A land slump at the end of Manuka Place in Raumanga has created a deep crack across the road above the moving land and is also putting a house at risk of being damaged in the process.
Sagging land around a residential property and structural damage to the house has forced Whangārei District Council engineers to move a family into temporary accommodation.
A building inspector and geo-technical specialists returned to the house, situated at the end of Manuka Pl in Raumanga, yesterday morning to carry out an assessment of the inside and outside of the property.
Their reports are expected by the end of this week.
The homeowner works as a fabricator in Whangārei and his family are staying in a motel while WDC is discussing with insurers the costs for the temporary accommodation.
He said through his employer he would await the outcome of WDC investigation before commenting.
Part of the road towards the end of a roundabout, right opposite the house, slumped eight days ago while land metres away at the start of the developer's side appears to have sagged as well.
Slumped land accessed from the end of Manuka Pl, opposite a house the Whangārei District Council has deemed unsafe. Photo / John Stone
WDC contractors Downer have put road barriers just before the roundabout to prevent stormwater damage to the slumped section of the road and for public safety.
The 1950s brick and tile house has a large section and chickens and ducks could be seen roaming around freely out the back.
WDC communications' manager Jane Ashley said while investigating reports of serious cracks in the road, the investigating engineer also found structural issues with the property on Tuesday.
"The investigating engineer was not comfortable leaving occupants in the property for the night, so council offered to pay for one night's accommodation (at a cost of $140) for the occupants.
"We have now confirmed there is a genuine risk here and will be issuing a Dangerous Building notice," she said.
WDC group manager infrastructure Simon Weston was at the site with his staff yesterday morning and said it was too early to know how long the family would stay away from their home.
He said engineers would have to have a good look at the house as well as land surrounding it before the extent of damage would be known.
Earthwork is being carried out on a large swathe of part-commercial, part-residential land behind houses situated along the eastern side of Manuka Pl, overlooking Southend Ave and Rewarewa Rd.
In March 2016, the Northland Regional Council issued Stan Semenoff consent to undertake about 152,000cu m of cut and fill earthworks, including within the bed of an unnamed tributary of Limeburners' Creek.
NRC also allowed Semenoff, trading as SS Developments, a permit to discharge stormwater to water and land from land disturbance activities.
The consent stipulates that all works are to be supervised by a suitably qualified and experienced chartered professional engineer to ensure the long-term stability of the site.
"All earthworks operations shall be carried out in a manner that minimises the potential for slope instability and soil erosion, and no earthworks shall be undertaken in a manner that destabilises any adjacent properties," the consent says.
Semenoff was not prepared to comment until the councils have completed their investigations.
Stan Semenoff on part of the land he is doing earthworks on at the back of the affected property.
Photo/John Stone
NRC consents manager Stuart Savill said his council was doing its own investigation while working alongside WDC to ascertain whether there were issues that needed to be fixed.
"The district douncil has got its own engineers and assessors and I believe the consent holder is doing its own investigation. We'll take into account reports from the district council then take it from there."
