Choices offered Kaeo residents

Kaeo residents severely impacted by flooding in March and July have been offered a choice as to whether or not they want the Far North District Council to pursue moves to have the floor level of their homes raised.

General Manager of Regulatory & Customer Services Patrick Schofield said today seven Kaeo properties had been given the option and as a result, five properties had asked for the Section 124 notices issued under the Building Act to be downgraded.

“This means that the requirement to raise the houses will be downgraded and the notices will simply require property owners to provide details of the measures taken to address sanitation and health issues as a result of the floods,” he said.

However the notice to raise houses would remain in place for the remaining two properties. In both cases the owners indicated they wanted to proceed with more extensive flood mitigation measures.

“We have made it quite clear to the seven property owners the decision is theirs. If they want to take the risk there will be no further flooding then that is their choice. We will continue to do all we can to find external funding for the properties planning to continue to raise their floor levels, and to help all the properties on which notices were originally served,” he said.

Mr Schofield said from the beginning every effort had been made to get the message across that the council was not applying undue pressure and that the timeframes in the notices were open to discussion on a case-by-case basis. When two property owners objected strongly to the approach taken, the council had gone back to the property owners with the option.

In hindsight it was accepted that the process used had limitations, and the lesson had now been learned.

Mr Schofield said notes on the property files would be adjusted to reflect the changes.