Up to $1.5 million has been earmarked for the plan in the first year, though the council hopes forestry companies will chip in as much as a third of that sum.
With so many roads in dire need of work another problem has been choosing which ones to tackle first.
A study by council staff found logging trucks were by far the biggest contributor to dust, so roads were ranked according to the tonnage of logs expected to be carried over the next five years and the number of houses within 50m of the road.
That produced a list of 15 roads the council plans to improve over the next five years. The highest-ranked road in each ward - Diggers Valley Rd (with 22 houses near the road), Pipiwai Rd (10 houses) and Picadilly Rd (eight houses) - will be done first.
Bitumen seal will be applied to sections of Pipiwai and Picadilly roads; a final decision has yet to be made on how to reduce dust on Diggers Valley Rd.
The work is supposed to start before Christmas so residents on the three roads get some relief from dust over summer.
The plan, and the extra, unbudgeted spending it involves, was discussed at the council's October 30 meeting.
Cr Ann Court said dust was profoundly affecting people's health, but sealing to reduce dust nuisance did not qualify for financial assistance from the government.
"I'm reasonably confident that whatever we do, we'll be doing it on our own - but we have to do something. We have a social obligation."
The method used for choosing which roads to do first meant there could be no politicking and no favouring one area over another, she said.
The $1.5 million will come from an unspent $584,600 from the council's "partnership seals" programme plus a hoped-for $500,000 from forestry companies.
The remaining $415,400 will have to be borrowed. If forestry firms don't commit to the full $500,000 the plan will be scaled back.
Infrastructure and asset manager Jacqui Robson said Hancocks Forest Management was the first company to come to the party, committing $11,000 to Picadilly Rd and $80,000 to Pipiwai Rd.
With one firm on board it would be easier to get the others across the line, she said.
Cr Mate Radich, however, was unconvinced by the plan and questioned whether the council had done enough to investigate different metal mixes and dust-suppression products.
Mrs Robson said alternatives to sealing were being trialled. Cost quickly became an issue if a different kind of mix had to be transported from a more distant quarry.
Cr Willow-Jean Prime noted that Ngapipito Rd was not on this year's list and hoped it would be considered in future. Ngapipito Rd is on the five-year plan.
The Far North District Council's decision to part-seal Pipiwai Road likely to increase pressure to fix dust problems on the southern half of the road, which comes under the Whangarei District Council's jurisdiction.
Suppressant will be some help
The dust plague that has blighted the lives of Wayne Morris' family for the past five summers could finally be coming to an end.
Mr Morris, his wife Trish and their three children aged 2 to 10 live on unsealed Diggers Valley Road south of Kaitaia.
It's a picturesque road which winds through native bush and well-kept farmland, except in summer when the valley is choked in clouds of dust thrown up by logging and metal trucks.
The Morrises are especially badly affected because their house is on a sharp corner just metres from the road. In summer they're lucky if they can see the trees 20m from their living room, the kids can't play by the stream that runs through their property, and they have to take drinking water from the creek rather than their dust-clogged rain tank. Mrs Morris dis covered allergies she never knew she had, and they wonder what other health hazards the dust brings.
"The dust has been shocking. It's diabolical," Mr Morris said.
This summer, however, the forest company is trialling a dust suppressant on the road outside their home. They have yet to see how it works long-term - it will have to be re-applied every three months - but so far it has made "a huge difference".
The family is even more heartened by news their road will be one of the first in the Far North to be included in the council's part seals programme. With nowhere near enough money to seal all problem roads in the district, the council plans to seal 100m sections outside homes on the worst roads. Three roads a year will get part-seals for five years.
Sealing could be more cost-effective in the long term, Mr Morris said. A combination of part-seals and dust suppressants would go a long way to solving the problem.
Mr Morris has also had battles with the forestry company about the speed at which their trucks used to bowl along the winding road. That too has improved greatly with the firm imposing its own 30km/h limit on its log and metal trucks, he said.
