This is the first of what will be a number of articles detailing the expectation of planners set against the common sense of businesses and residents.
At the Public Meeting called by Councillor Greg Sayers, held in Kumeu on Monday 17 February, it became very apparent that the Auckland Council Planners were still holding to their view that the best area for the development of the new Kumeu Town Centre is in the
This is the first of what will be a number of articles detailing the expectation of planners set against the common sense of businesses and residents.
At the Public Meeting called by Councillor Greg Sayers, held in Kumeu on Monday 17 February, it became very apparent that the Auckland Council Planners were still holding to their view that the best area for the development of the new Kumeu Town Centre is in the middle of the flood plain.
In the Special 34 (Kumeu Town Centre) Zone [Amendment 158] it was stated that “There is insufficient zoned land at Kumeu to address the demand for commercial activities and to support the role of Kumeu-Huapai as a focus for growth. Kumeu-Huapai was identified in the Northern and Western Sectors Agreement as a centre for growth in the western part of Rodney District with the population forecast to increase more than four-fold by 2021.
With a growing population comes demand for commercial uses and it has been evident from the establishment of commercial activities on industrial properties that there has been insufficient appropriately land zoned for those activities at Kumeu. A number of strategic and local context investigations have identified a clear direction and desire for a town centre serving Kumeu-Huapai to be established at Kumeu adjacent to the existing Kumeu Village.”
The more than 200 people at the meeting were privileged to have Nick Vegar, from Healthy Waters and Flood Resilience, a division of Auckland Council who explained in detail why the above proposal was nigh impossible.
Over the years Kumeu-Huapai area has flooded on numerous occasions, from 1926, when the Kumeu Post Office flooded to a depth of 1.2m to 1928, 1954, 1961, 1979, 1988 and more recently August 2021 and then again in January and February 1923.
The Future Kumeu Concept Plan, above, for Kumeu and Huapai will be covered in detail in our next issue along with the plan to make the road through Kumeu a cycling and walking corridor and form a Rapid Transit Cycleway around the township, see enlarged plan on Pg 16.
August 2021
Historically Nick explained that the likelihood of a 100 year flood was based on the expectation of 150mm of rain falling over a 24 hour period and this method was still in place until recent years. This more recently has increased to a base of 250mm in 24 hours and in August 2024 the rainfall was 176mm in 12 hours. The standard basis for assessing a 100 year event is now 250mm in 24 hours. The conclusion of Healthy Waters is therefore “On the basis of the flood risk options work completed to-date Healthy Waters does not currently believe there is a viable and cost-effective infrastructure solution available to satisfactorily reduce flood risk in Kumeu-Huapai township. For this reason, at this stage Healthy Waters will not be investing further in assessing, planning or constructing large-scale flood-risk reduction infrastructure projects in Kumeu-Huapai.”
