A rendering of what the boatshed proposal for 8 Wairangi St, Herne Bay is planned to look like. Photo / Auckland Council application
Owners of a $22 million Auckland home, once owned by the Sultan of Brunei and a 42 Below Vodka founder, want to build a boatshed on the waterfront beneath their place.
But locals strongly oppose the addition to the property sold last decade by rich-lister Geoff Ross and his wife Justine, saying it’s a massive thing that will dominate its tiny bay.
Because of the scheme’s features which include pouring concrete piles into the seabed area, Auckland Council has notified the application so people can have their say up until June 13.
To build the shed, the multimillionaires who own 8 Wairangi St want to install 87 piles into the rocky intertidal platform or seabed area, of which 17 will be poured in situ to support the new structure.
Owners of the palatial weatherboard home propose a boatshed and launching ramp. Their planners at 4Sight Consulting say an old shed once existed there and they have shown historical photos.
The house was one of 11 in Herne Bay sold by the multibillionaire sultan for almost $35 million around 2005. The property was previously owned by 42 Below vodka co-founder Geoff and wife Justine Ross, who left for a Lake Hawea station, featured in Country Calendar for playing classical music in the shearing shed to calm sheep and having mattresses to protect them when landing after they go down porthole chutes.
The Ross couple went back to their rural roots in 2019, buying the 6500ha high country station and converting it into a carbon-zero certified farm, where they run 10,000 merino sheep.
The new boatshed is to be 15m long by 8m wide, about 4.5m high, have a 120sq m area and will be supported by those 17 concrete piles sunk into the seabed.
“The boatshed has been designed to house an amphibious (sealegs) boat, jet skis, kayaks and paddle boards. A stainless steel filleting bench is provided along the southwestern wall and toilet and shower facilities are provided at the rear,” iLowa’s application to the council said.
Wastewater from the boatshed will be pumped up the cliff and discharged via the existing connections from the house to the sewer system.
An 8m wide by 5m deep launch deck will is proposed at the front or northwestern end of the boat shed. From there, a 33.7m long by 5m wide boat ramp will extend in a northwesterly direction.
In 2021, the council valued 8 Wairangi St at $22m: the 1922sq m site at $16.2m and the house - which is more than double the size of the average Kiwi home at 594sq m - at $5.7m. Because the house is two-level, it only covers 240sq m of the land.
Rates of $39,390 per year are charged.
But the Herne Bay Residents Association’s Dirk Hudig and Don Mathieson oppose it as “a massive thing” that will dominate the wee public bay, its foreshore and the Herne Bay coast with its bulk and extensive ramp leading well into the tide.
The shed looks to be twice as wide as the smaller one on the next point, they said.
The shed combined with its slipway would be the longest seen in the area and likely a navigation hazard at many tide levels, certainly public access to the harbour and foreshore would be restricted, they said.
Allowing the shed to be built would privatise public land.
The proposal appeared to breach the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Art 2000 which gives special status to the area, including Herne Bay’s foreshore as a resource to contribute to the enjoyment of the area for people and communities.
“This building does the opposite. It’s hard to see how building 17 concrete piles into the sea bed is going to enhance the Hauraki Gulf. It’s easier to see how it breaches those rights, with its piles, diggings, bulk and materials. It adversely affects the amenity for not just people visiting the foreshore, but also swimmers and boaters,” Hudig and Mathieson said.
Who actually lives there, or its effective owner, isn’t clear, but one thing is: they’re fiercely private. The property is owned by a NZ-registered company, iLowa, formed in 2017, which is the same year the current owners bought it.
That company’s activities are described as trustee services. iLowa is owned by Sentrust Nominees of TGT Legal, Shortland St.
Andrew Wall of Wall Real Estate, which sold the house in 2017, said he was bound by confidentiality not to give the names of the person or people who own it.
The owners want to build a 2m wide x 18m long boardwalk with a stainless steel balustrade along the northeastern side of their new boatshed. This will connect to a new timber walkway extending from the top of the existing seawall.
Seventy timber piles will be needed for the boardwalks and launching ramp.
The boatshed will be clad in timber so it weathers over time to a silvered look. The entry door on the southeastern facade will be timber to match the cladding. A single, narrow timber louvre window, to match, will be on that facade.
To get their scheme approved, planners commissioned an observation report on Wairangi Bay, showing how little it was used by people, with the contention that the scheme should therefore be approved because it would have so little effect.
Xyst was commissioned to do an observational study of the recreational use of the small pocket beach below the mansion. It studied the area for two Saturdays in March last year.
As the tide recedes there is a small sandy beach initially, about 30m wide. As the tide goes out further, the sandy areas narrow to a couple of metres wide with more oyster-covered rock exposed on either side of the sand. The beach is most attractive around mid-tide.
Of note is that the landing of watercraft at the beach may be hindered or at risk of damage by the rocky nature of the foreshore, the report said.
There is no formal public access developed into Wairangi Bay and it is not easily accessed by foot.
While there is a path to the public wharf, when the small beach in the bay is exposed it can only be accessed from the eastern side by walking along a rock shelf that drops into the beach.
“There is evidence that people do enter the small bay with etchings in the rock, and litter including drink bottles, food packaging and drug paraphernalia left on the rock shelf. And broken glass was seen on the beach within the bay at low tide. There is also graffiti along the wharf and stone retaining wall under the wharf, and a small amount on the private stairs leading up to 8 Wairangi St,” Xyst said.
The only access to the pocket beach was on the first Saturday: “A swimmer from the wharf came ashore onto the beach around 12.30 pm (mid-tide) and returned to the wharf via the rock shelf.”
“There was very little recreational use of the bay,” the consultants concluded.
Lawyer Louise Espin at Dentons Kensington Swan, on the client/applicants’ legal team, did not reply when asked if anyone wanted to engage in publicity about the scheme.
The council will decide what to do next about the proposal after all submissions are in next month.
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