Owners of Waimea Village, Michael and Carolyn Wright, have agreed to sell the village to the residents.
The deal was stitched together by Tasman mayoral candidate and current councillor Kit Maling and if completed will end almost three years of bitter dispute between the residents and owners of the village, in Richmond.
Details of the deal remain confidential but residents were briefed on the options Sunday afternoon. Some residents were disappointed the Wrights would profit from their erratic behaviour over the past few years but most were in agreement that it was the only logical outcome and that now both sides can move on.
The agreement was signed on Friday and Kit addressed residents of the village on Sunday afternoon with the proposal. It will mean each home owner in the village has the opportunity to buy a 172nd share of the village, one share for each home and at a cost of $8200.
Those who can’t afford to buy a share, or those who don’t want to can still lease their land as they do now but their monthly levies will be higher.
A board will run the village and it will employ a part time manager to do all the things Michael Wright paid himself $100,000 a year for.
Kit says the savings by getting rid of the Wrights would be huge and it would allow the residents of the village to get back to enjoying their retirement and living in peace again. “This is all about making this a better place for you to live and putting the past two and a half years behind you,” he told residents.
Seventy per cent of the residents need to agree to buy a share for the deal to go ahead, something he is sure will happen.
“I’ve door knocked on all the homes in the village three times now so I have a fairly good idea about what they’ll say and I’m confident we’ll get the necessary money.”
If the deal falls over Kit will lose $7000 of his own money that he has put up as a non-refundable deposit. He says house prices are likely to jump after the Wrights are gone.
Kit has been just one of the community leaders attempting to help the residents of the village since the dispute with the Wrights started in late 2010. Others that helped put pressure on the Wrights include councillor Judene Edgar, her husband and accountant David Verhargen, lawyer Warwick Heal, Pam Coltman, the residents committee and its chair Jerry Rowland, Weekly publishers Steve and Jenny Page, whose mother lives in the village and other local businesspeople.
It was the efforts of these people that laid the foundations for this week’s news.
Kit told the Weekly he was thrilled to have agreed to a deal. “I’ve been trying to do this for a long time and it was the only way it was ever going to end. I won’t say how much it’s for but whatever it is, it’s worth it considering the benefits.”
Waimea Village residents committee chair Jerry Rowland says he’s happy that there appears to be a conclusion to the matter. “It will be fantastic when the people of the village will be able to control their own destiny and run the village for all the villagers.”
One of the conditions of sale is that court proceedings against the Wrights to protect money that should be in the repair and replacement fund is dropped. Although that will only be done after due diligence is completed. The sale becomes unconditional in 42 days, at the time of signing.
The dispute between the Wrights and the residents of Waimea Village has been over annual levy increases and a concern that almost $400,000 in a repair and replacement fund isn’t in the fund. The issues have seen residents protest on Gladstone Rd, two rounds of arbitration, an on-going court case and plenty of acrimony on both sides.
Residents spoken to at the meeting on Sunday say they can’t wait for it all to be behind them and to say goodbye to the Wrights.
