Orange zone decisions hit final stretch

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced the re-zoning of a further 255 residential orange zone properties, 42 to green, which means their owners can begin the process of repairing or rebuilding, and 213 to red, which means the properties will be subject to Government offers of purchase.

Mr Brownlee says today’s zoning decisions have been among the most challenging of the over 10,000 flat land properties originally zoned orange, given the complex nature of the damage, which varies from street to street.

Only 653 orange zone properties require final zoning, 401 of them in Southshore, and the others in smaller pockets bordering already red and green zoned land.

“After what has been a long and anxious process for those waiting for decisions we’re now into the final stretch of re-zoning properties in the residential orange zone,” Mr Brownlee said.

“As I’ve stressed in recent months, the judgement calls being made on remaining properties are finer and more complex than previous decisions, which is why they haven’t been announced sooner.

“But most of the geotechnical and other expert works are now done, and I expect the 653 remaining orange zone properties to be re-zoned in the coming weeks.”

The 213 properties zoned red today are in parts of Avonside, Burwood, Dallington and Wainoni. The owners of these properties with insurance cover will be eligible for the Crown’s residential red zone offer.

Mr Brownlee says some of the newly zoned properties were previously on the boundary of green and red zones. That applies to 12 homes in Burwood, seven in Dallington and 15 in Avonside which now become part of the red zone.

“Work has been specifically looking at these boundary areas over the past few months and the results show that when taking the level of engineering works needed into account, these properties should also be zoned red.

“There are some other small pockets of land where there is contention over the appropriateness of existing zoning; those areas will be reviewed and decisions made on whether changes are required only once the final zoning of all 653 remaining orange zoned properties is concluded,” Mr Brownlee said.

Land on the 42 Wainoni properties zoned green today can be repaired individually. These will come under the Department of Building and Housing’s Technical Category 3 guidelines. CERA will be sending letters and arranging a public meeting to further inform this group on next steps in the coming weeks.

For the 213 properties zoned red, door knocking will start today and public meetings will be held to ensure residents affected by the announcement are given the information they need. CERA will ensure there is a face-to-face, individual contact with all red zone homeowners.

Along with the 653 remaining residential properties in the orange zone, there are also 2100 white zoned residential properties in the Port Hills which need re-zoning.

“These residents have not been forgotten, but the geotechnical assessment of their land differs markedly from that on the flat,” Mr Brownlee said.

“Both CERA and the council are working together on a range of issues to assess the state of the ground and the life risks these property owners face, and to provide advice on options to mitigate that risk.

“As with all land zoning we’re working as fast as we can to make sound decisions which property owners can rely on to protect the value of their assets,” Mr Brownlee said.

Residents can confirm their re-zoning by visiting www.landcheck.org.nz or phoning 0800 RING CERA (0800 7464 2372).