"She is not blind, only wearing a blindfold. "

Legals

We have negotiated with the local Maori families in good faith for nearly 3 years now, and we had reached the stage of signing the lease that had been offered to us at the very beginning for us to work on. We had negotiated extra clauses to be inserted into the lease for our own protection due to the unique circumstances surrounding a community endeavor. All had been agreed to by the Estate Agent operating on their behalf and by the Whanau itself. After having had on costly and nonsensical meeting with one lawyer, earlier on in the piece, we terminated that association and continued on negotiating these clauses directly with the Whanau. Sooner or later though we reached a stage where these clauses would need to be inserted into the contract itself. It went to their lawyer who now insists on a 19 page commercial lease instead of the 5 page residential one we had been working on. It is prescriptive in the extreme, does not cover our negotiated clauses, and ignores the fact that this is a not-for-profit trust based on residing together as our primary occupation. As we totally unwilling to sign such a lease that could have us required to move our selves and our belongings plus all our buildings (which if enough people joined us, could amount to 8 houses and a meeting hall) in 14 days on termination of the lease or prior to. So at this stage we are disheartened by the lease-land process and are probably going to have to start again with searching out a piece of freehold land that we can afford. This severely limits our options as we have small funds, enough for either buildings or land purchase, which is one of the reasons we started the whole process with lease in mind. We had also strongly wanted to make this a bi-cultural project.  We are having a meeting between us, styled as a ritual, to explore the possibilities in sacred space this weekend, but the consensus already reached is unlikely to change: we will be looking again for land to have our community on. The vision will need to shrink it seems. maybe its enough for the three of us to build together on a couple of acres, and work in the larger community through our individual educational expertise's. It was certainly not hat we had in mind but the Universe works in interesting ways. Maybe something else is around the corner. Who knows? We will not give up. We believe community is the way of the future. 

The sad part of all this is that its the 'middle men' that have got in the way of a co-operative adventure between us and the local Maori families, that could have benefited all. Sometimes I wonder who lawyers are truly working for. It certainly doesn't seem to be their clients ultimate interests, when it comes to civic matters. Maybe I am feeling cynical right at this moment. I hope that's all it is or an enormous amount of people's money is wasted each year. 

Extra clauses agreed to be added to the original residential lease as follows:

Additional Clauses (to be included in Lease).

1. Any improvements we make to the land including construction, planting and forestry will remain the property of Gaia Moana Trust at termination of lease, to dispose of as we see fit, unless A......... Trust choose to purchase it/them from us at a fair market rate.  (8a?) This is because we intend to plant cash crops and investment trees that may be worth a considerable amount in 30 years.

2. Whilst welcoming participation we will require 72 hour notification of access by A.......... Trust members or any agent acting on their behalf. (6?) The reason we request this is that it is not affecting one household as most leases do but could affect 8 households. It would only be fair to them to give adequate time for them all to be able to arrange to have a representative present at the time.

3. The A........... Trust will grant us right of access across their easement in at least 2 places at our discretion, to allow us to develop roadways. (14?)  We will need at least one access for community members and a separate access for the General Public. As we have not been able ascertain the most appropriate placement for these as yet we wish to cover ourselves by having this clause included as they cannot at this stage be marked on a survey. Both will come off Golf Course Road, one being somewhere opposite the Golf Course entrance and the other further towards the Harington Point Rd as far as we can ascertain at this stage.

4. All members, current and future, of the Gaia Moana Community are deemed to be lessees for the purpose of this lease. (8b?) As we are not a single person but a community, we wish to assure that the subletting clause does not apply to us. We will be having members join us periodically over the duration of the lease. Each one will become a member of the Gaia Moana Community Trust, so we want to clearly state for their benefit that they are lessees under this agreement.

5. A................. Trust recognizes that some temporary accommodation may always be required while the plan is being implemented. The placement of this temporary accommodation to be at our discretion in accordance with council zoning regulations. (4?) There has been discussion about this that we wish to have thoroughly clear in the lease. When we move on, we will be in temporary accommodation, which we have verbally cleared with council. We appreciate A..................’s concern for upkeep of dwellings and wish to assure them that we intend to build attractive dwellings in due course. However, as people will be moving on to the community at different times and will need to live in temporary accommodation whilst they design and build their homes there will always likely be some temporary accommodation on the land. (clause 11)

6. If at any time it becomes possible or desirable for A................ Trust to split the title or choose to sell the leased piece of land that the Gaia Moana Community Trust occupies, they will offer us right of first refusal.  This is a long-term project that we hope will exist for generations. We therefore ask this to ensure the longevity and security of it.

7. A............ trust agrees to support any decisions we make pertaining to the land use provided it fits with council zoning regulations. (11?)We are aware that A.............. have approved the elements that we have noted in the possible concept plan. It is a large undertaking and there may be elements that shift and change somewhat. Also, as the concept is one of experimental sustainability for the eventual purposes of demonstration and education, it is important to us that there are no inhibitions that might stand in the way of the development of that facility. We would therefore like to gain your co-operation in this regard in advance. Approaching A............. for each individual design element would be a nightmare for us, and a nuisance to you.

8.     A........................ Trust will give consent to any building application we deem necessary/suitable provided they meet Council specifications, regardless of style or placement. (11?) Once again, the buildings we intend to construct are as much demonstrational as habitable. They may well be made of a material or design that is not usual for current suburban buildings. It is important that partiality does not enter into the agreement with A...............

9.     A.............. understands that the placement of buildings and land use may change from that depicted on the Concept Plan once appropriateness of land use is determined by Gaia Moana, although the essential elements and design outlined will remain the same. We have designed the concept plan from an aerial view on paper. When it comes to placement of buildings, given that large earth moving is to be kept to an absolute minimum in our way of working, it may not lend itself to that exact design. Therefore it is important that A................. understands that we need to be able to adjust building and planting placements once we have thoroughly assessed suitability of the land where we have intended them to go. If that is not possible, we will have to place them somewhere else.  Once again, if we had to bother A................. every time this occurred it would be an unworkable process for both parties.

10. Should Gaia Moana Community and Trust cease to be in effect at some stage, A................. agrees to negotiate separate leases with individual householders to allow them to remain there, or sell on as needs be. While we intend this project to work, there is always the possibility that it won’t. Realistically, we need to be able to assure our prospective community members that A........... will be willing to negotiate with them individually at the end of a lease period, to provide individual leases for tenants in the unlikely event that the group concept fails. This vouchsafes their investment in the same way that it does any other A............. tenant on individual blocks.

Introduction

Declaration of the Four Sacred Things

The Proposal

The Vision Statement

Letter To the Tangata Whenua

Trust Formation

Trust Deed

Gaia Moana Members Only

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