils, the Otago Regional Council says. A report to a recent council policy and submissions committee said earthquake, landslip, tsunami, flood and wind storm events all impacted on the ability to use land and could increase the risk in doing so. Communities either adapted or modified their use to deal with the risk, such as the flood protection scheme on the Taieri Plain, the report said.
Read more
****
### ODT Online Mon, 30 Jul 2012
Quake could flood West Taieri
By Rebecca Fox
An earthquake could render the pump station and floodbanks which keep water off the West Taieri plain inoperable for a “prolonged period of time” and at risk of flooding from Lake Waipori. The area at risk includes Dunedin International Airport. There was also a “significant risk the whole Taieri could liquefy into one big soggy puddle”, Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said at a recent committee meeting. Based on observations following Canterbury’s September 2010 earthquake, the regional council believes lateral spreading and liquefaction would likely render the Waipori Pump Station inoperable, the Natural Hazards on the Taieri Plain report says.
The report, the result of concerns raised by the succession of flood events on the Taieri since 2006, brings together all the hazard risks faced on the plain and the interaction between flooding, earthquakes and landslips for the first time.
The report will be given to the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board and Dunedin City Council in coming weeks.
Read more
—
Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
Related Posts:
14.4.12 How perverse is the New Zealand housing market? [see comments on Outram subdivision]
27.6.11 You keep asking: does Dunedin get earthquakes?
9.3.11 Dunedin earthquake proneness
4.9.10 Earthquake
****
### ODT Online Tue, 17 Jan 2012
City urged against complacency over quakes
By John Gibb
Although the odds of a major earthquake hitting Dunedin soon are relatively low, citizens “should not be complacent”, geologist Prof Richard Norris warned yesterday. University of Otago geologists Dr Virginia Toy and Prof Norris gave an open lecture on “New Zealand Earthquakes and Earthquake Hazard in Dunedin” at the university’s St David lecture theatre last night, during the university’s latest annual Hands-on Science school. Prof Norris acknowledged in an interview the level of overall earthquake hazard in Christchurch was about twice that of Dunedin. He said Dunedin people should not be alarmist, or “panic”. The city’s overall seismic hazard level was relatively low, but it was wrong to think of it as perpetually stable.
Read more
****
### ODT Online Sat, 18 Sep 2010
Quaking in our boots: How prepared is Dunedin?
By Mark Price and Kim Dungey
The Christchurch earthquake has raised the obvious question of whether Dunedin is likely to be similarly struck, and how prepared the city is to cope. Mark Price and Kim Dungey report. If earthquakes were as regular as clockwork, then a “big one” of magnitude 8 affecting Otago is 43 years overdue. The South Island’s major fault line, the “Alpine Fault”, which is responsible for the Southern Alps, last moved in a big way about 1717, 293 years ago. But, the geological record shows four major earthquakes there over the past 1000 years – or one every 250 years on average.
Read more
****
### ODT Online Sat, 18 Sep 2010
City stands ready
Collapsed buildings, landslips and disrupted services would face Dunedin people in a large earthquake. That’s the picture painted by those preparing for such an event and by a “lifelines” report which identified potential weaknesses in the city’s utility services. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Dunedin would have similar outcomes to the Canterbury one, though the patterns could be different because we have more hills, says Dunedin City Council civil defence manager Neil Brown. Some hill areas are “not particularly stable at the best of times” and an earthquake could trigger landslips. Reclaimed land around the harbour edges and South Dunedin, with its soft soils and high water table, could be prone to liquefaction (when soils transform from a solid to a liquefied state). However, the risk of a locally-generated tsunami is low.
Read more
Building ban in risk-prone areas
Quake could flood West Taieri
Both true headings, and council already knows about all this, but why change now. There’s money to be made on them there flood plains. Who cares what happens next week/month/year?
According to the latest otagowide distributed by Otago Regional Council in The Star the world will be ending any day soon. Earthquake, tsunamis and disasters are a ever-present risk in Otago. One very real threat is allowing the Stakeholders to go unpunished for the financial tragedy they have brought to Dunedin. This includes their minions, the Stadium Councillors of both Dunedin City Council and the Otago Regional Council.
### ODT Online Thu, 5 June 2014
Hazard details prompt for city
By Rebecca Fox
Serious decisions, with major implications for how Dunedin plans and redevelops the city, will need to be made as a result of the hazard information now available to planners, Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead says. The regional council has provided the Dunedin City Council with a range of reports around the hazards faced by the city which it hopes the city council will use in developing its long-term district plan.
Read more
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/304774/hazard-details-prompt-city
Oh God! get out the worry beads again. I had no sooner put them away after the Y2K scare than I had to get them out again for the AGW Global Warming which morphed into the Climate Change thingy. Now we have the apocalyptic scenario of liquefaction, flooding and God knows what as the Regional Council cranks up the “Fear Factor”. The only thing left for me to wonder over is: how the hell did Dunedin ever survive for so long? Funny how I didn’t forsee all these problems and lay in a stock of sedatives and worry beads, I must be mad. The economic fallout of all this, plus the job creation of committees, panels, consultancies can only come to the citizens’ pockets one way or the other. It is enough to cause one to ponder on life itself. But then that would only be another source of worry. Oh deary deary me.
I see a little Chicken!
### ODT Online Wed, 18 Jun 2014
DCC hazard rules could hit property prices
By Chris Morris
Proposed new rules designed to protect Dunedin from natural hazards could also lower property prices in some parts of the city, the Dunedin City Council says. Details of the new approach – which was set to be released for public consultation – were unveiled at a council media conference this morning. The council has proposed using new “hazard overlay zones” to help shape its second generation district plan, which controls development across in the city.
Read more
—
Dunedin City Council – Media release
Natural Hazards Under the Spotlight
This item was published on 18 Jun 2014
How Dunedin manages natural hazards such as landslides, flooding, storm surge and sea level rise is soon to be discussed with residents. The Dunedin City Council is preparing a new District Plan, the second generation District Plan (2GP). The ultimate goal of the Plan is the sustainable management of Dunedin’s natural and physical resources. Under the Resource Management Act, the DCC is responsible for managing land use to avoid or mitigate the effects of natural hazards. The DCC is also required to consider the effects of climate change and keep a record of natural hazards.
DCC City Development Policy Planner Sally Dicey says a technical assessment of the risks has been prepared by the Otago Regional Council and DCC staff have used this to develop a proposed approach for managing land use and development in at-risk areas. This approach, or preferred option, would see natural hazards managed through a set of hazard overlay zones. The hazard overlays would set out what activities and development would be permitted, the standards for some types of development, what may be assessed on a case-by-case basis through resource consent, and what would only be allowed in exceptional circumstances or would be prohibited. Approximately 8600 of Dunedin’s about 46,600 houses in residential zones are affected in one way or another by the proposed overlay zones.
DCC Planning and Regulatory Committee Chair Cr David Benson-Pope says this is an important opportunity for those affected and the wider community to have input into the process and the Council wants to hear people’s views before any decisions are made. “Local knowledge is very valuable in refining the extent of areas at risk from hazards and feedback from our community will be used to refine and improve the maps. We also want to hear from the community whether our approach has found the right balance between enabling people to use their property and our responsibility to protect people and property from risk.”
Ms Dicey says the DCC’s preferred approach to managing risks from hazards is based on considering the overall risk, in terms of frequency and effect. For example, in high risk areas, building a new house, commercial accommodation, an early childhood centre or a retirement village would be considered a non-complying activity. In moderate risk areas, these activities would require resource consent. In lower risk areas, these same activities would be permitted, but with development standards, such as requiring a house to have a set minimum floor level, or to be relocatable. Across all these risk areas, less sensitive activities such as farming and recreation activities would be permitted. Different areas have different levels of risk depending on factors such as topography, or how close they are to waterways and flood protection works. Ms Dicey says, “It’s important to remember the proposed changes mainly affect new development. In general, existing activities will carry on as usual.”
The key priorities for the DCC are:
◦Protecting people
◦Maintaining key infrastructure needed for the health and safety of the community, such as wastewater treatment systems
◦Minimising the risk to property
Hazard overlay zones are proposed for floodplains, low-lying coastal communities and hills prone to landslides. This includes areas such as Brighton, Karitane, Macandrew Bay, Waikouaiti, Waitati and parts of the Taieri Plain. In terms of the harbourside and south city area, the 2GP preferred option is to manage risks through the underlying zone of the area, rather than through a hazard overlay zone. This is because the area exposed to natural hazards is large and highly developed.The major issues for this area are caused by the area being low lying and having a high water table. The challenges created by these issues may worsen over time due to climate change.
█ Public consultation on the preferred option for managing the natural hazard risks runs from 24 June to 1 August. As part of the consultation process, 11 presentations will be held around the wider city so staff can explain the risks and the proposed hazard overlay zones answer questions and receive feedback.
█ For maps, FAQs and further details, visit http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/2gp
Contact Policy Planner, City Development on 03 477 4000.
DCC Link
—
ODT: Risks quite low, as Dunedin not tsunamigenic, Civil Defence told
ODT: Meetings on hazard options [Taieri and Saddle Hill]
The End is Nigh, People
Prepare your 2GP Dunedin District Plan submissions and Your Lawyers to protect your private assets from DCC and ORC predations on property values and rates. They don’t just want you to buy a bicycle.
The angelic Cr BP has his mitts all over this one. No doubt the doom merchants of dark green persuasion are all excited, with him.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/306317/city-faces-facts-risk
“These are real risks for the whole country,” says Cr Bendin’ Grope. Well it wasn’t until the grubby little bureaucrats decided it was time for the ‘plebs’ to get their ‘worry beads’ out again. First there was the Y2K fear followed by the threat from terrorists, then there was the GFC (global financial crisis),then Anthropogenic Global Warming, toned down to Climate Change. Now an extension of this with the “Property Hazards worry for the people to pay for. Face it, in all the time white man has been here plus the Maori, the situation has been basically the same relatively stable one we see now. Bendin’ Grope of course would go along with it, out of ignorance and the need to be in charge, like marshalling girls through showers. One would wonder just what nonsense would cause any of our councillors to pause, think, and say “what a nonsense, where is any empirical evidence to back up this latest preposterous declaration?” There is none of course, but that little fact wouldn’t be allowed to get in the way of a ‘dumb idea.’ Why, if the chair of the committee plus the COC CEO Mr Christie, say it’s an issue which must be addressed then addressed it will be. The fact that the property market and some poor punters will be financially inconvenienced is of little or no consequence. Like the idea of a national airline owned and operated by Dunedin being enthusiastically lauded, no-one seems to consider the ramifications. Just for instance, suppose it did get up and running (God knows how) what would our dopey supporters think the first reaction of the existing big players would be? Wouldn’t they move to protect their turf? How? Simply by doing what they are practiced at. A short sharp price war would blow the little upstart out of the sky in short order. Dunedin would be left the poorer for it and be treated with disdain thereafter. Not rocket science, but just plain business. Still, enough dopey leaders will probably run the flag up the pole and drive the city further into debt. What’s so wrong with that anyway as long as it gives some idiots some ‘jollies’? No reason why we shouldn’t give up on city status and accept the fact that Dunedin, in the eyes of the rest of the world and central government is just a provincial town.
The best hope for a local airline would be sneaking it into being. Gradually, quietly making finance available, expand Mainland Air into more charter flights perhaps just to Christchurch so people could get to and from meetings in the North Island without undue hassle… because sure as eggs is eggs, if a new airline were to set up with regular flights that Air NZ didn’t want to provide, it would as Calvin says smash it “because it can” – preemptively. They’ve never stopped Mainland because it’s too small to threaten them, slow “frog in a pot” advance is the only way that’s not a huge risk, I mean certainty, of being beaten to a pulp. If a genuine demand is proven let the Big Boys take over supply. The thing is, Mainland should be kept in a position where it can without too much drama, expand or contract in response to circumstances, and that will require investment. I like the idea of a lot of people each putting a relatively small amount in, that they can afford to lose. It’s a bit cake-stallish I suppose but so what, old models are …old. The opposition knows how to deal to them so that’s no good, maybe new models will confuse them long enough to get something working for *us*.
I disagree, I think it’s just another way to create more capital flight from the city, several million dollars sunk into an airline that would die as soon as AirNZ drops its prices to compete, for a few months we’d have great prices then the local airline would go under and AirNZ would hike its prices back up again – strangely I find myself agreeing with Stuart McLauchlan here.
The trick is to get someone else with deep pockets to compete with AirNZ (I’m looking at you Jetstar).
BP into pumping stations….
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/306376/pumping-station-plan
Is that BP Andy Bay Rd, BP North or BP Cumberland St? Or is it ‘rumpty pumpty’ at the old Parkside? Too many pumps.
Climate Change became a mainstream thing when those in power figured out how to monetize it.
They will tell us that it is for our own good, but it is really another way to interfere with our lives and for them to gain more control. You can tell that there is nothing scientific or democratic about this: an early sign was when they chose a Global Warming activist, Blair Fitzharris, to write what was presented as an objective report on Global Warming. The DCC has accepted as fact Fitzharris’ highly exaggerated prediction of sea level rise of up to 1.6m by 2090, based on an IPCC report (4AR) which says to expect up to 0.6m by 2090. The IPCC’s figure has also been spin-doctored because the actual measured trend of global sea-level rise is about 1.7mm/year, or 0.13m by 2090. There is a problem, however, with assuming that Dunedin will follow the global average. The latest measurements from the Port Chalmers tide gauge** tells us that the sea is rising at only 0.94mm/year or 0.07m by 2090. That is 7cm by 2090 – oh the humanity, how will we survive that? With no Global Warming since 1998, sea-level rise could be much less than 7cm by 2090.
You can see that the DCC and their stakeholders have a plan. And if we stop them using their fake “rising sea-level threat”, then it probably won’t make any difference, they will invent some other scary shit to justify what they intend to inflict on us.
** An updated analysis of long-term sea level change in New Zealand –
J. Hannah, School of Surveying, University of Otago. Published: Geophysical Research Letters 2004.
LOL JimmyJones, LOL and WTF: “The DCC has accepted as fact Fitzharris’ highly exaggerated prediction of sea level rise of up to 1.6m by 2090, based on an IPCC report (4AR) which says to expect up to 0.6m by 2090. The IPCC’s figure has also been spin-doctored because the actual measured trend of global sea-level rise is about 1.7mm/year, or 0.13m by 2090.”
I’ve heard people – was most shocked at Jocelyn Harris because I remember her as very bright indeed – talk as if one day we’re picking geraniums and wondering whether to have a date or cheese scone, next day we’re armpit deep in globally warmed iceberg water. According to the fully paid-up anthropogenic warmist view those of us lucky enough to live on hills will be able to look out our windows and watch the water rising, it’ll be so fast and rise so high.
Perhaps they are confused by TV images of tsunami. Tsunami is the one where it’s very fast, sudden and furious, and you don’t have time to pack a change of undies. In fact you’re lucky if you can get far enough from the sea to be safe.
Rising at the non-hysterical rate, you’ve got plenty of time to transplant the roses further up the section. Get the house lifted onto higher piles, it’ll probably see you out unless you’re 20 now and on track to be Methuselah Mk 2.
22.6.14 Whaleoil says: “The frauds are starting to be revealed and one of the biggest frauds in the history of mankind hasn’t been a committed by corporate bankers, rather by socialists and their useful idiots in the universities and scientific community.
Global Warming is dead, the evidence is building that is showing the skeptics were right all along.”
Read more at http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2014/06/global-warming-hasnt-happened-new-data-shows-us-cooling-since-1930s/
Stuart McLauchlan makes sense on this at least.
### ODT Online Fri, 20 Jun 2014
Dunedin is ‘the laughing stock of the country’
By Vaughan Elder
Dunedin is a ”laughing stock” over a proposal to launch an independent airline, Dunedin International Airport Ltd chairman Stuart McLauchlan says. Otago Air had no chance of getting off the ground, he said.
Read more
****
### ODT Online Fri, 20 Jun 2014
City’s mentality praised
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin City Council and the Otago Regional Council should get together to underwrite air services to Dunedin, an aviation expert says. Former University of Otago air transport research director Dr David Duval said Otago Air was a great Dunedin idea, but not one anybody should go ahead with.
Read more
The formerly bellicose ODT has sucked in its stomach on the Otago airline idea – maybe it sold enough newspapers in the last couple of days. Now it sounds glum.
And where was the two-minute noodle Cr Staynes in all this, have his plans to extend the runway dissolved? Narry a word.
Editorial: http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/306627/dunedin-and-air-services
Elizabeth, you ask where is ‘two-minute noodle’ Staynes, and have his plans for a runway extension dissolved? Well, the simple answer (in as much as there can be a simple one where he is concerned) is that the ‘Hazard Plan’ demonstrates that the land out there will dissolve anyway when “the Big one hits” so TMN Staynes can book this as a $20m saving and move to council “that the money saved be put to debt reduction instead”. That should get him a few ‘brownie points’ from Daaave! I can just see his little moustache quivering with delight at the prospect.
Yes, Calvin, some sympathy with your view of TMN and the best path forward. Wearing that anagram, one can’t be an innovator 24/7. This saves a lot of energy.
—
### ODT Online Sat, 21 Jun 2014
Otago Air idea brings frustrations to surface
By David Loughrey
The dream of ”Otago Air” emerged from the hangar this week, with potential investors in support. But the idea may have crashed on take-off. What the proposal again highlighted was an issue that continues to chafe at the ego of a city clinging to its status as a major centre.
Read more
● Guarantee necessary: operator
Unbelievable. Just got to ODT letters (page 27) responding to Fred Doherty’s scheme for an ‘Otago Air’. Very few readers seem to have caught up with news that DCC isn’t a commercial bank or an angel fund. Depressing and embarrassing to read such dross from a range of literate writers who have little grip on venture finance or the territorial economics of the airline industry.
### ODT Online Fri, 20 Jun 2014
Vacant lots, rebuilding potentially affected
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council says it will need to have ”serious conversations” with some Ocean View homeowners covered by a proposed ban on new development in the area. However, the possibility of a reprieve has also been floated again as council staff continue to stress the stricter approach – which aimed to protect against natural hazards – is not yet ”set in stone”.
Read more
Ocean View resident… Risk plan ‘a wee bit upsetting’
Like I say. “It’s Worry Beads time” get used to it. JimmyJones, on the sea level debate, Dave Cull and Jinty MacTavish would tell you to “go wash your mouth out!”
Risk plan ‘a wee bit upsetting’ says local Ocean View resident. Poor ‘sod’, at 66 years he needs this like he needs a hole in the head. These rampant idiots have no understanding of what their ‘nitwit’ ideas are doing. All this on not a whit of empirical evidence of any of what they are implying being factual. In fact the reverse is a more likely scenario. I can understand Cr Bendin’ Grope because he is notorious for being a ‘nitwit’. But that the bureaucracy as a whole allows this to happen is a travesty. For God’s sake, deal with the real stuff and forget about the ‘might-bes’. The city has enough real problems (again self-created) without calling down the wrath of the gods. A great clean out of departments would be a good start. Likely? Huh! in our dreams.
Here’s the Daaave-Jinty plonker approach to gloom and destruction, woe is us, slit our throats:
### dunedintv.co.nz July 18, 2014 – 6:02pm
Dunedin sea level rise risks could cost the city millions
Millions will need to be spent on protecting South Dunedin from sea level rise, as a result of climate change. The most comprehensive information about the likely risks and costs associated with sea level rise in Dunedin has been compiled. Now councillors must consider what’s likely to happen to the city in coming decades, and how much it will cost to mitigate adverse effects.
Video
### ODT Online Tue, 5 Aug 2014
Hazard rule changes spur property price fears
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council is considering changes to proposed new rules on natural hazards, amid community concern about the impact the “broad brush” proposals could have on property prices. More than 400 people have attended public meetings across the city to discuss the proposed changes, and submissions, phone calls and emails have been rolling in to the council. The council has already responded by extending the deadline for people to have their say, to September 1, and council staff said yesterday they remained open to changing the draft rules.
Read more
### ODT Online Wed, 13 Aug 2014
Hazard sites under review
By Timothy Brown
The Otago Regional Council is reviewing the information available on the Taieri’s contaminated sites. Ten sites in the Taieri area were identified by the Otago Regional Council and Dunedin City Council in 2009 as contaminated. Last week, the ORC met representatives from Otago’s territorial authorities to discuss a new hazardous activities and industries list. […] the list would contain revised information on contaminated sites and part of the process would involve re-evaluating hazardous and potentially hazardous sites in Otago.
Read more
Strange that of the 10 sites named on the Taieri, there is no mention of the site on Dukes Road North Taieri that has been named on confidential documents as being one of the most contaminated in Otago. Just what are the ORC and the DCC trying to cover up here?
Simon, what will local knowledge about the site tell us? Ownership? Do we have a street number or a Rapid for the property?
It could be that another lazy reporter from the ODT hasn’t got his story right, and missed number 11. A close eye will be kept on the ORC to see if they do an investigation on this site. They certainly are aware of the site and the confidential report about it being considered is one of the worst in Otago. If not, a little reminder may be needed by releasing the report.
Thanks!
No
—
{Webmap not bringing up an 11. Have since resolved property identification. Sent you an email. -Eds}
### ODT Online Thu, 25 Sep 2014
Concerns raised over natural hazards plan
By Chris Morris
Homeowners worried about being left in a Christchurch-style red zone – at least on paper – are calling for changes to the Dunedin City Council’s natural hazards plan. Their concerns come as council staff wade through nearly 200 submissions received since the council’s plan to tighten its grip on some city properties, to better protect against natural hazards, was announced in June.
Read more
█ The revised approach and a summary of submissions were expected to be made public by the end of the year. A public hearing would be held after the 2GP had been formally notified early next year.
****
DCC Natural Hazard Maps
Hazard Overlay and Activity Status Table
Note: These maps are DRAFT only. The boundaries of hazard areas and hazard risk classification may be subject to change based on consultation feedback and further assessment ahead of notification. We strongly encourage feedback on any adjustments that may be required.
You also can use the interactive District plan map in the related information section, to see the current District Plan zoning, and the potential 2GP zoning, including the proposed hazard overlay zones, for your property
█ http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/whats-on/2gp/natural-hazards-phase/natural-hazard-maps
****
District Plan Maps
These maps show the current Dunedin City District Plan 1999 zoning beside the proposed 2GP zoning for comparison. The proposed 2GP map is still being developed and will be amended as consultation and development of new District Plan provisions continues prior to public notification of the Proposed District Plan scheduled for late 2014.
█ http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/district-plan/2gp/district-plan-maps
Natural hazards are just that. Natural. So what makes these bureaucratic nincompoops think that they can mitigate these by putting the worry beads out there for the citizens to pick up? Other than setting up another ‘cost centre’, what is the point? When are these hazards going to happen? What form will they take? What steps should be taken to protect? Would the simply ‘do nothing’ option not perhaps be the economic answer? Would the best answer be for everyone to simply pack up and go away? Where should they go? Why are we subjected to this nonsense when there is no obvious answer, to no obvious problem? Because these prats think they know best. Isn’t that the role of the ‘Zombie’ folk? Create unidentified problems and promote them to further enhance their already over inflated opinions of themselves. Who pays? The citizens, as always. It’s following the ‘law of diminishing returns’.