Current rules do not allow houses to be built in Christchurch Airport noise contour areas, reducing the potential for future anti-noise complaints.
If the rules are changed, it has the potential to open up development opportunities on Memorial Ave, on land to the east of Russley Rd and Johns Rd, and in Yaldhurst.
City councillors will finalise a staff submission to Environment Canterbury on the issue on August 7, as part of its Regional Policy Statement review.
Mayor Phil Mauger appears to be in favour of a rule change, a position he had three years ago when he was a city councillor.
Mauger, Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton and Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon have met over the issue.
Selwyn and Waimakariri want to be able to build housing under contours in their districts.
Broughton told Selwyn district councillors he had met with Mauger and Gordon to discuss the subject.
“Phil, Dan and I all want to see the protection of 24-hour operation at the airport ... but we don’t think that should restrict housing activity underneath the airport contours,” Broughton said.
Mauger declined to answer questions on whether he would support the rule change.
Instead, a city council spokesperson said: “We are still forming a staff position on the draft RPS and this will be subject to council approval on August 7.”
In 2021, when Mauger was a city councillor and mayoral candidate, he wanted the restrictions gone.
He said the city was “desperately short of land” and the contour land was “not beautiful marshland or farmland. It is solid land that could be divided for housing”.
“We need more people paying rates in Christchurch, to reduce the burden on our ratepayers of paying for infrastructure,” Mauger said at the time.
“Fifty and fifty-five decibels is no worse than what you’ve got in Memorial Ave with cars going past.
“This is our chance. Here’s the land – let’s bloody do it,” he said.
Mauger’s comments were in response to a delegation of landowners wanting the rules changed.
The landowners said in 2021 the 50 decibel airport outer noise contour was the only one in the world. They were outdated and based on obsolete house building standards without sound protection, now double glazing was a requirement on all new builds, they said.
If development was allowed it could also open up a case for a mass rapid transit link along Memorial Ave to the airport, which never made the business case because of the contours restricting the required housing development needed for MRT.
Said Broughton: “It is a big problem for Kaiapoi and it also restricts building down Memorial Ave and was one of the key reasons the proposed MRT route didn’t have a line towards the airport because we couldn’t get the housing density there.”
Gordon wanted the changes.
“As long as noise levels are taken into consideration and considered as part of the housing and subdivision design, I believe housing should be allowed within these areas,” he said.
In a statement, Christchurch Airport would not say whether it supports housing under the contours.
