KEY POINTS:
Work on a luxury house on the slopes of Mt Eden has been stopped while checks are made to see if it breaches a law prohibiting steep cuts on Auckland's volcanic cones.
The Auckland City Council is also investigating how a large totara tree came to fall over
during excavation work on Thursday while an application for its removal was still being processed.
Work halted at the Glenfell Place site on Friday after members of the Volcanic Cones Society discussed their concerns with senior council planner Paul Arnesen.
The owner of the $1.3 million property, Ai Wen Zhu, was not at the meeting but his contractor and engineer attended it.
Society spokesman Greg Smith said a "significant cut" had been made into the cone, and chairman John Street believed differences between the council-approved plans and the steep topography of the site would lead to bigger cuts into the mountain.
The plans show a large, five-level house stepped into a site at about a 50-degree angle.
Mr Street said the section was about 5 degrees off the vertical.
The council granted resource consent in 2004 to build on the site.
Planning general manager John Duthie said he knew of the 1915 act at the time but the council did not alert Mr Zhu to its existence and potential effects.
Mr Smith said that if the act was not being complied with, it was up to the council to decide whether to seek a High Court injunction formally stopping the work.
But Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard, who has called Mt Eden-Maungawhau a taonga (treasure) that needs protection for future generations, showed little concern about the damage and said the problem had nothing to do with the council.
He said the onus was on Mr Zhu to get permission from the Governor-General - through the Department of Conservation - to cut into the mountain.
The council could not withhold a resource consent on the basis that permission had not been granted.
A short time later, Mr Duthie contradicted Mr Hubbard, saying the legislation clearly said the council could enforce the act if it asked someone not to do work on a cone and they refused.
THE PROCESS
* The council granted Ai Wen Zhu permission to build a house on the slopes of Mt Eden in 2004.
* At the time, the council was aware of a 1915 law that prohibits steep cuts on Auckland's volcanic cones, but did not tell Mr Zhu.
* Mr Zhu started work with resource and building consents about two months ago.
* The Volcanic Cones Society saw the cut in the mountain and demanded work stop on the site.
* Work stopped after a site meeting on Friday.
* The council, Department of Conservation and Mr Zhu will discuss the matter today.
