Trucking yard to stay - for now

By Dean Austen

AUCKLAND - When the Lendich family set up their heavy haulage business in Massey 40 years ago it was on a run-down orchard well away from the nearest homes.

Now Lendich Construction finds itself caught in Auckland's suburban sprawl.

This week, the Environment Court upheld an appeal by the firm, which the Waitakere City Council had issued with abatement notices. In effect, the court said the Lendich family were there first.

The case reflects the problems encountered more and more as Auckland's burgeoning population spreads into the surrounding countryside.

In an interim decision, the court quashed calls by the council for Lendich Construction to stop using its premises as a storage and maintenance depot.

It found that the family-owned business, started in the rural backblocks of Massey but now caught in the "tendrils of urban living," had existing-use rights.

The court had heard how the Lendich family bought the Moire Rd site, where the depot is now, in the 1930s when it was a run-down orchard with no power or water.

The managing director, Danny Lendich, started contracting work in 1956 at the age of 13 on a small farm in the area.

The business has grown to the point where it now employs 25 people and owns a range of heavy-duty earthmoving equipment, including six Kenworth trucks and 13 excavators.

The Waitakere council sent the company two abatement notices in March 1997 after complaints from neighbours.

It alleged that the company was engaged in a non-complying activity and responsible for adverse environmental effects such as noise, vibration, glare, dust, contaminated runoff and a loss of amenity values for surrounding properties.

Espie Palmer has lived opposite the Lendich depot since 1972, when the area was a lot less developed and a lot more quiet.

"My main complaint is the noise," said Mr Palmer.

"When the casino was being built Mr Lendich would have four or five trucks leaving the site at five in the morning. This was happening six days a week.

"And he did say that if the same situation arose where he had a contract like that, he would do it again."

The Environment Court decision to uphold two appeals against the abatement notices is an interim one, allowing time for the company and the council to agree on appropriate conditions to mitigate the adverse effects of the company's activities.

Waitakere City Council is considering an appeal.

Lendich Construction declined to comment.