The Coromandel's public is digging into their own pockets to prevent the Thames Coromandel District Council seizing 160 acres of land occupied by the Wilderland Trust.

The district council is threatening to liquidate the trust if it cannot pay $30,200 in development contributions issued for work done to improve facilities on the property near Whitianga.

The Wilderland Trust, near Whitianga, will be liquidated by Thames Coromandel District Council if the trust doesn't pay $30,200 in development fees by the end of this month.

Wilderland is a self-reliant community and non-profitable charitable trust about 14km south of Whitianga, currently home to about 20 people.

Wilderland Trust chairman Russel Mooyman says trust is the mortgage-free owner of the 64.75ha and aims to provide education to people on sustainable agriculture.

The $30,200 is part of a $40,000 contributions fee the council charged the trust for obtaining a resource consent in March 2012 to 'upgrade a few steps and put in some railings and things”.

'Development contributions are what you usually get when you do a new development. You pay this fee because you are adding more population into the region and more use of the infrastructure,” says Russel.

'We tried to get it waived; we are not a new development. But in the end, after lots of negotiation, they decided we should pay it.”

Wilderland pre-dates the Thames Coromandel District Council and all of its buildings pre-date the Resource Management Act, under which Russel says council claims the trust has created its debt.

The RMA came into effect in 1991, but Russel says the council didn't enforce the new regime at Wilderland until 2010.

He says that's when council approached the trust with the intention of bringing it's land and assets into the modern regulatory system – and the facility's improvements came from this.

Russel says the trust hasn't obtained independent legal advice or taken the council to court over the remaining $30,200.

'I got them to review it through their own internal reviewing,” says Russel. 'Wilderland Trust does not want to go to court about this.

'Apparently, they [the council] are saying we owe just over $30,000. We've been paying it off slowly over the past few years at $50 a week.”

As a charitable trust, Russel says the trust isn't that profitable and runs a very low budget.

'What we are in the business of doing is providing opportunities for people who want to participate in organic farming and sustainability practices on this piece of land.

'So we have all kinds of land-based activities going on every day. People come and go and experience it.

'The community is just an outcome of a bunch of people working and living together. It's not the same as an intentional community. I'm always on the mission to get people to understand that.”

Russel says now the council is cracking the whip, saying the money has to be paid by the end of this month, but Wilderland Trust doesn't have that kind of money sitting around.

'We did our best paying it off $50 a week.

'We do have a pro bono lawyer but we haven't brought her into this because we don't want to go to court. We don't want to fight the council about it.

'We don't want an angry council; we want a friendly council.”

With the trust the mortgage-free owner of the 64.75ha, Russel believes the banks won't accept trust land as security over a loan.

'I don't think the council knows that yet. We are doing a fundraising push. We are on Facebook and have our website.”

Launching a fundraising campaign last Friday, Russel says it had raised $6000 by Monday (July 21). Today, the fundraiser has collected more than $7000.

'No matter what happens, I think the council will be pleased we have put in this effort.

'We just want to get this settled and we are appealing for the public for support. Once we have paid, it is done.

'Once it's done we'll be able to develop this project more, and make it something the region can be proud of.”

Thames-Coromandel Mayor Glenn Leach is in meetings today and couldn't be contacted for comment.

But he was reported in the Waikato Times saying the council has bent over backwards to help the trust make its buildings safe and sanitary and get them to a permittable state.

The council lawyer Paul Davies says the $50 per week payment plan will mean the debt will take 10 years to pay off, placing an unfair burden on ratepayers.