Christchurch City Councillors have met to discuss plans to rebuild the city's cathedral.
The stone church in the central city was severely damaged in the February 2011 earthquake.
The Anglican Church has put forward three proposals: to restore the original structure, rebuild it in a traditional theme, or replace it with a modern design. The church will make a final decision later in the year.
In a statement before the council meeting on Thursday, Acting Dean of the cathedral Lynda Patterson said there is a need for something beautiful in the city.
On behalf of the Church Property Trustees, project manager Marcus Read said there are severe funding problems and restoration could take more than 20 years and cost $220 million.
Councillors questioned architects over whether they had considered the importance of heritage in all options submitted.
On behalf of the trustees, architect Bill Murray told councillors that the history of ChristChurch Cathedral has been carefully built into each of choices.
Councillor Peter Beck said it is important that heritage is not forgotten.
"We need to look towards building a cathedral which honours and respects absolutely our heritage and our past and carries that memory and that sense of place of who we are as a city and builds for the future. We're building a new city now."
A campaign group which hopes to see church restored, rather than rebuilt, says current cost estimates to restore the original building are bizarre.
Speaking after the meeting, the Restore ChristChurch Cathedral group says it is not satisfied with figures provided by the church trustees.
A spokesperson for group, Mark Belton, says members intend to analyse the finances.
"They've put in the public mind these extraordinary high figures. And these have skewed people's consideration of the options because then they're told the church is short of money as well and is going to have difficulty raising money.
"Then people think for practical reasons we can only go for a less expensive option."
Mr Belton also asked the city council for its support and to commit to putting $10 million towards restoring the cathedral.
