Marion van Dijk/Stuff
Nelson City Council’s support for plans to replace the city’s main library (pictured centre) with a new library, also within the riverside precinct, has come under fire from environmentalists.
Spokesman, geologist Aaron Stallard, said there was too much uncertainty about the flood risks at the site to “rush ahead” with the proposal.
Combined river flood and coastal inundation modelling due to be released by the council, needed to be made public, Stallard said.
Coastal indundation maps released four months ago, identified about 4500 properties as at risk from sea level rise scenarios.
Building a library on the site, at the corner of Trafalgar St and Halifax St, next to the CBD, would leave the council with little choice but to defend other people’s assets from flooding across the city, at huge cost, he anticipated.