The 8900sq m site at 291 Kamo Road was donated 52 years ago to what was then called the Crippled Children’s Society by the late Theo Busck, said his son Jeremy Busck.
The aim was to create a garden centre where people with disabilities could work, growing plants and fruit, Busck said.
“The vision was to give the [disabled] people meaning and purpose - to create a centre there where they could go and do something useful and work with Mother Nature - because Mother Nature is very healing.”
While the site was used as a garden centre in the past, Busck believed it never realised its full potential as the “beautiful and wonderful” rehabilitation centre envisioned by his father.
Busck said his parents gave both time and money for the betterment of Whangārei, including establishing the YWCA hostel on Rust Ave and Theo volunteering extensively for Rotary.
Their philanthropic ways have been passed on to their son, with Busck creating the Dragonfly Springs Wetland Sanctuary, which is not only an environmental oasis in urban Onerahi but also teaches skills to local children.
He believed the sale of the Kamo Road site does not fit with his father’s vision and is a “cop-out” when the site still has so much potential.
But CCS Disability Action said while the land donation has been a great help, so much has changed in the last 50 years, it is no longer practical to keep the site.
Jeremy Busck from Dragonfly Springs Wetland Sanctuary says CCS Disability Action is not using the land as intended when his father donated it. Photo / Michael Cunningham
General manager Bettina Syme said the decision to sell was not taken lightly and included at least four years of considering options, after engaging project managers Scope, formerly Griffiths and Associates.
“It hasn’t been used as a garden centre for people with disabilities for a long time,” she said.
The low-lying land can flood in heavy rain and the buildings require significant on-going maintenance, Syme said. Zoning for the land has also changed, meaning it can be intensively developed.
CCS Disability Action decided the best course of action is to sell the property and buy or lease a suitable new location.
“We are here to serve the disabled community first and foremost. The current location has served us well, but we can’t continue to sustain it - we’re not developers and the focus to maintain the property is starting to become more than we can manage,” Syme said.
The land is being marketed by Bayleys as one of the last significant underdeveloped pieces of land in the area, with a deadline sale closing Wednesday.
Proceeds from the sale will help CCS Disability Action continue to serve disabled people in Northland, Syme said.
The focus now is on ensuring continuity of service if the land does sell, with a transition plan to be put in place once a sale is confirmed.
A new location for CCS would need to be accessible, located on public bus routes and welcoming for both staff and clients, but the organisation can’t commit to anything until it knows what it can get from the sale, she said.
The disabled community has been kept informed of the potential sale and nobody has raised any concerns, Syme said.
“We always have disabled people and whānau hauā sitting at the centre of our decision-making. It is important that we are careful stewards of all our resources, including property.
“We are hopeful for a sale and really looking forward to what comes next.”
Bayleys salespeople Henry Napier and Daniel Sloper said the site has plenty of potential and could help address Whangārei’s urgent housing needs.
Napier said future uses could include residential subdivision, a retirement village or other accommodation.
“While the property has worked well for CCS Disability Northland in the past, the best use for the property is likely a more intensive development of the site which is supported by its underlying residential zoning.”
More details are available online with the deadline sale closing at 4pm on Wednesday, September 25.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.
