During their first meeting of 2024, Lawrence-Tuapeka Community Board members, including Clutha district ward councillor Jock Martin, expressed their dissatisfaction with the outcome of a stormwater impact-modelling assessment prepared for the council by GHD Consulting.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times last week, Cr Martin explained there appeared to have been a miscommunication in what the report was supposed to assess, leading to "disappointment and frustration" among board members at the meeting.
"We first raised this after the flash flooding in Ross Pl in January last year, and our expectation was that the report would detail the best measures to avoid a recurrence.
"Instead what we have is a report telling us what we already know, which is where stormwater goes during an extreme weather event like this. We already know this because we saw it first hand."
The lack of progress was all the more frustrating because residents were "well aware" of what needed to be done to resolve the matter, Cr Martin said.
"It’s a relatively simple fix. We just need the stormwater infrastructure in Colonsay St to be upgraded, culverts enlarged and kept clear, and to feed the water into Hospital Creek.
"But 12 months down the track and we’re apparently no further ahead."
Council chief executive Steve Hill acknowledged the community’s desire for action, and said the council and GHD Consulting were working together to deliver a "foundation for long-term flood-risk reduction in Lawrence".
"While the project initial stages were focused on laying the groundwork for long-term flood-risk reduction, we acknowledge the concerns expressed ... and the time taken to date.
"The next stages are to carry out an options analysis, provide engineering solutions, measure the effectiveness of the chosen solution and for the contractor to produce a comprehensive report. We expect this work to be completed in six to 10 weeks."
Residents’ observations about the likely origins of the flooding had been passed on to the consultants once more, Mr Hill said.
"Concerns with runoff from Colonsay St were passed on to the consultant during project initiation in 2023. Their preliminary results ... do not seem to model runoff from the Colonsay St area.
"These limitations were noted by council staff ... and information about issues on Colonsay and Peel Sts was again passed on to the consultant to refine in their engineering solutions and report."
Lawrence residents would be kept informed of progress, Mr Hill said.
