Matata residents to fight exit order
Matata landowners have been left in limbo after a proposal to strip existing use rights over safety concerns was accepted by Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
The landmark decision will see
34 houses and sections lose the right to inhabit their property as part of a voluntary retreat. It is believed to be the first time the Resource Management Act has been used in this manner.
The Whakatane District Council lobbied the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to consider a plan change that will prohibit residential activity in the Awatarariki Fanhead at Matata¯ after March
2021.
The plan change was suggested after $1.2 million was spent investigating how to mitigate safety concerns to residents, without success.
The plan change will prohibit all residential activity in the affected area.
Impacted residents say they will fight the plan change through legal means.
‘‘We don’t want this to end up in court but when you back people into a corner they fight,’’ resident spokesman Rick Whalley said.
‘‘That’s where we are now. We’re backed into the corner and we have to fight. They have taken away everything we have. We can’t sell. We can’t get loans. What other option do we have?,’’ said Whalley.
Safety concerns began after a flood in 2005 destroyed houses when rubble barrelled down the swollen Awatarariki River.
WDC investigated mitigation options including the construction of a wire net to catch debris and protect the town.
In 2007 residents were given the all-clear to return to their homes after the WDC deemed the wire-net solution the likely course of action.
However, WDC principal planner Shane McGhie said the decision to build the wire net was reviewed in 2012.
‘‘They said they have looked at it and it just wouldn’t work,’’ he said.
Homeowners indicative offers for their properties from WDC staff with many residents turning up their noses at the proposed prices.
Marilyn Pearce lived in Matata during the 2005 floods and said if they were told then it was unsafe to return they would have accepted it and moved on.
‘‘If they told us then we couldn’t have gone back, we would have listened,’’ she said. ‘‘They have set us up to fail.’’
With the plan change accepted by BOPRC a hearing panel will be established to hear submissions.