The council is re-investigating the flood hazard relating to the Lindsay Creek floodplain after it was identified the risk there is higher than acceptable on both a national and regional level.
Councillors knocked back previous plans for flood work programmes in the area in 2011 and 2013.
However, Cr Gretchen Robertson said at a safety and resilience committee meeting last week the "landscape" had since changed in terms of people’s attitudes towards natural hazards.
So too had "best practice" and the techniques used for flood mitigation changed.
"Are there some opportunities there particularly with some parks, reserves ... corridors that could enhance the area as well as [provide] flood mitigation?" Cr Robertson asked.
"But also has knowledge around even the hard infrastructure options as well changed during that time?"
It was costly to deal with urban hazards, particularly in built-up environments, she said.
But it was more effective to act before a flood than afterwards.
"I think this is really crucial that we do understand this environment and we can have a really good informed discussion with the community because it's really important as well when you're living right there — you know this is your home."
It was important to provide people with information about the hazard as well as the potential costs for flood mitigation.
A report to councillors said the council’s long-term plan included a multi-year investigation into reducing the flooding risk in the North East valley.
The budget for the investigation was about $800,000 from now until 2026-27.
By 2027-28 councillors would be asked to decide on whether to keep the flood protection in place as is, to pursue green infrastructure or "nature-based solutions", or to build a flood protection scheme that included hard infrastructure.
That work would not begin until 2028-29, the staff report said.
It said flood protection in the area had been ad hoc and in response to floods.
Between 2005 and 2011 a lot of work was done to develop the options that were ultimately not pursued more than a decade ago.
"Physical flood mitigation work in Lindsay Creek is challenging due to the density of the existing developments in the floodplain.
"Dealing retrospectively with the flood hazard for Lindsay Creek is more difficult than if it were a greenfields area.
"Intense subdivision has occurred, constraining the river, restricting the space available for public works and increasing the vulnerability of houses and their occupants to the impacts of flooding.
"Road bridges have been constructed in a way that impede and/or redirect flood flows in Lindsay Creek and which limit the ability to alter the channel."
The staff report listed 15 flooding events at Lindsay Creek since 1868.
The last major flood in the area was in 1991.
There was bank erosion at the end of Tannadice St and the creek broke out and flooded properties in the area, the report said.
