The council owns more than 200km of floodbanks in Otago but due to the array of sensitivities at play, building pathways along the infrastructure is only considered on a case-by-case basis.
Operations general manager Dr Gavin Palmer told councillors staff would develop a policy for building pathways on floodbanks by the end of June.
"Very, very careful consideration" was required, Dr Palmer said.
Floodbanks would cross land that had grazing licences, there would be fencing associated with different properties, questions would arise around maintenance, there could also be questions around who was going to pay to remove or replace the path.
"We are dealing with structures that serve a very important public safety and asset protection purpose," he said.
"That is their primary reason for existence and we have to be very, very careful we do not compromise that, which is why we have to deal with it on a case-by-case basis."
Nevertheless, council staff were working on "a technical specification" for what would be an acceptable pathway on top of a floodbank, he said.
One of the problems the council had was people were presenting staff with specifications "which might be fine as a footpath" but did not meet the standards for the structural integrity of the floodbank itself.
"So, to help people work out proposals before they go too far, [council staff were] coming up with a specification that says if something is to be given permission for construction, these are the kinds of standards we would expect the thing to meet, and so as part of that we could include the criteria around how we make the decision on whether something is acceptable or not," Dr Palmer said.
Cr Bryan Scott raised the issue of public access at last month’s council meeting.
The variety of sensitivities around floodbanks, for an average person pursuing the idea, created "one big obstacle, almost insurmountable", Cr Scott said.
He called for a council policy to streamline the case-by-case approach.
Cr Gary Kelliher said while he understood the sympathy for public access to the assets, it was important to remember they served a critical purpose and improving public access to them could have unintended consequences.
"We must remember that there are leases involved, there is private land involved — all of that is in place to maintain and manage those assets as well."
Meanwhile, the council’s flood scheme bylaw review is under way.
The council manages flood protection and drainage infrastructure in the Lower Clutha, Lower, East and West Taieri, the Water of Leith, Alexandra, Shotover Delta, Tokomairaro and Lower Waitaki.
Council assets, including floodbanks, provide flood protection and land drainage to about 43,000ha of rural and urban land in Otago.
The Flood Protection Management Bylaw controls the type of activities that can be carried out around these assets and outlines when people need to talk to the council or apply for written permission to do any works.
Proposed amendments to the bylaw include changes to requirements around planting, growing or removing vegetation in specific areas near floodbanks, spillways or groynes.
Consultation is open until May 2.
