After years of delay and indecision a new sewage plant looks set to be built outside Kerikeri at a cost of more than $20 million.
Kerikeri's 25-year-old treatment plant, in a residential area on Shepherd Rd, no longer meets its consent conditions and is operating near its limits. New homes can't be hooked up to the plant and parts of the CBD still rely on septic tanks.
The Far North District Council's latest plan, to build a new treatment station on farmland outside town, has been welcomed by Shepherd Rd residents who have long complained of foul smells.
Peter Irvine, whose home is less than 200m from the current plant, welcomed what he said was a wise and logical decision.
Until last month the council had planned to build a new plant next to the old one. That would have been just 60m from the home Mr Irvine shares with his wife and preschool children.
"It really is great news. My family's health will no longer be put at risk and we'll no longer have to put up with the daily stench of a plant that should have been moved and replaced years ago," he said.
Earlier this year the council asked the public to choose from a series of options for fixing Kerikeri's sewage dilemma.
The council's preference, option 1a, was to build a new plant next to the existing one on Shepherd Rd and separately upgrade Paihia's treatment plant. At an estimated $22.2 million it was the cheapest option and the one that gained most support.
Option 2, a scaled-down version of the original plan devised before the global financial crisis, was to build a new plant in Waitangi Forest for sewage from Kerikeri and Paihia. It was more expensive, at $25.5m, but already had resource consents.
Another option added late in the process, 1b, was to build a new Kerikeri plant outside town and upgrade Paihia at a cost of $23.7m.
Despite support for option 1a councillors delayed a final decision until consultants completed a "multi-criteria analysis and risk assessment". That identified 1b as the best option, which councillors have now decided to pursue.
Infrastructure committee chairman John Vujcich said the new plan would address the concerns of people living near the current plant, which would be demolished and replaced by a pump station.
The consultants considered each option's affordability, social, cultural and environmental effects, ease of obtaining resource consents, landbanking for Treaty settlements, room for future expansion, odour and noise nuisance, and other factors.
The Opus study found the combined Kerikeri-Paihia plant, option 2, offered the most benefits but was also the most expensive. Option 1a was the least expensive but offered the fewest benefits. Mr Vujcich said 1b provided the best balance between costs and benefits and was the clear winner.
The council had started consulting directly affected landowners and would soon invite wider feedback. The project was still at an early stage with the council needing to buy the site, secure land access and obtain consents before construction could start.
Previous delays sparked concerns the council could lose a Health Ministry subsidy previously estimated at $7m, but Mr Vujcich said the subsidy was still available.
The breakdown of option 1b costs is $7.5m to connect remaining properties in central Kerikeri to the network; new plant, $10.75m ($1.5m more than Shepherd Rd option); new effluent pipeline, $2.25m; Paihia upgrade, $3.2m.
It is too early to say how much it will cost each ratepayer.