Taitapu caught in Catch 22 dilemma

Press, 2 September 1986, Page 9

Taitapu caught in Catch 22 dilemma

Taitapu residents feel they are in a Catch 22 situation — growth of the township would make a new sewerage scheme there viable but its vil-lage-like character is the reason most people live there. “Most people would move out if another 400 houses moved in,” said the vice-president of the Taitapu Residents’ Association, Ms Sheryl Lucas.

“Although most people agree that it has to grow a bit, we don’t want it to get out of proportion.” That is unlikely to happen without an improved sewerage scheme which

would lessen the health risk of the flood-prone township. Residents’ reaction to a council decision was that the council had “pretty well killed” the proposal.

A member of the Taitapu Residents’ Association, Mr Jack Oliver, admitted that there would be “a lot of reservation” among ratepayers about whether they were prepared to pay $7OO each a year, and the full $1590 was an “impossible” amount.

He was critical, however, that the issue had, been “bandied about” for so long, having almost come to fruition in 1978 but being rejected by the council because the estimate of $4OO a year per household was felt to be too much. “It was first costed in 1971 at $249,000,” he said.

Mr Oliver also felt the other districts had looked at the cost only from a lump sum point of view. “The number of resi-

dents they have got means the cost of this would be less than 1 per cent a household on their rates. But the cost to Taitapu people will be 101 per cent on top of their rates.”

Those areas also had the advantage of . being in the Christchurch Drainage Board district and had access to a collective pool of finance, he said, whereas Taitapu was “at the mercy of the council.”

The association had not made submissions to the council yet because it was still preparing them and had only dealt with the Rural Districts Council so far.

Ms Lucas said she thought Taitapu residents felt uninformed about the situation and hoped to hold a public meeting soon.

A survey of the residents had found that 78 per cent were in favour of the sewerage scheme in principle but their feelings about a precise figure was unknown.