Whangārei developer to do remedial work on sagging land

Resource consent holder Stan Semenoff will undertake remedial work on land he's developing to prevent further instability. Photo/John Stone

A Whangārei businessman developing land close to a structurally-damaged house and sagging road will undertake remedial work on a slope as a precautionary measure.

Former Whangārei mayor Stan Semenoff acquired resource consent in 2016 from the Northland Regional Council to develop a large swathe of land overlooking Rewarewa Rd and South End Ave.

The occupants of a house situated at the end of Manuka Pl in Raumanga, overlooking the development, were moved into temporary accommodation on Tuesday evening after a Whangārei District Council engineer found cracks in their property.

The discovery was made while the engineer went to check on serious cracks in the road.

Part of the road towards the end of a roundabout, right opposite the house, slumped about two weeks ago while land metres away at the start of the developer's side appears to have sagged as well.

"The consent holder will take remediation work starting Monday to stabilise the slope and to prevent any future instability. He approached us and asked if he could do that work," NRC water and waste monitoring manager Alison McHugh said.

WDC and Semenoff are both awaiting technical reports to determine what caused sagging on the land as well as the road.

The reports are expected this week.

An NRC monitoring officer did not find any breach of resource consent conditions imposed on Semenoff while doing checks after the family was moved out.