Barnaby the dog atop the seawall at Point Wells in front of Warwick Mortimer's home. Photo / Warkwick Mortimer
Barnaby the dog atop the seawall at Point Wells in front of Warwick Mortimer's home. Photo / Warkwick Mortimer
A Point Wells homeowner has won a battle against Auckland Council over illegally building a boat ramp and a seawall to protect his valuable waterfront property from erosion.
Hearing commissioners have granted retrospective consent to Warwick Mortimer, who remains angry, despite the victory by his familytrust which owns the Point Wells Rd property.
“The consent after 10 years, the council losing the first application in 2014/15 and a lot of our retirement funds eaten up in legal,” Mortimer said.
“It’s been well in excess of $280,000 and there’s more to spend. The legal and professional fees. I got the best people but we now have to get land approval now.
“The commissioners gave us their consent but we have to get the local board to agree to the walkways being there because it’s over their land,” Mortimer said.
Hearing commissioners Karyn Kurzeja, Hugh Leersnyder and Gavin Lister granted respective consent for the seawall and a boat ramp within the publicly owned esplanade reserve and the coastal marina area in the Whangateau Harbour near Matakana.
Warwick Mortimer with his dog Winston, in front of the sea wall he had built at his Point Wells home. Photo / Warwick Mortimer
In 2014, a council compliance inspector noticed the stacked 2m wide and 1.5m high boulder wall, extending about 11m into the coastal marine area.
The application was notified in a limited way, resulting in only one submission being received. The commissioners said it neither supported or opposed the application but sought where practicable that potential adverse effects on the environment be minimised.
Mortimer’s trust had been asked to remove the boat ramp and seawall, the council having issued him with an abatement noticed for his unauthorised and then illegal construction.
But in July 2022, an appeal was lodged and consent sought for the existing structures, the decision said.
Mortimer and neighbour and barrister Paul Dale, KC own illegal seawalls on the Matakana coast which they have been asked to remove.
But the two men say their walls and two neighbouring ones were built to stop flooding and erosion and all four owners challenged the council abatement notices in the Environment Court.
The council has issued them with notices to remove the walls, saying their construction and existence meant the loss of salt marsh vegetation and mangroves which buffer the shoreline and provide a habitat for native fauna. It also said the walls prevented any future naturalisation or restoration of the coastal edge.
Warwick Mortimer's house is protected by this unconsented sea wall which Auckland Council wants removed. Photo / Warwick Mortimer
No one can build any structure that is fixed in, on, under or above any foreshore or seabed, the council told the owners. Any disturbance - including excavating, drilling or tunnelling - that has an adverse effect on the foreshore or seabed is also prohibited.
Others in the area said the walls had a detrimental effect on the environment and there were good reasons why the council wanted them removed.
The sheer length of them had a big impact on what was essentially a sheltered area of the harbour, much calmer than more open areas, critics said.
People should realise the cumulative impact of that long stretch of walls in front of all the properties, a nearby resident said last year.
But Mortimer and Dale remained resolute that the walls perform an important function and stop the sea from undermining their property and water flooding in.
Mortimer said his seawall was important, particularly if more ex-cyclones like Lola batter the coast.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
