Neighbours stuck with ‘dump site’ container art
The City may have spent “tens of thousands” to get a shipping container - now deemed public art by the Environment Court - removed from a Hamilton suburb, and the man behind the container has issued a warning over any potential appeal.
“It’s their choice but they have a duty to be responsible with ratepayer funds and are already short of money,” said Dave Yzendoorn.
Yzendoorn, who successfully fought off a council abatement notice to get the container moved after the Environment Court ruled that “even though it may retain the look of a shipping container, it can no longer be considered as such”.
Yzendoorn wanted to build a duplex on the site but was rebuffed and required to get a resource consent after the land was rezoned from residential status to natural open spaces.
Neighbours objected to his house plans and the issue is now before the Environment Court. The arrival of the shipping container was a surprise for neighbours. In addition to its “artistic” merits it likely serves as a symbolic middle finger to the council and the neighbours who complained.
Yzendoorn told the Waikato Times he was “ecstatic” at the Environment Court decision - and that the container would be going nowhere.
“We don’t have to remove it. I would like it to stay.” He also questioned why Hamilton City Council “threw their top lawyer at it”. Council ignored the relatively simple District Plan rules that laypeople like myself could follow,” he said.
“It says clearly that public art is a permitted activity. No-one had to coach us or explain it. I find myself questioning council’s motivation to waste a large amount of ratepayer rates on this.”
He said he hoped council would not launch further legal action. In a statement council said it was considering its legal options while Yzendoorn said he had “stood up for our land rights and will continue to do so”. He also issued a message to neighbours, some of whom he claimed supported the container, while some according to council - claim it’s made their neighbourhood “resemble a dump site”.
“We are open to suggestions from neighbours of how to improve the installation without necessarily removing it.”
Councillor Andrew Bydder, who told the
Waikato Times he advised Yzendoorn in his capacity as an architectural designer, said the container was compliant “to the letter”.
Bydder also said he believed Yzendoorn would retain the container in its current location, “and rightly so”. Bydder also said he believed the legal action thus far has cost council “in the tens of thousands”.
He was also clear the legal avenues should have run their course.
“Very unwise for the council to appeal it . . . the council could change the definition of public art, but that cannot be retrospective.” Caution over further legal action was also urged by The Environmental Lawyers director Andrew Braggins.
“A 20-page decision that is carefully worded. I think they would struggle on appeal.” Braggins said there was one key element to situation that saw the decision fall in Yzendoorn’s favour.
“Not functioning as a storage facility. That was a critical aspect,” he said.
He said that if that had been the case, “then the outcome would be different”.
Braggins also dismissed arguments raised by council that deeming the container public art would “open the floodgates for avoidance of the consent process by referring to a land use activity as public art”.
“Fanciful” was Braggins take on that claim. “The council was being overly sensitive in the circumstances,” he said.
In a written statement to the Waikato
Times Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate declined to comment on whether she believed the decision would “open the floodgates for avoidance”.
She did say, however, that she supports public art, but that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
“And in this instance the court has deemed the container to be public art, and we must accept that”. Southgate was also relaxed about Bydder’s role, saying he “is entitled to his view”.
“My only interest is ensuring the District Plan delivers the right results for our wider community.”