Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger says small pockets of the city’s residential red zone could be used to help first home buyers into the market, while also flagging the possible sale of Apollo Projects Stadium and a chunk of surrounding land to help pay down council debt.

Speaking to Chris Lynch Media, Mauger sought to dispel concern from residents who had heard the council was looking at building on red zone land, much of which was previously cleared after the Canterbury earthquakes.

He said the issue would be discussed at the first co-governance meeting next Tuesday with Mana Whenua representatives and three council members.

“In the plan there’s 10 hectares, and it’s not all in one heap. It’s dotted around all over the place,” Mauger said.

“It’s 10 hectares of land that is zoned for edge housing, so it’s just little bits here and there. It’s discussing what we do with that going forward.”

He stressed there would be no blanket development on land that remains soggy, low lying or unsuitable.

“It’s not wall to wall ten storey buildings or anything like that. There’s 10 little hectares dotted around all over the place on the fringe of the red zone.”

The council currently owns the land, having purchased it from the Crown for a dollar.

Mauger said one option being considered was passing land to community housing providers such as Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust, allowing single storey homes to be built and sold cheaply with the buyer owning only the dwelling, not the land underneath.

“People can actually buy a house there, and the land component is very cheap, and then they would pay rates to us. When they sell it they don’t own the land, they just own the house.”

“Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust are doing that with some of their housing complexes at the moment.”

Asked whether residents would push back against rebuilding on land that was previously red zoned, Mauger acknowledged the sensitivity but said much of the original zoning came down to where a line was drawn on a map.

“Some of these houses were red zoned by the width of a red ballpoint pen in Wellington. The house is in good shape, right through the thickness of a 100mm fence the land next to it is good as well.”

“But you go down to Lower Bexley Road and stuff like that, you don’t build there, because it’s all underwater or it’s going to be when the wetland comes in.”

Voter turnout sits at 38 percent

Mauger was also asked about the low turnout at the last local body election, with only 38 percent of Christchurch voters casting a ballot and just one in four young people taking part.

The mayor pushed back on the suggestion that the result reflected a failure of council leadership.

“I don’t think it’s a failure of leadership, because if people are unhappy they will get out and vote to make a change. So obviously they are reasonably happy with what was going on.”

He said younger people tended to engage with local politics later in life, once the realities of mortgages, rates and raising children kicked in.

“What settles them down and makes someone a lot more interested is a mortgage, a house, a loan, kids, all of that sort of stuff. They get a lot more interested then.”

“There are certainly some young people that are very interested, but not that many of them, until they sort of get in the midst of it all.”

Apollo Projects Stadium and 5 hectares could be sold

Mauger confirmed Apollo Projects Stadium and around 5 hectares of surrounding land was being considered for sale, although the site would need to be rezoned first and the public would have a say on what replaces it.

“That’s something that we can sell, get the money for and pay down debt, because debt’s a killer.”

He acknowledged the proceeds would not transform rates bills overnight, but argued every dollar off debt mattered.

“Last year we had $20 million surplus and we took that off debt, and that made 2 percent of rates.”

“That’s why I was keen on getting rid of the Lichfield car park, because that’s $40 million, that’s about 4 percent of rates. You start adding a few of those together and before you know it, you start to look half sharp.”

The council ultimately decided to retain the Lichfield car park.

Keeping the post Supercars momentum going

With the city coming off a high after the Supercars round and the opening events at the new One New Zealand Stadium, Mauger was asked how Christchurch maintains that energy beyond a handful of marquee weekends.

“We’ve come off a massive high with Supercars and Super Round. There were so many people in town, it was unbelievable.”

He said the calendar from here was steadier rather than spectacular, with a Crusaders versus Blues match next weekend, followed by Six60 with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the All Blacks and the Warriors.

“It won’t be the massive hubbub of what we had over the last two weekends, but it was a good start, and Venues Ōtautahi are working very hard with a lot of things in the pipeline.”

Mauger said the operators were doing as much as possible to keep the stadium active between major events. He was heading there himself that night for a Local Government New Zealand Zone Five and Six dinner.