Expressway negotiations turn sour
As the first section of the Kapiti expressway opens, a businessman is headed to court over land he says the government bought for a steal for the $630 million project.
Murray Livingstone and his mother Marian Livingstone owned Livingstone Gardens, on the corner of Poplar Ave and State Highway 1 at Raumati, north of Wellington.
The NZ Transport Agency took the eastern half of the 1.6 hectare site, fronting SH1, for expressway construction, under the Public Works Act.
Murray Livingstone said although he accepted an offer for the land in 2015, it was less than one third of his valuation. Now, the pair have filed papers to take the agency to the Land Valuation Tribunal.
Livingstone said ‘‘as far as I can see, they stole two acres off me’’, although he would not reveal how much he was eventually paid.
The tribunal decision was the latest in an ongoing battle that saw him speak out in 2013 over the compulsory land purchase that would end his business.
At the time he said he was offered $495,000 for half of the site, including the buildings. The garden centre was demolished in January 2014, before the sale amount was settled.
This week highway manager Neil Walker said the agency had followed the valuation process set under the Act.
But Livingstone said the agency had ‘‘refused to have any meaningful negotiations’’.
‘‘I feel they’ve built on land they technically haven’t paid for. The amount of value paid to us wouldn’t have covered a replacement build. I would’ve restarted the business but I wanted them to rebuild it and pay for the land they took.’’
He believed the agency had not provided an equivalent replacement accessway to his remaining land, and failed to follow up on a verbal promise to allow them to buy back residual land.
Walker said the final decision on what land, if any, would be surplus had not been made. Any decisions on its sale would be made by Land Information New Zealand, which administered the Act.
The land’s proximity to the Poplar Ave roundabout had affected the new accessway’s width, Walker said.
They had reached agreement on a number of matters including replacement boundary fencing and planting, and reinstatement of services to the remaining property, he said.
Livingstone said now he was approaching retirement age, he just wanted to receive his valuation of the land, not restart the business.
The tribunal deals with objections relating to property valuation and land taken under the Act. The hearing date has not been set.
The Livingstones each sold two properties to purchase the Livingstone Gardens site in 1982.