Battle over beachfront home turns into war | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua
Battle over beachfront home turns into war
Gerard Maguire at his Plantation Reserve section.PICTURE: ALAN WILLIAMS (eb2511mag)
By ALAN WILLIAMS in Whakatane
A battle between two well-known businessmen over an area of prime real estate at Ohope has turned into a war.
Nearly 18 months after they started building a two-storey home at the Ohope beachfront, Gerard and Janene Maguire have nothing to show for their efforts but weathered timber boxing for the foundations and rusting steel reinforcing.
They blame their neighbours, prominent Wellington businessman Warren Larsen and his wife Barbara.
Mr Larsen is a former chief executive of the Dairy Board and a former manager of the Edgecumbe dairy factory.
He is now a professional company director and business consultant based in Wellington.
His family uses the Ohope property as a holiday home.
The Maguires operate the Surf & Sand Holiday Park in Ohope and have owned the Plantation Reserve section for about three years.
They were forced to stop work on the home just a few days after they began, when the Larsens objected to the Building Industry Authority.
The authority ordered that their consent be cancelled.
The couple have since obtained a second consent, but now face a second challenge from the Larsens.
The Whakatane District Council says it is puzzled by the delays.
Whakatane district inspector Jeff Farrell said he believed the consent process was sound and there was no case to answer.
The Maguires have already shifted the building three metres further back from the sand dunes than was the case in the original consent.
At nine metres in from the sand dune boundary, it is now outside the coastal erosion zone.
However, the Larsens maintain there will still be a danger to their house if the Maguires' house fails to withstand a major storm or erosion.
Mr Maguire said the delays were frustrating.
"I don't dispute Warren Larsen's right to object, but I'm critical of the timeframe involved.
"It means any neighbour can complain on any manner of things and hold up building for as long as they like," he said.
He did not attend the first authority hearing, but said he was going to the next one.
"I accepted that determination is the best way to be able to make some new progress, and we changed the plan in light of that," he said. "But I'll be going to the next hearing and I'll fight this one all the way."
In May correspondence with the Maguires, Mr Larsen said he wanted to "make it absolutely clear" that he was simply attempting to maintain privacy, sunshine access and to minimise the loss of views.
He told The Daily Post this week he did not want to comment on the issue.
"I'm not commenting at all. I'm leaving it to the various authorities to come to a final decision on," he said.
In their second application, the Larsens argue that neither the Maguires nor the Whakatane District Council appealed or sought a judicial review of the determination in April, so both parties were bound by that ruling.
Mr Farrell said a "high degree of rigour" had been adopted with the second consent.
"We are sure all issues have been covered and I'm writing a submission to the authority saying our work has been robust and that there is no case to be defended," he said.
The new consent has many more conditions than the first, including a requirement that boundary fences be constructed to resist coastal erosion.
A battle between two well-known businessmen over an area of prime real estate at Ohope has turned into a war.
Nearly 18 months after they started building a two-storey home at the Ohope beachfront, Gerard and Janene Maguire have nothing to show for their efforts but weathered timber boxing for the foundations and rusting steel reinforcing.
They blame their neighbours, prominent Wellington businessman Warren Larsen and his wife Barbara.
Mr Larsen is a former chief executive of the Dairy Board and a former manager of the Edgecumbe dairy factory.
He is now a professional company director and business consultant based in Wellington.
His family uses the Ohope property as a holiday home.
The Maguires operate the Surf & Sand Holiday Park in Ohope and have owned the Plantation Reserve section for about three years.
They were forced to stop work on the home just a few days after they began, when the Larsens objected to the Building Industry Authority.
The authority ordered that their consent be cancelled.
The couple have since obtained a second consent, but now face a second challenge from the Larsens.
The Whakatane District Council says it is puzzled by the delays.
Whakatane district inspector Jeff Farrell said he believed the consent process was sound and there was no case to answer.
The Maguires have already shifted the building three metres further back from the sand dunes than was the case in the original consent.
At nine metres in from the sand dune boundary, it is now outside the coastal erosion zone.
However, the Larsens maintain there will still be a danger to their house if the Maguires' house fails to withstand a major storm or erosion.
Mr Maguire said the delays were frustrating.
"I don't dispute Warren Larsen's right to object, but I'm critical of the timeframe involved.
"It means any neighbour can complain on any manner of things and hold up building for as long as they like," he said.
He did not attend the first authority hearing, but said he was going to the next one.
"I accepted that determination is the best way to be able to make some new progress, and we changed the plan in light of that," he said. "But I'll be going to the next hearing and I'll fight this one all the way."
In May correspondence with the Maguires, Mr Larsen said he wanted to "make it absolutely clear" that he was simply attempting to maintain privacy, sunshine access and to minimise the loss of views.
He told The Daily Post this week he did not want to comment on the issue.
"I'm not commenting at all. I'm leaving it to the various authorities to come to a final decision on," he said.
In their second application, the Larsens argue that neither the Maguires nor the Whakatane District Council appealed or sought a judicial review of the determination in April, so both parties were bound by that ruling.
Mr Farrell said a "high degree of rigour" had been adopted with the second consent.
"We are sure all issues have been covered and I'm writing a submission to the authority saying our work has been robust and that there is no case to be defended," he said.
The new consent has many more conditions than the first, including a requirement that boundary fences be constructed to resist coastal erosion.
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