Owaka Road tip decision likely in New Year

Press, 13 December 1985, Page 19

Owaka Road tip decision likely in New Year

The final decision on whether to allow land at Owaka Road in Paparua to be used as a public tip for demolition and hardfill materials will be made by the Paparua County Council early in the New Year.

The council’s town-plan-ning committee decided on Tuesday to defer the decision until it had more in-

formation from the North Canterbury Catchment Board on the required depth of the pit before demolition materials could be dumped in it The board has asked that the council impose a level of 1.4 m, which is equal to the maximum recorded groundwater level. The county planner, Mr Ken Lawn, said this would mean filling the tip with seven or eight metres of inert material before demolition materials, such as timber, could be dumped. “With such a small proportion of the total pit allowed for demolition material the whole proposition could be impractical,” he said. “A lesser height would allow more filling and be more acceptable.”

Mr Lawn said the Catchment Board had set the highest water level re-

corded, to ensure that water would not rise through the demolition material and possibly pollute the underground water. “But it has not been that high for some time, and is normally well below that level,” he said. The committee also heard 11 objections to the proposal, most of which were

concerned with the dumping of putrescible materials (ones that can rot) at the tip. The applicants, C. D. and R. W. McEvoy, withdrew this part of their request. Other objections related to the dust nuisance that could be caused with the increased use of Owaka Road, which is unsealed.