The Auckland floods have raised concerns about a housing development in Grey Lynn. Photo / Supplied
The Auckland floods have raised concerns about a housing development in Grey Lynn. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland property developer plans to build 12 homes in a Grey Lynn neighbourhood inundated with water and severely damaged in the January 27 floods.
The architecturally-designed townhouses and a single detached house will be built in mostly off-white brick, dark-stained weatherboards with brushed nickel-coloured balustrades and windows to appeal to buyers in the trendy inner-city suburb.
But there’s a catch - the homes sit on garages that will act as storage for water and flood up to 2.4m in height during a one-in-100-year flood event, according to a November 2022 report attached to the resource consent application being considered by Auckland Council.
The 1597sq m site sits partially on a mapped flood plain.
Developer Kurt Gibbons told the Weekend Herald he was designing a solution to address the stormwater, saying “it was definitely not correct” to say the garages would flood.
“We are putting a culvert there that will pick up all the stormwater,” he said.
Gibbons said his civil engineer is going on site on Monday to inspect the 2m diameter stormwater pipe in adjoining Hakanoa Reserve as he believes there is further redundant capacity.
“We are actually improving the street and reserve and want to go beyond what we need in a 1:100-year event, which was experienced in January,” he said.
Flooding at the dip of Sackville St on January 27. The child care centre is to the left of the villa with the red roof. Photo / Supplied
According to the November report, the houses are planned to be built 500mm above the height of a flood in a one-in-100-year flood.
To ensure buyers have a clear understanding of the flooding risk, the report said appropriate legal mechanisms should be attached to the certificates of title.
“This will be supported by an early warning system, including a text messaging service, for residents to ensure they have enough warning of a potential flooding event to move their cars from the garages,” the report said.
The development has run up against local opposition and highlighted concerns from the Prime Minister down about looking at where houses are built in future. Last week, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said it was time to look at using the one-in-100-year measure in relation to flooding.
On the night of January 27, the proposed Sackville St development was in the Coxs Bay area that received the second highest level of rain (443mm) in urban Auckland.
Developer Kurt Gibbons says a culvert will pick up all the stormwater. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A historical stream from the Great North Rd ridge turned Grey Lynn Park into a lake, which busted its banks and formed a second lake in the dip of Sackville St where Gibbons plans to demolish a daycare centre to build 11 townhouses and a single house.
The daycare centre was yellow-stickered, a villa next to his property was red-stickered and residents of a pensioner village across the road had to be rescued. Their homes remain yellow-stickered.
People in the neighbourhood are alarmed over the development being in the immediate vicinity of a flood plain, the stress it will place on an old and overloaded stormwater system and the loss of green space.
A report to the council says the garages will flood in a one-in-100-year flood. Photo / Supplied
One woman, who did not want to be named, said if the site was not so risky she would not have a problem with the townhouses.
But it did not make sense at a time of increasing severe rain events to cram townhouses on the site unless they are built up high on poles to allow for future floods, she said.
A second resident who did not want to be named said a proposal to cover the site in dwellings and concrete without any changes to the stormwater system for the wider area can only spell trouble.
“We look to council to set the regulations, to set the restrictions, to set the guidelines for how we deal with floods … it can’t be a holus-bolus response,” the resident said.
Waitemata and Gulf councillor Mike Lee said it beggars belief that the council has not yet rejected the housing plan.
“Last year, more than 2200 consents were granted by Auckland Council for dwellings in hazardous areas, such as flood plains and erosion zones.
“If the development persists, it will almost certainly lead to searching questions about the council’s consenting policies past and present,” Lee said.
Waitemata and Gulf ward councillor Mike Lee. Photo / Alex Burton
Mayor Wayne Brown is not opposed to building on flood plains but says the necessary infrastructure must be in place and there needs to be flood-resistant design and construction.
The design of the garages at Sackville St will be in water-resistant materials, including concrete blocks, glass and steel.
“The plans for this Grey Lynn development would indicate that the garages are the only areas vulnerable to flood and, if this is correct, it may be an acceptable level of risk for some home buyers - provided there is complete and ongoing transparency and these areas are not used as additional living spaces,” Brown said.
The mayor said the situation is complex but raises the question: “What is an acceptable level of risk around flooding for all the relevant parties?”
