Red zone stayers quizzed on plans to keep living in area
Red zone stayers are being asked if they want to remain in their earthquakeshattered suburbs as officials draw up plans for the future of the area.
Regenerate Christchurch, a rebuild authority jointly owned by the Christchurch City Council and the Crown, has hired a consultant to contact about 20 residential red zone stayers in the area along the Avon River and ask them about their intentions.
The authority is consulting on 10 concepts for the future of the city’s flat land red zone, including plans for a sports lake, new housing or tourist attractions. The stretch of residential red zone runs along the Avon River from the city centre to Bexley.
Former red zone community advocate Leanne Curtis has been appointed to contact the red zone stayers.
‘‘The role is to form a relationship with the people that are there to understand their intentions to help communication between Regenerate Christchurch and them,’’ Curtis said.
‘‘When Regenerate Christchurch is doing all their plans they have to take everything into account and these people are one of the things that needs to be taken into account.’’
Curtis is a former spokeswoman for the Canterbury Communities’ Earthquake Recovery Network advocacy group.
Regenerate Christchurch chief executive Ivan Iafeta said Curtis was appointed in August to ‘‘help ensure property owners are kept informed throughout the development’’ of the red zoned land and ‘‘ensure their circumstances are well understood and considered’’.
‘‘We . . . want to be respectful of the unique circumstances of private property owners within an area that is part of a public engagement process. The owners of private properties in the area have experienced significant periods of uncertainty and stress.
‘‘We also want to ensure private property owners have appropriate opportunities to participate, contribute and input into regeneration planning for the area.’’
Iafeta said no decision would be made on the red zone’s future until the end of 2018. ‘‘We do not yet know what any decisions might mean for individual property owners.
‘‘Although some land uses being considered may impact private properties, it has not yet been determined if any possible purchase is necessary.’’
In September, 16 uninsured residential red zone homeowners settled a legal dispute with the Government over payments for their properties. As part of the settlement, the ‘‘quake outcasts’’ would be paid 80 per cent of the 2007-08 rateable value of their uninsured property improvements.
Red zone resident Martin Francis was interviewed by Curtis as part of her work for Regenerate Christchurch. His home was not insured because he had no mortgage and had fallen out with his insurance company over the way it dealt with a series of burglaries at his former home. He refused government offers for his property and was not part of the quake outcasts legal action.
‘‘She asked us what we wanted. My wife said we want an offer not an insult,’’ he said.
‘‘We want enough money that when we leave here we can buy a house like this somewhere else.’’