Onehunga resident Ross Gosnell's questioned why newbuilds were going up on land which was heavily flooded in January. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Onehunga resident Ross Gosnell's questioned why newbuilds were going up on land which was heavily flooded in January. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A new development of townhouses being built on land that flooded like a “lake” during Auckland’s record-breaking January 27 downpour has drawn criticism from surrounding neighbours as “stupidity” and a potential risk for buyers.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown told the Herald he has concerns there are plots of land with resource consent that have been flooded previously but neither the developer nor Auckland Council are aware of it.
The under-construction two-and-three-bedroom group of 24 townhouses at 63-65 Victoria St in Onehunga are now on sale, promising “lucky” families “casual comfort” and a “relaxing vibe”.
Brown says Auckland Council is keeping an eye on new homes in risk-prone areas and urging developers to ensure they build homes up to 1.5m above estimated flood levels.
“It doesn’t mean you can’t build on [resource consented land] if it’s been flooded on,” Brown said.
“What I’m not happy about is some of the houses that flooded. We have resource consents on them where ... nobody seems to know it’s flooded.
“If it’s been flooded and they’ve built the houses 1.5 m above the ground, that might be okay.”
Nearby resident Ross Gosnell said water from his property earlier flooded the townhouse construction site after it began spilling out from below his house during January’s storms and continued flowing like a river for weeks afterwards.
Caused by a rising underground water table, the water ran from Gosnell’s home until it pooled in a “lake” at the bottom of the hill on the construction site and in the grounds of a Samoan church.
The site’s developer did not want to comment when approached by the Herald.
But Gosnell said, in his opinion, “it’s just stupidity” to build on the site.
Brown, speaking generally about the city’s property market, has also previously questioned where some of Auckland’s homes have been built.
“How did these risky homes get where they are?” the mayor said in a Herald column in March. “In too many cases, houses were allowed to be built where there was a previous history of land instability and stormwater problems. The lessons of the past had either been forgotten or central government mandates had changed things adversely, or the council positions had been overruled by Environment Court decisions.”
Gosnell and another neighbour believe the new development raises questions about how Auckland rebuilds and plans for future floods.
The city’s January and March floods damaged almost 7000 buildings, including about 400 now deemed uninhabitable.
Council and Government now plan to spend more than $2 billion on buying back uninhabitable homes and preventing future flood damage.
Twenty-four new homes are being built at a site on Victoria St in Onehunga that flooded earlier this year.
Construction at 63-65 Victoria St in Onehunga. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Brown has also said if an area has flooded before, it didn’t mean new housing developments couldn’t be built on it.
However, that was on the proviso developers and planners mitigated the risks, especially by building homes higher, Brown said. Homes built at ground level in areas that had previously flooded should be reneged on, he said.
Resource consent granted in 2021 to the Victoria St townhouse site shows it sits in a “minor” flow path for a 1-in-100-year flood.
The homes are required to be built 50cm above the expected flood level, Auckland Council said.
Gosnell said he understands January’s flood was caused by rainfall mixing with the underground water table, which was already elevated because Watercare had months before stopped pumping water from it.
Ross Gosnell looks on as flooding engulfed the car park of the Christlife Assembly of God Onehunga church in February. The waters also flooded a construction site behind the church. Photo / Brett Phibbs
New townhouses are rising on the site. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Other new-build properties facing flooding risks have also made headlines recently.
Last month, Mt Wellington first-home buyers Nick and Rebecca Selvathesan told the Herald they bought a new-build townhouse in which the backyard has been flooding regularly - even in the smallest “drizzle”.
The Selvathesans now believe developers shouldn’t be allowed to build in “a known flood path”.
But developer Precise Homes said it complied with all Auckland Council requirements and that record rainfall was mostly to blame for the Selvathesans’ issues.
Onehunga’s Gosnell, meanwhile, said he would hate to hear about more young home buyers suffering like the Selvathesans.
“It was a nightmare, I mean I was having trouble sleeping, just coming home to it every day,” he said.
He sought help from fire crews, Auckland Council and his local Member of Parliament, but no one knew what to do.
Eventually after weeks of running, the water stopped on its own. And while it hasn’t come back, Gosnell’s anxiety hasn’t left him.
“Every time it rains heavy now, you just have that sort of sinking feeling,” he said.
Another local resident said he saw the Victoria St construction site where the 24 new homes are being built flooded twice this year, once in January and again in March.
Two industrial buildings next door to the site were also flooded, with council placing them under yellow sticker orders until last month.
“The fire brigade could not even manage to pump out the first industrial unit as the water kept rising for days,” the resident said.
Ross Gosnell's Onehunga home on Alfred St had flood waters running out from it for weeks after January's storm. Photo / Brett Phibbs
When builders returned to the townhouse site after the floods, the resident said he talked to the project manager, saying: “Here are photos of your place underwater, like it’s a lake, dude.”
The project manager asked if he could keep the photos, but construction work pressed on anyway, the resident said.
The resident said the site raises questions about whether Auckland Council should revisit building approvals it gave to sites before the floods.
However, Anna Wallace, central resource consents manager at Auckland Council, said her team will not be reviewing the site’s resource consent approval.
That’s because the council has no legal power to review previously issued resource consents, she said.
She said that as well as requiring homes to be built at least 50cm above the 1-in-100-year flood level, the land titles must also contain a notice that makes future owners aware of the risk.
Insurance Council NZ spokeswoman Sarah Knox said home buyers should not rely on a new home having building consent alone as a guarantee they will be able to get insurance for the property.
She urged buyers to do their full due diligence on any home before buying.
