Twenty-five severe weather-hit Far North residential properties are in the spotlight for potential buyout and relocation.
The shortlisted properties have been identified as the most damaged by the severe weather that hit the North Island during January and February 2023 storms that included cyclones Gabrielle and Hale.
Detailed council-funded analysis to confirm their North Island weather events impact and Future of Severely Affected Land (FOSAL) programme participation is now underway.
Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell said agreement to relocate was a condition of any financial buyout support.
The worst-hit properties have been earmarked as potentially severely affected and now unsafe for living in because of ongoing intolerable risk to human life, due to the danger of future flooding or land slips. Homes and marae in these areas cannot remain or be rebuilt on their current sites. Affected land will be covenanted so no future residential building will be allowed.
FNDC is developing a Future of Severely Affected Land Voluntary Buy-out and Relocation Policy to underpin the work. This must be approved by the Government’s cyclone recovery unit.
The policy is required by the Government as part of its potential shared cyclone recovery unit work buyout and relocation funding. It is based on Auckland Council, Gisborne District Council and Masterton District Council policies and is expected to be formally adopted this week.
Public consultation on the policy ended on October 10.
FNDC manager climate and action resilience Esther Powell said council staff had started working with affected property owners.
The property buyouts and relocations will likely mean big extra unbudgeted cost for Far North District Council ratepayers — even though this cost is to be shared with the Government which will fund up to half the required money under the FOSAL programme.
“The implementation of the policy has the potential to impact ratepayers through unbudgeted financial expenditure…,” Powell said.
The Far North District Council must pay for the costs of demolition or otherwise remediating properties it buys under the scheme, as well as the cost of any dispute resolution process.
Mitchell wrote to the council in August reiterating earlier calls he had made in March and May, urging the Far North District Council to speed up its recovery project timelines to provide certainty for those affected.
“It is vital that this is carried out quickly and effectively, with a clear understanding of the scope and the limitations of the pathway to avoid raising unrealistic community expectations,” Mitchell said.
“I have asked CRU [cyclone recovery unit] officials to visit you in the Far North as a matter of priority, to discuss next steps.”
Government funding towards the buyouts and relocations is only available until June 30. The Far North District Council would have to pay out full costs after this deadline.
Mitchell said due to the time that had passed since the North Island severe weather events, the Government would need to be assured any damage to the earmarked properties was specifically caused at that time and not in previous or subsequent weather events.
The Far North programme has a separate thread for marae and land held in Māori freehold title, where landowners work directly the government instead of the council policy to sort buyouts and relocations.
The draft Far North District Council policy says this separate pathway recognised how any settlement gave effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and previous Treaty settlements. Māori landowners could choose to go through the government pathway or the council’s policy.
Te Kahu o Taonui (Northland Iwi Chairs Forum) has been appointed to work with the Government’s cyclone recovery unit on this aspect.
Mitchell said the programme supported marae and Māori land’s affected owners and residents to “relocate out of harm’s way”.
Their land ownership would be retained, but agreeing to relocate was a condition of government financial support, Mitchell said.
Land ownership will retained for the wider affected properties too. All FOSAL programme land will be covenanted to prevent residential activity once owners are relocated and the residential dwellings cleared.
The Far North District Council will have the right to demolish or remove dwellings and reinstate sites to make them safe.
The Far North properties’ buyout payments will be based on the market value of their residential dwelling and improvements at February 12, 2023.
Uninsured properties will be paid 80% of their market value on that date.
Insured property owners can choose to get the market value of their property, minus unspent insurance and EQC payments. Alternately they can keep insurance proceeds for improvements, while receiving the market value of the land, minus unspent EQC payments for land repairs.
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