Teacher v developer
Resident despairs over former Whangārei mayors earthmoving activities
AWhangārei resident fears his home might be condemned like a neighbour’s if earthworks at former mayor Stan Semenoff’s adjacent housing development are allowed to continue unchecked.
But Semenoff rejected allegations made against him, claiming the resident bought his property knowing full well the unstable state of the land and the demise of the house opposite.
Primary school teacher Daniel Watts, also a former One Party candidate for Whangārei, bought his 1970s weatherboard house on 1012sq m section on Manuka Pl in April 2021 for $540,000.
It is directly opposite a house at No 11 owned by Tony Stringer, who had lived there for 16 years when in August 2019 the land around it subsided and large cracks suddenly appeared in the brickwork. Whangārei District Council deemed it too unsafe for occupants.
An Earthquake Commission report later confirmed a land failure, which had irrevocably damaged the Stringer house, was due to a combination of rain and work done at Semenoff’s development.
Watts claimed his house had also recently shown signs of subsidence that he believes is due to earthworks Semenoff did on his housing development one Saturday about three weeks ago.
He claimed a highly unstable bank near the corner of his property had been dug into but Semenoff disputed the distance, saying the earthworks were on a hill slope further away.
Watts believed the bank was now at higher risk because of the work and the alleged removal of some drainage mechanisms council had insisted be installed.
Semenoff claimed he hadn’t interfered with any drainage relating to No 11. Plastic sheeting to which Watts had referred, washed out “way back during Cyclone Gabrielle”.
He’d cleared out a “filthy” sediment drain beneath that slope – as he was regularly required by council to do.
Watts pointed to damage that he claimed had appeared at the rear of his house within a week of Semenoff’s activities: cracks in the eaves under his roof, a 3cm-4cm gap that had opened up between some concrete stairs and the weatherboard wall, cracks in recent paint work along the interior of rear windows, and stretch marks in the linoleum floor of a leanto pantry.
He claimed Semenoff sometimes worked at weekends and at nights – when residents wouldn’t be able to alert the council to any concerns.
So worried about what might become of his house, Watts had taken a week’s stress leave from work to see what could be done.
“Insurance has pretty much said, ‘You can’t prove it’s him – it could be subsidence or vibrations from heavy machinery’. ”
The insurance company had confirmed it would likely only cover sudden, large-scale, damage.
Whangārei District Council didn’t alleviate his fears either.
“The council have told me he can do what he wants at night because that’s on his land and if the issue’s about noise, I should call Noise Complaints.”
Watts claimed that before buying his property, council had assured him there wouldn’t be any houses built over the fence. Semenoff would need to do some major retaining work first.