Key decisions from Christchurch City Council meeting

Christchurch City Council met today (Thursday 27 June 2013), with the key decisions made outlined below:

Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral (A&P) Association rent review The Council unanimously agreed to reduce the rent it charges the Canterbury A&P Association to a peppercorn rental, with no rent reviews until 2015, for the four hectares of land the Association uses to house staff, machinery and run weekly livestock sale events.

District Licensing Committees
The Council has agreed to begin compiling a list of people for consideration for District Licencing Committees. The Committees are required under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 and will consider functions previously performed by District Licensing Agencies, such as applications for liquor licenses and manager's certificates and their renewal. The provisions of the Act relating to District Licensing Committees come into force on 18 December 2013 although the committees would not be operational until 16 January 2014. A decision on the number of District Licensing Committees required and the chairperson(s) will be made after the triennial general elections in October 2013 at which time staff will also report back with a recommended list of members.

Facilities to be exempt from closure policy Councillors agreed that six Council-owned facilities across Christchurch and Banks Peninsula should be exempt from the current policy that says all non-residential buildings with a seismic capacity of less than 34 per cent of the New Building Standard should close. This will allow these facilities to reopen to the public. The buildings are: Duvauchelle Hall, Okains Bay Community Centre/Hall, Harewood Community Hall, Risingholme Workshop building in Opawa, Little Akaloa Community Centre and Pigeon Bay Community Hall. Council staff carried out further reviews of buildings that are currently closed, in response to a request from the Community, Recreation and Culture Committee. All the buildings that can now re-open have only minor damage and are not at risk of brittle collapse. They will be checked to ensure they comply with the Building Act before re-opening. Building users will be advised when they are to re-open once the Council has confirmed timeframes.

Study planned for New Brighton Waterpark The Council has approved the Planning Committee's recommendation that a study is required to evaluate the economic feasibility of the New Brighton Waterpark concept and its potential to revitalise New Brighton's commercial centre. The feasibility study will evaluate several options for the size and range of activities that might be provided at a New Brighton Waterpark. This will acknowledge other possible configurations, including the relationship to the proposed Council-owned Eastern Recreation & Sports Facility (ER&S Facility). The Council has previously decided that it will construct an ER&S Facility, but at present there is no decision on the location of the Facility.

Building consents
Councillors were informed by General Manager Regulation and Democracy Services Peter Mitchell that a report on consents progress has been sent to International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) ahead of the 28 June deadline.

This was in response to IANZ identifying six issues where it felt the Council needed to take action to improve building consent processes.

Mr Mitchell says that staff are also confident that Mayor Parker's request that staff clear the backlog of building consents identified in mid June will also be reduced to zero by the end of the month.

The status of the backlog will be available once a report has been generated on Monday [1 July].

CCDU Transactions
The Council has agreed to finalise negotiations on the sale of a number of properties, owned by the Council and Tuam Limited, that fall within the areas identified in the CCDU Blue Print for anchor projects and the frame. The proceeds from the sale of these properties to the Crown have been included in the Financial Strategy and will fund the capital programme as detailed in the Christchurch City Three Year Plan 2013 - 2016.

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