A Hope resident who has been told his house may be in the path of a future stormwater channel says he is in limbo while he waits for the council to firm up its plans.
Stephen Hensley owns the former Challenge Mini Golf site on Main Rd Hope and the Tasman District Council has told him it may need the side of the property for a proposed channel that will carry stormwater away from increasing residential development in the area.
He says, he has been told the boundary may run through his house, though he does not know exactly where his new boundary may be.
A stream already runs from the proposed 2,000-home Richmond South development towards the sea, with tributaries joining it. Council plans to develop it into a waterway big enough to handle one-in-one-hundred-year flood events, while keeping it as natural as possible.
That means a meandering stream that follows its natural course, with a ‘greenway’ up to 70m wide in some areas to accommodate floodwater in the big rain events.
TDC team leader of project managers, Rob O’Grady, says standards for stormwater have changed significantly as councils now need to recognise the principles of Te Mana o te Wai in the National Policy Statement on freshwater.
Plus, the Future Development Strategy (FDS) outlines areas in the catchment where there is potential for future housing. Some of that is already zoned for residential development while some is not and the Richmond South development has made it as far as the FDS but could end up with more than 2,000 homes and higher density to accommodate growth.
Though the council has already purchased some land for the development of the stormwater channel, he says it will be years rather than months before it is completed because there is still much to be finalised.
“We’re quite mindful we’re dealing with people’s homes and livelihoods and we want to deal with it in the right way. Our preference is to work on a willing buyer and willing seller (basis), and if need be, we will have to use the Public Works Act.”
Overall, council is working with about 20 landowners along the path of the proposed stormwater channel and he says there may be more, depending on rezoning through the FDS.
Rob says there has been a range of responses from landowners.
Stephen says he is quite relaxed about the possibility of losing part of his property and getting compensation for it, but says that he cannot make any plans if he does not know what the future will be for his property or even where the boundary will be.
He has lived on the 5,500 square metre property for 32 years, raised a family there and now has grandchildren there, as well as operated the Challenge Mini Golf business for more than 20 years until its closure when Covid-19 came along.
“I’ve been here too long and I’m too settled and too happy. I’m not in a hurry to go anywhere. But they’re not giving anyone final guarantees.”
The neighbouring property has been purchased and that house has already been demolished.
“They’ve already bulldozed my neighbour’s house. I got hold of (council) and said I’m being held to ransom here and I want to know where my boundary will be.”
He says he is not against development in the area or the water channel, but just wants to know what the future will be.
