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Dominico Zapata / Things
Residents of Awatarariki, in the Bay of Plenty, have been fighting a controlled withdrawal from their homes.
The struggle of the people of Matata for their homes has come to an end.
All but one of the residents of Awatarariki have now signed resolution agreements “reluctantly and under duress” with the Whakatāne District Council.
In the end, years of bitter disputes between residents and the council boiled down to an hour-long anti-climactic hearing in Environmental Court on Tuesday during which attorneys sorted out loose ends.
The only decision that had to be made was how long the strongest critics of the managed retreat, Pam, Rick and Rachel Whalley, had left in their beloved home.
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Their home was built in 1993 by the late Bill Whalley, Pam’s husband and Rick’s father.
The Clem Elliott Drive property was the place where grandchildren gathered for Christmas and where pets were brought in to be buried.
The three watched as Judge David Kirkpatrick said the court would enforce the order requested by the Whalleys, the Whakatāne council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, allowing the Whalleys to remain in their seaside home until March 2022 subject to some strict conditions.
All other residents have until March next year when, first in New Zealand, a plan change under the Resource Management Act will remove residents’ existing use rights and effectively make them illegal occupants of their own land.
Many have already been sold to the city council and have moved.
The change of plan and the withdrawal process administered by the district council, in which it bought residents from their properties, was the result of a devastating debris flow in 2005 that destroyed several houses and made others unable to live. but it did not cause deaths.
Dominico Zapata / Things
The fierce opponents, Pam Whalley, her son Rick and daughter-in-law Rachel Whalley, will be allowed to stay at their home until March 2022.
After spending seven years and $ 5 million researching possible engineering solutions, the district council decided that the risk to life in the Awatarariki fanhead was too great and began a managed retirement program.
Developing the managed retirement program cost the district council an additional $ 1.06 million.
The managed retirement program itself will cost $ 15 million, which will be shared equally by the Government, the district council and the regional council.
District council attorney Andrew Green told the Environmental Court that all owners, but one was finalizing bids with the council.
The owner of the remaining property had absolutely refused to commit to the council.
Green said the council still hoped to work with this owner and that the mandatory acquisition of this property would be the last resort.
Judge Kirkpatrick said the 15-year time frame to get to this point was “at least unfortunate, possibly longer than that,” but residents had to move on.
He congratulated the residents and the two city councils for working together to reach a decision in what could only be a difficult situation for everyone involved.
