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Robyn Edie/Stuff Thelma and Keith Froude, with Lindsay Gutsell, right, fear Main St, Otautau, may become a ghost town with Earthquake Prone buildings rules. They are pictured outside the Froude’s Otautau mechanic business, which the family have owned for more than 50 years. A group of Otautau main street building owners hope that banding together may soften the blow of paying for earthquake prone building assessments. They fear Otautau, Riverton, Winton and Wyndham may become “ghost towns” as building owners struggle to meet the costs to get buildings up to earthquake standards. A hundred and twenty buildings on the main street of the four rural Southland towns are now identified as priority, need to be assessed by an engineer and brought up to earthquake standards in 12-and-a-half years. ....
Meeting earthquake standards could the cost owners of buildings on the main streets of four Southland towns. Rules that one businessman believes could bring about the end of small towns in Southland look set to push ahead. At a full Southland District Council meeting on Wednesday, it is recommended that councillors deem the main streets of four Southland towns priority areas af high vehicle and pedestrian traffic. If that goes ahead, building owners in the priority zones at Otautau, Riverton, Winton and Wyndham would need to have their buildings assessed and bought up to earthquake standards in 12-and-a-half years. A non-priority building would have to be remediated in 25 years. ....
The council sought public consultation asked if the main streets of Otautau, Riverton, Tuatapere, Winton and Wyndham should be prioritised for earthquake work. Changes could mean buildings on the five main streets would need to be bought up to standard in 12-and-a-half years. Gutsell told Stuff many buildings on main streets of Southland towns were owned by small-time investors who would not be prepared for costly upgrades. He grew up in Otautau, lived in Invercargill then Australia before coming back to Southland in 2017, and now runs a coffee roasting business in Christchurch. His parents are still in Otautau and he worries the central meeting place of his hometown could be empty in years to come. ....