Over 500 at CERA Brookhaven Ferrymead Meeting

Over 500 people attended which was ... wow. Most of the meeting the floor was passed to Cera who gave an outline on the background to the zone changes. A half hour Q&A also took place with people asking questions on things like ROW, EQC, Council, Property value fears, insurance issues and delays. Ruth Dyson also spoke on the human issues people face, a letter from David Carter was read and Cancern spoke at the end.

While there was a lot of background frustration evident both at Cera for the lack of detailed information to be suppled and at peoples situation the vast majority I spoke with afterwards felt they did come away better informed. For such a huge crowd of people in a scary situation everyone was very polite and respectful.

A show of hands on how many "believe" they are rebuilds was very revealing. Cera data was 20% rebuild, 20% repair and 60% no major damage. Hands on the night was probably 150-200 maybe. Well above that.

There will be letters to all from Cera outlining public meetings they will be holding very soon which will include Dept Housing, Insurance, Council, EQC etc.  Quoted with permission

FERRYMEAD BROOKHAVEN RESIDENTS COMMUNITY MEETING

CERA representatives and Ruth Dyson will attend

FERRYMEAD BROOKHAVEN RESIDENTS
COMMUNITY MEETING

MONDAY 7 NOVEMBER , 6:00 PM SHARP
(finish approx 7:30pm)

LOCATION: SAMOAN CHURCH (Mapusaga Fou), church hall, 9 Vili Place.
(This is off St Lukes Street, which is off St Johns Road, Woolston.
The church is the one that can be seen on the corner of Linwood Ave and DyersRoad).
Optional gold coin donation to offset expenses, tea & coffee, etc.

Residents have requested a community meeting specifically for our area. The purpose of the meeting is to update and inform residents about last Friday's land decision. Many of our residents were shocked and dismayed by the sudden announcement last Friday. It has been very challenging to come to terms with the way the message was delivered and the message itself. There was a widespread belief that most of Brookhaven would go red, due to area wide ground settlement caused by severe liquefaction. So naturally there are mixed emotions running throughout our community.

The meeting focus is to look to the future and understand the process and rationale of becoming Green/Blue TC3 and how we can move forward positively. Our residents should after the meeting be better informed about land, rebuilding and insurance issues. Our aim is provide relevant expertise on the night as a starting point to understand the process and the road ahead.

Speakers - Ruth Dyson has accepted an invitation to speak, David Carter is out of town but will send a message, CERA Geotech and a community liaison person will be there. Christchurch City Councillors Yani Johanson and Tim Carter will attend if their planning hearings finish early enough. EQC have been invited, but cannot attend, however we are sending them questions to answer and we will read them out at the meeting. We will also have local building industry people on hand to answer rebuild questions.

We also now have a Ferrymead Brookhaven Residents Association Blog
http://ferrymead-brookhaven.blogspot.com/ 

This has been set up to keep you informed of developments in our area.
This blog is linked to http://www.rebuildchristchurch.co.nz/ who now publish a link to all new postings. Big thanks to Margaret Copplestone for her expertise and motivation to get this underway.

You can also follow us through the Trademe Earthquake thread in the community notices. Best wishes to everyone.

David Stringer (Chairman) and Debra Ogier (Secretary)

Ferrymead Brookhaven Resident's Association
Enquiries to Dave 376 6136

Blue TC3 Land Zone Technical Category for Ferrymead Brookhaven

New Catergory for Green Zone - Technical Category 3 Blue

Click here to see full map for Christchurch

Technical Category 3 (blue): moderate to significant land damage from liquefaction is possible in future significant earthquakes. Foundation solutions should be based on site-specific geotechnical investigation and specific engineering foundation design where foundation repairs or rebuilds are needed. This might involve deep piles.

New foundation techniques are being trialled
The Department of Building and Housing is now testing a range of foundations for TC3 (blue) properties with results due by mid-December.

Some of the trial techniques have been used in roading but not previously for homes. However, they may be cheaper than sinking deep piles.

The department said updated guidance for repairing or rebuilding homes and design guidance for Technical Category 3 was due to be provided by the end of February 2012. Download this PDF

Ferrymead Brookhaven Goes GREEN

This from the CERA map today http://cera.govt.nz/static/land-zone-map/

Orange zone update due as frustration mounts

  The Government will give an update on the residential orange zone today amid growing frustration for homeowners.
  The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) announced yesterday that Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Cera chief executive Roger Sutton will deliver an update at 2.15pm.
It is unclear if the Government will make a final call on whether orange-zone properties will have to be abandoned or whether it will release a new timetable for decisions.
  However, media have been given 45 minutes to digest a technical report ahead of the announcement, increasing hopes that detailed decisions will be made.
  A Cera spokeswoman refused to comment to The Press yesterday. Brownlee did not return calls.
Spencerville homeowner Darla Hutt said she had been told by Cera on Tuesday that more information would be provided today.
  But Cera yesterday backed away from this statement, telling her only that an announcement would be made soon.
  "I'm just mad," she said. "Every time there is a delay I start not sleeping well."
About 9000 orange-zone properties remain in limbo eight months after the devastating February 22 earthquake, their owners waiting for the Government to decide whether their land should be abandoned or repaired.
  Already more than 6000 Christchurch and Waimakariri District homes have been classified red, meaning the Government will offer to buy their land, which has been deemed too badly damaged to repair.
  Thousands of orange-zone homes in Brooklands, Spencerville and Southshore were scheduled to be resolved in early September, but owners were asked to wait until at least early October.
Since then, they have been told at least twice to wait longer. Thousands more orange-zone homeowners in Parklands, Avonside and other quake-hit suburbs are expecting answers by Tuesday.
Brownlee again asked orange-zone homeowners for patience this month, saying that they would have more information in the next fortnight.
  Brooklands Residents' Association chairwoman Annette Buxton said people in Brooklands were worried about being left behind as red- zone homeowners accepted the Government's money and bought new homes.
  "We are wondering, how long do we have to wait?," she said.
  "People are fed up."
  Southshore resident Tim Sintes, who also sits on Burwood-Pegasus Community Board, said the seaside suburb was awash with rumours and the anxiety was getting worse as time wore on.
  "There is just no closure and we can't move on."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/5867132/Orange-zone-update-due-as-frustration-mounts

Announcement for Orange Zone Homeowners Friday 28th October at 2 pm

There will be an announcement for Orange Zone Homeowners from the Minister and CERA at 2 pm on Friday 28th October. This is subject to change at short notice.

Major Sewer Cave-in in Teal Close, Brookhaven

The ground has given way and temporary pipes are in place, one property has 2 1/2 metre deep whole. Repairs are expected to take 2 to 3 weeks. Teal Close backs on to Dyers Road where there are temporary speed restrictions in place.

Property Issuses Among the Rubble

Duncan Cotterill - Lawyers of Christchurch
have published a free downloadable booklet
"Property Issuses Among the Rubble"Click here to get your copy

Delay before orange-zoners get update

This article published in The Press 12 October says "Orange-zone Christchurch residents waiting to find out the fate of their land will have to wait another two weeks for their next update."
Click here to read more

Orange zone decisions are top priority

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has today convened meetings in the residential orange zone with geotechnical engineers and officials in order to get clarity around the myriad of complexities that need to be sorted before rezoning can occur. Click here to read more