Oaklands Estate subdivision settlement pleases council
Statement by Rotorua District Council chief executive, Geoff Williams:
The council is pleased for the property owners that a resolution to issues around the Oaklands Estate subdivision has been reached. Our objective from Day One has been to bring this matter to the earliest possible conclusion so the property owners and their families can get on with their lives. These have been very difficult times for them and with so many parties involved it has taken much longer than we would have hoped. But at last, that day has come.
Parties to the settlements have signed confidentiality agreements as is usual in cases of negotiated agreements like this. For that reason, and to respect the personal privacy of the people involved, specific settlement details can't be made public.
This resolution has involved a number of parties at varying stages, including the property owners, the engineering consultants, the subdivision developer, builders, the courts, lawyers and the council. It is has required the collective will and cooperation of all parties to reach a satisfactory resolution, along with a degree of compromise on all parts.
I commend those parties for coming to the table with a shared determination to reach a settlement. I particularly want to acknowledge the role of the developer Geoff Kenny, and that of Mayor Kevin Winters and my predecessor Peter Guerin, for their hard work behind the scenes to help broker the settlement. Their contribution has been pivotal.
The council's contribution to the settlements has been to purchase four of the least damaged houses at an agreed value. Mr Kenny has purchased other houses. The properties RDC has taken interim ownership of have cost the council approximately $1.2 million. However they are repairable, so remediation work will be undertaken and they will then be resold. Our expectations are that a substantial amount of our purchase costs will be recouped at that time.
From the beginning the council has been of the clear view that RDC was not responsible for the problems at the Oaklands Estate subdivision and that position has not changed. However the settlement package has been designed to bring a practical conclusion to these matters rather than focus on blame, so the property owners could move on.
With these issues being satisfactorily resolved through negotiation the council has now withdrawn its appeal against the Ministry of Housing's earlier determination in relation to building consents. The settlements have overtaken the need for that court process to proceed any further.
In the meantime residents can have every confidence that council processes relating to consents and code compliance certificates are very sound at RDC. Our systems and practices have recently undergone a very rigorous independent assessment and audit by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), and we received a clean bill of health as an accredited Building Consent Authority. Since the Oakland Estate issues arose we have also substantially increased requirements around geotechnical assessments for consent application purposes.
Geoff Williams
Chief Executive
Rotorua District Council