Big shed upsets rural neighbours

Residents in Kaikokopu Rd in Westmere are upset a huge shed that's gone up on one property is going to become home for an industrial operation that sits outside the scope of the zoning for the area.

Mica Mountain Pine has lodged a resource application with the Whanganui District Council for the shed to be used as storage and maintenance of forestry equipment at 484 Kaikokopu Rd.

Bernie Maubach and his wife Jutta Rosenblatt operate the Vollrath Hanoverian Stud across the road from the property and engaged their own planning consultants because they were concerned with the impact the operations from the shed could have on the area.

Mr Maubach said they also canvassed neighbours and all expressed similar concerns that the planned use was at odds with the lifestyle blocks along the road.

He and his wife have operated the stud for almost 40 years. They train young horses, break in horses and work with stallions and that required a quiet environment.

"That is the reason we're living in Kaikokopu Rd," Ms Rosenblatt said.

Mica Mountain Pine Ltd is a registered New Zealand company and lists two major shareholders - US couple Jeanie Marie and Steven James Henderson who give their address as Dreay, Idaho.

District council planners said that there had been correspondence between the council and the Hendersons and as a result a resource consent application was submitted to the council on July 7.

The application is seeking approval for the storage and maintenance of up to eight pieces of forestry equipment on the site between July 1 and September 15 in any year. During these winter months maintenance would be undertaken on the machines, such as changing oil and replacement of damaged parts.

A council spokesperson said the application was at the early stages of assessment.

"No decision has been made on notification and no dates for determination or hearing of the application have been identified," she said.

Mr Maubach said the planning consultants he and his wife had engaged believed that application "most accurately" fits the District Plan definition of an industrial activity/manufacturing activity.

"This differs from the resource consent application which states that the activity is a 'rural industry' activity," he said. He said if that definition is upheld then the Hendersons' application doesn't comply with the District Plan.

Michael Davis, another neighbour, said the industrial nature of the planned activity didn't suit the location.

"There are empty sheds located throughout the city's industrial areas that would welcome them as a tenant."

He said "huge trucks" using Kaikokopu Rd posed a danger to the residents.