RESOLVED

EPDD03/13 Speedy/Hunter CARRIED

Pursuant to Section 46A (7) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, the Chairperson called for late items to be accepted. There were none.

EPDD03/14 Martin/Hunter CARRIED

The Drainage Manager advised at the last meeting that it may be appropriate that the urban stormwater systems in the rural townships to become a Ward function. It was noted that the arterial drains within the urban areas should remain under the drainage board’s control.

The monthly report from the Drainage Manager was attached for the Committee’s consideration

WPDD03/15 Hunter/Speedy CARRIED

Tables of the drains sprayed in the period were presented. Total length sprayed were 106% due to some major drains having been sprayed twice, mainly the type O drains in Area 4.

The Drainage Manager advised that since the approval to replace the culvert under the farm race and access to the Price pump, over the Kerepehi Feeder drain, a letter had been received from W Tye. The approval was granted on the basis of a one third each share from the owner, EW and EPDD. The original culvert was installed in around 1990 by EPDD at no cost to the owner, or EW, but was of unsuitable material for the site conditions. There were three logical beneficiaries of the culvert; EW for access to the pump, the owner for access, and to EPDD for drain maintenance, hence the three way cost share proposal.

The Drainage Manager advised that further contact had been made with Mr Tye and he had requested further discussion regarding the matter.

The Drainage Overseer explained the situation to date.

EPDD03/16 Hunter/Speedy CARRIED

The Drainage Manager outlined the proposal which was to cut a small lot from the balance of the farm. The small lot was served by a roadside drain which was an extension of the Council drain (No D44, School Road). Options were to extend the Council drain by 180m to serve the small lot, or to create a drain cleaning easement to allow maintenance of the roadside drain by the owner.

Members looked at a map of the area and discussed the options.

Members were in favour of creating a drain cleaning easement to allow maintenance of the roadside drain by the owner.

A Resource Consent for the establishment of chicken broiler sheds on the former McFarlane property on Fisher Road was reported on. Council required that the stormwater runoff from the development be engineer designed so as to not increase the level of local ponding, erosion on the Council drainage network, or cause detrimental flooding of neighbouring properties.

The Drainage Manager advised that the developer proposed to drain via an existing culvert under Fisher Road, to the road side drain on the northern side of Fisher Road, thence to the Waihou River floodgate and pump at Fisher Road site. He was prepared to upgrade this drain, to be then taken over by Council.

Members looked at a map of the area outlining the existing drainage and agreed that their obligations to provide drainage had been met. However a meeting would be arranged with the property owner to discuss the matter further. There was no objection to him cleaning the former Council drain on the north side of Fisher Road.

The Roading Manager advised that Opus International Consultants Ltd had been commissioned to undertake a strategy study to upgrade the Awaiti Road from the Council boundary in the south, to the SH 2 intersection in the north. Between Wani Road and the SH there was a Council drain on either or both sides. Awaiti Road was a major arterial route, and required upgrading to meet existing and future traffic volumes. Components of the upgrade include widening for turning or stacker lanes, and increasing shoulder widths for pull-over stopping. The primary driver was safety. Safety improvements could include the provision of safety barriers, piping and filling of the drains, or relocation of the drains away from the road side.

This preliminary information was to seek the Committee member’s input to the possible new alignments of these drains. The project had a long term timeframe for resolution, possibly 15 to 25 years, but the initial strategy study completion date was within the current financial year.

Members were in favour of the principle of the proposal, subject to survey and that there would be no cost to the Committee.

Mr Hunter advised that property owners along Hauraki Road had received a letter from Opus International Consultants Ltd regarding the removal of a roadside drain along Hauraki Road. There was concern at the lack of time residents had to respond to the letter and the way the letter was worded as it was not clear what part of the drain was concerned.

The Drainage Manager commented that this was a very preliminary attempt to gauge what the landowners thoughts were on the options. However there was concern that drainage board members did not know anything about the proposal and could not answer questions from property owners.

Staff would look into the matter and convey the Committee’s concerns to Opus.

Mr Speedy gave members an update on the recent meeting held at Ngatea on Friday 23 May 2003.

A plot of the Ngatea Monthly Rainfall depths since 1993 was presented. The rainfall totals for March and April were 102 mm and 134 mm respectively.

FINANCIAL REPORT (45.498.003)

The financial report to 10 months to 30 April 2003 was attached for members’ information.

EPDD03/17 Speedy/Schouten CARRIED

The Members were invited to comment on any general drainage issues of interest in their areas.

The Drainage Manager issued members with current plans of their drainage areas.

There were no late items.

The meeting closed at 11.50 am.

CONFIRMED

K J Reid

July 2003