Cyclone and storm recovery costs balloon

Category three buyouts from the severe weather events last year are likely to be higher than initially estimated, according to Auckland Council’s Recovery Office. Group recovery manager Mace Ward said there had been an upsurge in submissions as the scheme closed. “[3515] is the final number and it has signalled that we potentially have more in the category three space than we had forecast.

” Ward said the council originally estimated there would be about 900 category three properties. But with 73 percent of the submissions already assessed, there were already 890 in category three. Council’s house removal programme costs have also been higher than the expected.



Council estimated it would cost $52,000 per site, but of the 39 category three homes removed, the average cost has been $84,000. Natural and built environment lead Craig Hobbs said although house removals were higher than budgeted, they were expected to come down. Hobbs said the early removals were in sites that were quite precarious locations such as Muriwai or Titirangi.

“[There are] a lot of considerations around health and safety. We have found asbestos in more properties than we anticipated, which has also driven costs up, but we do anticipate those costs will drop as we get into areas where it’s easier to remove houses,” Hobbs said. Chief executive Phil Wilson said there was some flexibility allowed from central government for the crown funding, but it might be a topic of discussion in the next annual plan.

In an update to Hibiscus and Bays Local Board, the recovery office revealed that 153 properties in the local board’s area had opted in to the scheme – a mixture of properties affected by landslide and flooding. By the end of last month, 97 categorisations had been completed with 27 properties assessed as category three. The office reported facing a range of challenges from health and safety such as asbestos and site access to instances of cross-lease properties with adjoining walls but different categorisations.

Contractors assessing the sites are making one of three recommendations. The first and preferred option is to relocate the home. A recovery office spokesperson said it is the cheapest, easiest, and quickest solution and has been done for about 30 per cent of the category three properties.

Failing that, the next option was deconstruction. The last resort was demolition, which the office said was the case for some landslide-affected properties in Birkenhead, Piha, and Karekare. The recovery office spokesperson clarified that once land was cleared by them, it belonged to parks and facilities.

The spokesperson said that vacant land was subject to the future land use policy and would be discussed with the governing body next February. Board chair Alexis Poppelbaum said the board would be interested in opportunities for green space, first understanding whether it was overland paths. Acknowledging that some land might not be safe to become public access reserve, Poppelbaum suggested those sections could be planted and fenced.

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