Thursday, November 7, 2013

Year 3 CERA. Fluffy Fendalton. Port Hills Slippery Slopes

Fendalton focus. Fri 08.11.13. In Christchurch more than 3 years post 04.09.10 Darfied Quake, pavements were dire & road surfaces worse, with all the SCIRT excavations & patchings. Although shaken & shocked, post quake Christchurch was still beautiful, besides rebuild by CERA minister Brownlee & new mayor Dalziel ruling Council.

Fluffy Fendalton ladies amused me on my morning treks from Hagley Park Nth, back to Burnside. Some walked their dogs, some jogged, some pushed prams. Ladies' hair matched their dogs' fur: teased hair, bottle blond hair... A red haired lady jogged with her red haired spaniel. An old lady, full poop bag in one hand, fluffy terrier leashed to the other. A lady cycled beside the railway track, 2 fluffy dogs in her bike basket. Ladies walked with aluminium ski poles. Ladies scootered their kids to school, then scootered home along quake lumpy pavements. Jewelled ladies in parked cars chatted by posh houses, many needing quake repairs. There was quake damage in Fendalton, near streams & hidden behind vegetation & high walls.


01.11.13. Quake trashed house awaiting demolition, Wairarapa Tce



Wairarapa Tce: I trekked past demolition sites, construction sites & repair sites. Over the last week, I'd watched a ghost entirely demolished: Monday, house quarter demolished; Tuesday, half demolished; Thursday, house gone, a pile of rubble, an orange digger on top; Friday, an empty demolition site, the digger smoothing soil on site. The pavement was covered by 2 strong steel slabs, allowing excavator machines to cross over.



01.11.13. Quake trashed house awaiting demolition, Wairarapa Tce













Garden Rd: Thursday 5 - Tuesday 10 December. HAZARD AREA. DEMOLITION SITE. Another house demolition: Thursday, workmen were ripping out vegetation in the garden. By Monday the house was demolished, a heap of rubble, a navy blue sofa on top. Tuesday, a sandy, demolition site & a pavement, steel mesh fence cordon. It took less than a week to completely demolish a house on a quarter acre property. Over the last 3 years that had happened 1000s of times.

CAUTION CONSTRUCTION SITE. AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY... SPECIFIC HAZARD...

I trekked past house foundation repairs & and house rebuild sites.




10.12.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quake, house demolition site, Garden Rd






10.12.13. Post quake foundation repair, Garden Rd


10.12.13. Steel mesh fence cordon. Post quake, house rebuild, Garden Rd



Pre quakes, I'd seen lively riverside roads along Heathcote River & Avon River. Pre quakes Jake had lived on Avonside Dr, Avon Loop. Post quakes Jake & Luke now flatted together in a 2 storey house on Ashrove Tce by Heathcote River.

Pre & post quakes, I'd often trekked Avon River streets: Avonside Dr, River Rd, Dallington Tce, Locksley Ave, New Brighton Rd, Bexley Rd, Waitaki St. The last 2 streets were the first streets Leah & I saw flooded in the 04.09.10 Darfield Quake. They were trashed by later quakes.

Pre quake roads by Avon River were fully housed & lively. Post quakes, they were red zoned, dusty demolition sites. Those roads haunted me & had lured me back over the last 3 years. Not the only roads haunting me. 

Big news this week was a discrepancy between CERA's Port Hills land zonings & a Council geotech report (Institute of Geological & Nuclear Science) which Council had sat on since August, showing discrepancies between CERA's zonings & the Council report on dangers of slippery slopes in the Port Hills. Slippery slope dangers in the Council report were Classed 1 to 3, Class 1, the most dangerous slope, Class 3, the least dangerous slope.

The Council geotech report used the term "mass movement," meaning rock falls, cliff collapses, slippery slopes, land slips. In reality the Port Hills were riddled with cracks, slopes ready to subside in a big quake. Aerial photos showed how stupid previous Councils were developing housing on top of Port Hills, on Port Hills slopes & below Port Hills slopes.

CERA boss Sutton had wittered for months, delaying CERA zonings in the Port Hills, as CERA awaited a Port Hills rolling rocks study by Milan University. A waste of time & money, while Council did a similar geotech study. There was no cohesion between former mayor Parker's Council & CERA. While Parker's minions red stickered Port Hills houses, CERA's lackeys green zoned the same housing. Why didn't minister Brownlee sort out communications between Council & CERA?

There was too much duplication between CERA & Council. Another glitch was CERA's Insurer Advisory Service vs Council's Advocacy Service. CERA expected Council to use ratepayers' money to part pay for CERA's Advisory Service, which was really just an EQC / insurer protection racket. So much for CERA recovery.

Roads I'd trekked, mentioned in the Council report: Clifton Tce, Clifton; Cliff St, Moncks Bay; Defender Ln, Glendevere Tce, Redcliffs; Bridle Path Rd, Heathcote Valley; Alderstone Ave, Lucas Ln, Aynsley Tce, Hillsborough; Bowenvale Ave, Bowenvale Valley. There were many more slippery slope roads investigated by the Council report, but too many for me to trek.

Slippery slopes I'd blogged post quakes: Scarborough, Sumner, Clifton & Redcliffs: ghosts on top of rock cliffs & below rock cliffs or bluffs & on slippery slopes. Moncks Bay: ghosts on top of & below rock cliffs & on loess & rocky slopes. Mt Pleasant, Heathcote Valley & Bowenvale Valley: houses on slippery slopes. Hillsborough: ghosts on loess slopes & below loess cliffs & rocky bluffs. Lyttelton: houses on slippery, rocky slopes. Never mind streams flowing in several of the above areas, aggravating unstable ground.

Port Hills roads haunted me too & I'd returned to see their degradations from pre quakes, lively residential areas to post quakes demolition sites, or house repairs, or house rebuilds, with broken roads.

Meanwhile:


1. A recent High Court ruling that CERA's residential red zoning was unlawful: CERA was appealing the ruling, causing delays in final residential zoning decisions. Some Port Hills property owners had waited over 2 years for a CERA zoning. Those homeowners were in limbo. Minister Brownlee expediently apologised.

2. This week's Council geotech report, some of which didn't match CERA's green & red zonings. i.e. Some of CERA's green zoned Port Hills residential properties were Class 1 in Council's report: lethal. A shambles!

3. Insurers used CERA vs Council conflicts regarding residential zonings / classes as excuses to delay settlements, or house repairs, or house rebuilds. Aggravating CERA versus Council conflicts, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment only recently sorted out new, post quake, strengthened foundation specifications. Once again, homeowners of quake broken homes were trapped between NZ National govt departments & Council. Why did NZ National govt take so long sorting out foundation specifications? Post quake houses had already been rebuilt with crap foundations.

4. Stonewalling, time wasting, secretiveness & lack of transparency from Council, CERA & EQC.

Property owners' pushback: public protests, court actions, email leaks released by bloggers, media reports, ombudsman complaints, state services commissioner reports, Official Information Act (OIA) requests to EQC before they could get any sense out of authorities responsible for quake RECOVERY.

Monday 18.11.13, 11.36pm, M4.6 quake, 8km depth, 10km SW of Christchurch (GeoNet) in the "Gap" between Halswell & Prebbleton. Leah & I didn't feel it as we were in our car, driving on Barrington St near the Port Hills.

Thurs 21.11.13 The Press front page headline: HOUSING CHANGES TO RAISE DENSITY

CERA vs Council farce continued: More than a year post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, in June last year, when quake displaced people were sleeping in garages, cars, caravans & on the beach, CERA minister Brownlee said there was no housing crisis & that the market would sort things out. Jake was 22.02.11 Killer Quake flooded out of his Waltham Rd flat & had over-wintered with his girlfriend in a liquefactioned garage off Cranford St.

NZ National govt had red zoned 7 000+ houses, expecting them to be abandoned by owners who had to find housing elsewhere. Not a cheep from former town clerk Marryatt's & former mayor Parker's Council about that travesty. A massive taking by NZ National govt. So far, CERA had demolished 3 500 red zone houses, 4 500 still to go. (29.11.13 The Press / Stuff Co).

Without actually replacing the 7 000+ red zoned houses lost by quakes & NZ National govt decree, minister Brownlee suggested changing big, old houses into flats; degrade granny flats & Councils' pensioners' cottages into flats for young people; degrade quarter acre properties into high density townhouses. And new mayor Dalziel actually agreed to those potential, high density slums.

March 2015. Mayor Dalziel would sing Mandarin love songs, wooing Chinese investors in China. She had joined other Chinese wooers, PM Key & former PM Shipley. Dec 2019. Mayor Dalziel would be scorned for not naming her election campaign donors. Later she revealed names of several Chinese donors.

Thus Dalziel & minister Brownlee wanted to stuff 30 to 65 dwellings per hectare, without improvements in infrastructure, public transport, nor roads. (The Press 29.11.13). Dalziel's Council would roll in lolly from a bigger rates base. Where would Dalziel & minister Brownlee put garaging & parking per hectare? Considering the MOE's 2012 botch up with closures & mergers of Christchurch schools, did Brownlee & Dalziel consult Parata's MOE regarding new schools for their incipient slums? 2023. There would be massive new housing development in Halswell. But no new high school would be built in Halswell!

Wed 27.11.13. In the mornings, after Leah dropped me off at Hagley Park Nth on her way to work, I exercised on the outdoor gym machines by the golf club. Thereafter I trekked back to Burnside. Over the last week I'd watched "Christmas In The Park" Xmas tree, stage & equipment being set up for the annual festival.


27.11.13. Christmas In The Park, Xmas tree & stage, Hagley Park N

On my daily treks from Hagley Park North through Fendalton to Burnside I saw lots of FOR SALE signs on residential properties: land for sale, houses for sale, with or without EQC repairs, as is where is... There were also ghosts still waiting for EQC & insurers to do repairs, thus ensuring the rental market was still in crisis, as former inhabitants of abandoned housing had to live somewhere. All those Fendalton FOR SALE signs meant home owners were cashing in.

Clifford Ave: Opp Mona Vale, over the last couple of rainy days, I'd watched diggers digging a new foundation hole on a Fendalton house demolition site, between the railway & Wairarapa Stream. The soil horizon was about half a metre silt above yellow clay, same soil horizon as our Burnside rental. Given daily railway rumblings & future liquefactions, as the house would be built on riverine jelly, that new house would be doomed by the next big quake, despite deeper foundations of compacted shingle & a thicker concrete foundation slab resting on liquefaction mud.


27.11.13. Rebuild foundation hole, Fendalton Rd / Clifford Ave




Neighbouring 2 storey ghost. Another, an overgrown demolition site with stone gate posts left by the road & abandoned swimming pool on Wairarapa Stream bank.


27.11.13. Overgrown garden. Quake abandoned house by Wairarapa Stream, Clifford Ave







27.11.13. Overgrown garden. Quake abandoned pool by Wairarapa Stream, Clifford Ave


27.11.13. Quake damaged house by Wairarapa Stream, Clifford Ave

As for the post quake housing crisis, delusional Brownlee now prevaricated about a "housing pinch!"


27.11.13. Orange, plastic, road cone detour. Clifford Ave road works opp Mona Vale



27.11.13. Quake damaged gates, Fendalton Rd. Wood braced garden wall


*Trekked Wairarapa Tce, Garden Rd, N Hagley Park, Clifford Ave, Fendalton Rd. 33 images.

Wed 03.12.13. OneNews reported that the Appeal Court overturned the High Court's ruling that red zoning was unlawful. The red zone was lawful again, so minister Brownlee could go ahead with CERA's Port Hills zoning review.

But the Appeal Court ruled that CERA's offering uninsured, red zone vacant land & uninsured red zone housing half 2007 govt valuation was unlawful, so Brownlee's CERA had to review offers on uninsured red zone land / housing. A legal precedent was set, so those who had NZ National govt's half baked offers on uninsured red zone land & uninsured red zone housing could take NZ National govt to court for a better offer. And post 22.02.11 Killer Quake, PM Key had said no one would be worse off. What a farce!

Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

See Port Hills deadline extended (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Unlikely consents processed (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Detailed maps Port Hills movement (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Nightmare delay for new rules (The Press / Stuff Co).


See Mayor queries value of EQC advisory service (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Dying man in EQC battle (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Severe housing stress forecast (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Brownlee slams council housing failure (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Housing pinch to worsen until 2017 (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Christchurch city takes shape: goodbye red zone (The Press / Stuff Co).

See joint approach to increase residential red zone clearances (CERA media release 28 November 2013).

See Ruling over unlawful buyouts upheld (The Press / Stuff Co).

See 270 Port Hills homes rezoned (The Press / Stuff Co).

See Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel impresses with Mandarin love songs (The Press / Stuff Co).