Living in Limbo Under the Bypass

THEY had done everything right when they made the move from Rutherford to Scone.

Their solicitors checked no major developments were on the cards near their land and they had discussed their plans with Council to build beside the house currently on the site, once they had a few years of equity.

They were excited about building their new life.

True to plan, once they had three years of equity, they returned to Council to further discuss building their new home, and said they were told by new staff that they were not even allowed to put up a carport on their land much less a house, because a bypass was coming through.

Since then Kylie and Michael Curry have been living in limbo, posts for a carport are in their backyard and they can not do anything that could be deemed to ‘add value’ to their property.

“There was a different staff member and we were told we were not allowed to even put a single garage on here now,” said Michael Curry.

“We had already spent so much money on the house, rewiring, plumbing and repairing, now it’s over capitalised because it is worth nothing,” he said.

“With a bypass being 25 or 30 metres from our front door, our place will be worth nothing and we can’t build,” he said.

“Our whole financial security is in this house and land; after they told us, we were just devastated,” said Kylie Curry.

“We’ve lived with a railway line at our back door, we know what it is like to live next door to noise and that’s why we moved,” she said.

“We were looking at building a new house on a block of land in Bhima Drive, but we decided on here instead because we had more room for growth and we were assured by Council that we could do what we had planned,” she said.

“I wish we had of built the house on Bhima Drive,” said Kylie Curry.

“We just want out and to be able to start again, but I don’t see what our options are anymore,” said Michael Curry.

 

Catch 22 of Zoning

The Curry’s had planned to build next door.

After the Council had done work on Liverpool Street leading out to Satur the flood waters were mitigated significantly.

Enough that the block next door could be built on, the previous owner had established a pad and the Council at the time agreed it was above the flood line and could be built on.

During rain a couple of years ago, further towards Satur flooded, parts of Kelly Street flooded, but Wingen Street was fine and their block remained well clear of the flood level.

Now they say Council will not allow building on their block because they have not done the new modelling, so it remains the same zoning as before the Council work was done on Liverpool Street.

The RMS is building the bypass through the area, because they say it is flood zone and otherwise unable to be built on.

The Curry’s now can’t build on the land because they say the Council position has changed, the land is now devalued by the bypass and the bypass will actually change the water flow and may impact further on their block.

The changes have already meant it has increased their insurance premium and the bypass could cause another increase.

“With rising flood plain from the bypass it actually puts it back in the flood plain,” said Kylie Curry.

“We are just stuck at every level if it’s not Council, it’s the RMS,” she said.

 

Nothing to Say

The Currys are further frustrated that the RMS will not give them any information.

“They just say we have to wait until after the 18^th, after the consultation finishes, but they have not consulted with us at all and we are the ones most impacted,” said Kylie Curry.

“They needed to come onto our properties to take floor levels, when they rang I was in hospital, so we asked they wait until I was back at home,” she said.

“If we were letting them on our land, we wanted some answers, but they never followed up.

“Then we went to the consultation meeting and were told they got the floor levels anyway, we asked them if they did not enter our property how did they get the levels, but we don’t know if they came on anyway,” she said.

“Then they took soil samples and drilled right beside our fence near the horses without letting us know, because legally they didn’t have to and they still won’t talk to us about what is going on,” said Michael Curry.

“We don’t want to cause trouble, but we just want to know what is going on,” said Kylie Curry.