An East Lismore homeowner has lodges development application to raise house above flood level | Lismore City News

Paul Power has put in a development application with Lismore council to raise his East Lismore house in the hope it might be elevated above most future floods.

The rental home on Esmonde St sustained damage in the February 2022 flood, when floodwater went more than a metre above the second storey floorboards.

They “patched it up” after the flood to allow the tenant to move back in, but when he decided to move away from Lismore, Paul gutted the building for a “forced reno”.

“We thought, if we’re going to do a reno, we may as well lift it,” Paul said.

It’s not a cheap decision, and he is waiting to hear whether his application for a Resilient Home Program grant has been successful.

Paul says he is more fortunate than some in that the impacted property is an investment property, not his home. He understands the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation’s priority is the buyback scheme, but he would like some idea when his application might be considered – an application lodged two days after the program was announced in October last year.

“I’ve gone into this with the worst case scenario in mind. It would be nice to get assistance, but a lot of people need the buyback,” he said.

The proposed floor height would still be below the February 2022 flood, but Paul said he had to weigh the impracticality of raising the floor too high and adding too many steps, against the risk a flood of that magnitude would happen again.

“We reached a happy medium … and crossed our fingers it will be enough.”

With no insurance, Paul, a boilermaker by trade, hopes to do some of refit work himself, with the assistance of a professional house raiser. Otherwise, he estimated it would cost in excess of $100,000 to raise and refit the house.

The expense involved in preparing plans and lodging DAs meant many people could not progress with plans to renovate or raise their homes without the grants, Paul said.

He estimated it had cost $10,000 already, “before we’ve even put tools on it”.

As well as a buyback, the Resilient Home Program offers funding to raise or retrofit flooded home.

The program will provide financial assistance of up to $100,000 for house raising or up to $50,000 for retrofitting for homeowners in areas where flood risk can be reduced by better building standards.

The NRRC states that home raising and retrofits streams of the Resilient Home Program will commence in the second quarter of 2023.

Lismore City Council spokesperson said since the February 2022 flood it has approved two house raising development applications, and both of these were in the rural areas.