Homeowners near the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River have suffered from the dust, constant noise coming from the Woolston site, which also obstructs their Port Hills’ views.
“You’re talking about people’s lives being disrupted for a considerable period of time,” said Linwood Ward city councillor Yani Johanson.
“It’s not fair on the local community that this kind of activity is allowed to occur, unfettered and unabated, in my view.”
Christchurch property developer Richard Peebles, and Peebles Group Ltd, own the site.
Peebles co-owns the Riverside Market and Little High Eatery.
The area being developed is the last 12ha of the overall industrial area to be completed, Peebles said.
“Peebles Group Ltd take our responsibilities very seriously and have planned mitigation measures to reduce the impact on surrounding neighbours.”
While construction work at the site has been ongoing for nearly two years, concerns over shipping container storage were first raised at the Waikura Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board meeting on March 16.
In spite of residents’ concerns, the containers were placed on the site in early July.
“We could hear them compacting the area down, which was shaking out houses and rattling windows and all sorts of things,” Gould Cres resident Susan Jones said.
“Then one morning I woke up … pulled the curtains across and here (are) these containers in front of me,” Jones said.
No notification was given by Christchurch City Council. A spokesperson said the company was “permitted to establish on the site without a resource consent subject to compliance with certain standards”.
While residents knew it was an industrial zone, Jones said no one had any idea it would become a shipping container yard.
Another Gould Cres resident, who did not want not to be named, said the 2.9m containers were stacked five or six high.
The resident said at 14.5m to 17.4m, the stacks breached the 11m height restriction at the northern end of the site, closest to the residential areas.
A city council memo from August 30, obtained by Bay Harbour News, suggested a stack of containers could be defined as a building but that could be legally challenged.
Peebles confirmed the restriction on part of the site. However, he said: “A container temporary storage facility is not a building and there is no height restriction for storage”.
The city council spokesperson said it is investigating the issue.
Noise monitoring performed by the city council on August 23 found the noise limit was breached at two Long St properties. It gave the company 14 working days to comply.
Long St resident Melissa McCutchan said the site workers operate at all hours of the day and night. She made, her husband and their neighbours made noise complaints frequently.
Johanson said: “It’s just been really concerning to residents and frustrating because concerns are being raised, but the development is progressing.”
McCutchan said it has been “taking a toll” on residents’ mental health.
“Because I dread going on maternity leave for the fact that they’re going to be working all-day and all night … because in the home it’s a constant drone.”
Anytime a container is dropped onto another, the noise and vibrations cause her to question if it is an earthquake.
Jones said: “People are sick and tired of being woken up with the banging and carrying on around five in the morning. There is no end in sight.”
Peebles confirmed there had been one incident where a worker had started half an hour early, but could not give any more details.
As a resident on Long St himself, Johanson noted there have been repeated times when they had been working well before 7am, waking up the neighbourhood.
“They don’t have any respect for the impact that they’re having – and it’s not fair.”
Shipping containers stacked up at the site. Photo: John Cosgrove
The city council spokesperson said it will be performing further testing. It had done some testing last week but there was no work going on.
If the Christchurch District Plan noise rules are not being complied with, the city council would consider an escalated enforcement approach.
In a positive step, a notice of motion was passed at the recent city council meeting, which noted concerns and called for a report and advice into how the District Plan could be changed by introducing additional controls and public notification requirements.
Construction on the part of the site adjacent to the residential properties is due to be completed in October, Peebles said.
However, the facility is a container yard and the containers would come and go. The space would be used for logistics and container use in the long-term.
Johanson received an update from the city council last week, stating it had asked the owner to comply with the ‘outline development plan’, the 30m setback requirement and to reduce the container stack heights to 11m. The council is seeking compliance by September 30 and, if the conditions are not met, further enforcement action is likely.
