The Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, which owns 13 heritage buildings in Oamaru, has made a submission to Parliament's local government and environment committee which is considering the Building (Earthquake-Prone Buildings) Amendment Bill.
The submission from the Oamaru trust, prepared by trustee Peter Garvan, emphasises the need to encourage adaptive re-use of heritage buildings, rather than being hindered by unreasonable compliance costs.
The Bill proposes coloured notices - red indicating the building falls below 20% of the National Building Standard and orange for 20% to 33% - in low seismic risk zones.
But the trust fears that may not provide a fair and accurate view of the risk of occupying buildings.
''Our main concern is the use of coloured notices is the same as in post-disaster placarding - the public may conclude a red earthquake-prone building notice has the same meaning as the red stickers used in Christchurch ... that the building is unsafe to enter.''
The economic impact on businesses in those buildings may be out of proportion to the risk to members of the public entering the buildings.
The short-term effect of people not visiting businesses could be considerable and hinder spending on buildings, rather than encouraging it.
The trust preferred not to have notices on buildings but, a second choice would be letter-graded.
If Parliament decided to stick with the colour notices, the trust wanted a grace period of several years before they needed to be displayed, giving owners time to strengthen the buildings and not have the stigma of them being labelled earthquake-prone.
Other issues raised by the trust were the potential of prosecution under the Health and Safety in Employment Act for owners of buildings 34% or more above the standard and a change to the standard which has to be achieved if a building was be substantially altered or changed for another use.
