KEY POINTS:
Barrister Barry Hart loves riding his farm's saddle trails, looking down over native bush, swamps and lush meadows.
"This is one of the loveliest areas still untouched in Auckland ... it's pristine, rural countryside," he says.
But the pride and joy shown when talking about his Waimauku land
changes to anger and despair when he discusses a plan to open a railway station-style cafe-restaurant on the farm next door.
"The worst part is our beautiful riding trails. We will be looking straight at it. Every time I ride past I wouldn't be happy about it, seeing a railway station cafe.
"There are heaps of other places ... why did he choose to put it there?"
His neighbour, Rick Martin, of Cornerstone Group, says he has every right to pursue the cafe plan on part of his 463ha farm.
Mr Martin, who built high-rise towers Nautilus in Orewa and Sentinel in Takapuna, says the Auckland-Northland line passes the site and guests will be able to arrive by chartered train at a railway-themed venue.
On Thursday, Mr Hart and his wife Susan joined other northwest Rodney residents to ask planning commissioners to turn down Cornerstone's resource consent bid.
The Harts showed a video of themselves out riding to commissioners, who were appointed by the Rodney District Council and Auckland Regional Council, whose officers recommend the cafe resource consent be declined.
The high-profile Mr Hart is no stranger to controversy. His clients include Dick Headley and Kay Skelton, charged over the kidnapping of 6-year-old Jayden Headley, top jockey Lisa Cropp, who faces drug charges, and property developer Mark Lyon, who is on drug and weapons charges.
Mr Hart said his family were conservationists and "caretakers" of the 530ha farm. The family had protected 60ha of native bush and wetlands and three pa sites important to Maori.
He said Mr Martin had done nothing to preserve natural landscape features such as fencing off native bush to stop it dying.
The cafe would be a significant building totally out of character with the surrounding rural landscape.
Landscape architect Sally Peake described it as "reminiscent of United Kingdom designs for supermarkets".
Noise and lighting from events for up to 200 people would affect the tranquillity of the area and privacy of his property, said Mr Hart.
Mr Martin was using the railway cafe as a "trojan horse" - to get a foot in the door for future housing development on land zoned as rural.
"If he wants a mini city, he should go where where the zone enables it to happen - there's plenty of land at Kumeu-Huapai but it's expensive and that's the problem."
Mr Martin was not at the hearing but told the Herald he expected Mr Hart to take the matter to the Environment Court.
"In the last three years we've been strapped for cash and we've kept the land clean of weeds and pests. We've just started on fencing in the bush and set up a nursery for trees to plant."
Cornerstone says the station cafe is a separate consent application. The controversy "brought attention to the whole project, which is good", Mr Martin said.
In two months the company would apply for a private plan change to the District Plan to allow its proposal for a European-style village and up to 1300 households on the farm.