A fake container home plonked down on a vacant section in a wealthy Hamilton suburb must be removed within two weeks after council ruled that the container was a building and not art.
Hamilton City Council issued an abatement notice to the owner yesterday afternoon informing him that the shipping container dressed as a tiny house on his Petersburg Drive section in Flagstaff met the definition of a ‘building’ and ‘relocatable building’ under the District Plan.
Council planning and guidance manager Grant Kettle said those buildings were not permitted on land zoned natural open space and a resource consent was required. No resource consent for the container had been applied for nor granted, so the council needed it gone, he said.
If the landowners did not remove the container within the timeframe, Kettle said, council could take further enforcement action.
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Flagstaff landowner David Yzendoorn was resigned about the latest decision, and told OneRoof “it is what it is”.
“I can’t help thinking that the council is applying rules inconsistently.”
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Yzendoorn put the Cosco container on his oddly shaped section in June this year after a long-running battle with the Hamilton City Council over what he can build there.
The council immediately received complaints from Flagstaff residents about the arrival of the container and launched an investigation to consider whether the structure met the requirements of public art, which is allowed in a natural open space zone.
The Petersburg Drive section has a road on one side of it and a stream and bush on the other side. Photo / OneRoof
More than two months on, the council finally released its decision yesterday after OneRoof asked questions about how long an investigation like this should typically take.
Yzendoorn had argued the structure was “public art” and that no one was living there. It included a front door, window frames, pavers leading up to it, a letterbox and a well-placed sofa to enjoy the view. Several signs have been stuck to it that read: “Hamilton has a housing shortage”, while another tells people not to trespass.
Meanwhile, a hearing for his resource consent application to build a duplex on the 1716sqm sloping section will be held later this month by an independent commissioner.
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