20 Oct 2022. The back wheels of the truck are on our side of the boundary line, about 2 metres lower than the level on 11 November.
10 May 2024, 17:32 Silted wetland channel
The back wheels of the truck are on our side of the boundary line.
pre Sept 2022 Both properties were full of trees in and up the gully.
Sept 2022 - Jan 2023 Neighbour brings in spoil to fill a gully that is mostly on his own property with orange-clay fill. There is no permit and no retainment. It flows into the trees he did not knock down on our own property.
Nov 2022 we complain to FNDC and NRC (councils)
30 Nov 2022 FNDC gives neighbour a retrospective earthworks permit based on just 200 cube and other fictions,
within 5 working days
20 Dec 2022 CEO of FNDC site visit and letter to state that this will be remediated. He stresses the importance of the wetland
Jan 2023 neighbour resumes with bringing in more rubble onto his property
April 2023 Head of FNDC legal states that there will be remediation
Aug 2023 Neighbour is issued a NRC resource consent so he could remediate but he can also do nothing
April 2024 Neighbour continues to ignore our requests to remediate
June 2024 FNDC and NRC appear not to enforce any action on the neighbour
Silt continues to flow into the wetland
In more detailSept - Oct 2022 Photographs taken by our house sitter showing the neighbour doing major earthworks. Our house sitter had given him our details.
20 Oct 2022 The day we return we see the extent of the earthworks. We feel the best approach is to try to negotiate - unaware of the damage the springs underneath would do later to the wetland below.
30 Oct 2022 A slip after rainfall knocks down our fence about 10 metres in from the shared boundary. When the neighbour states that this is our problem because it happened on our land we realise the promises he had made to clean up were untrue. We still felt it best to try to negotiate and so we kept talking with the neighbour and started to document more thoroughly. We started research on what to do, having no idea how councils operated.
5 Nov 2022 The neighbour knew we had a family event in Christchurch for 6 days. On the afternoon that we need to leave, we encounter another of the 30 tonne truckloads of fill being dumped, this time, lower down where the wetland is. We tell him to stop. He tells us we can't make him stop. We have to leave - our mistake for telling him that we had to be away.
7 Nov 2022 My first phone call to the FNDC to file a request.
29 Nov 2022. The same day the engineer made the site visit on behalf of the FNDC for the retrospective earthworks application
which made no mention of any trespass and referred to only 200 cube in total added.
All the orange-yellow clay-fill you see was brought in by the neighbour. Original soil is the darker colour.
15 Nov 2022 photo: The neighbour called this a silt fence. This pond surrounded by flax was clean and used to have frogs in it.
17 Nov: The FNDC compliance officier referred to this as a silt fence.
The neighbour put this here in 5-10 Nov 2022 while we were away, along with at least another 200 cube of fill, without our knowledge.
We return shocked at the extra volume of fill dumped into our trees and wetland and the added metres of height.
The gouged out ruts show that a digger had been in around our pond about 10 metres into our property from the boundary.
A 15 metre long fence with shelter cloth which didn't stop the silt was built on top of the added 1-2 metre height.
The pond is now the same colour as the fill. The neighbour offers no apology for this trespass. We point out that he could have rung us. He becomes progressively abusive. Sonja continues to document.
Phone call with the FNDC compliance officier who was happy to receive photographic documentation.
11 Nov 2022 We email and pin a Cease + Desist notification at the neighbour's place. He informs us that this went into the rubbish bin.
14 Nov 2022 We urge the neighbour to stop bringing in more trailer loads until after the FNDC site visit. Sonja films the threats by the neighbour.
14 Nov 2022 A mediation with the neighbour vacilitated by his digger-driver, Sam, that he stop bringing in more trailer loads of rubble until the FNCD officier site visit if we would hold off with our threatened court action.
15 Nov 2022 7 a.m. the first of multiple 8 tonne trailer loads of rubble brought in by the neighbour. He claimed that it was not an agreement to cease, only that he was listening to what was agreed. Communication is easier now we know he lies so blatently.
17 Nov 2022 FNDC compliance officier site visit. He says an abatement notice to stop the neighbour bringing in more fill and rubble cannot be issued unless his boss, Ken Ward signs off on this. He tells us he cannot ask the neighbour to stop bringing in more fill. He refers to the 2 metre long fence the neighbour built in November without our permission while we were away, as a silt fence.
We didn't know what a silt fence was.
23 Nov 2022 NRC compliance officier site visit. She informs us that what was called a silt fence is a joke - on top of the fill made with netting that does not stop the sludge passing through it. We now realise the FNDC officier was not being truthful and now research on what a silt fence is meant to do. She informs us that all the NRC can do is to issue two $900 fines and make a request for a resource consent where we would be informed as an affected party. She tells us that she doesn't have the authority to stop the neighbour bringing in more rubble and fill but she asked him to stop doing any activity that was not permitted.
29 Nov 2022 10 min site visit by engineer Rex Shand documented from our deck. The spillage into our water and trees must be obvious.
29 Nov 2022 Neighbour brags that the FDNC have withdrawn the process for issuing of an abatement notice.
29 Nov 2022 FNDC team leader Compliance Ken Ward withdraws an abatement notice (abate 2023-56) that would have frozen the unpermitted earthworks Mr May continued to engage in after the 17 Nov site visit.
2 Dec 2022 The neighbour begins to build a fence along our shared boundary stating that he has a FNDC earthworks permit that gives him permission to do this. We ask to see a copy of this. He curses and threatens us. We walk away from him.
We ring the FNDC compliance officer. He tells us we can do nothing about stopping the neighbour building a fence on top of the unretained fill, but he helps us get a copy of the permit
(permit number 3002062-LGAEWK). It states this is just for 200 cube (easily a third or less of what was actually brought in) and it makes no mention of the approximately 138 cube, clearly on our side of the boundary line.
We ring the NRC compliance officier for help. She rings the neighbour to warn him about doing any activity that is a breach. We hear the phone conversation because he shouts on the phone at her. He continues building the fence. Sonja documents this.
-- to be continued --- a lot of details and photos to come --
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