"Why me?" asks ski lodge owner

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 397, 30 July 1991, Page 1

"Why me?" asks ski lodge owner

Warren Birkhead, owner of a Miro St Ohakune boarding house that has been closed down by the council, feels he is being victimised.

The council was granted an interim injunction on 18 July stopping him from operating his boarding house because it did not

meet with council regulations and was not licensed. But while Mr Birkhead agrees there is work to be done on the premises

to meet building, health and fire regulations, he feels he is being singled. out from many other Ohakune accommodation houses that are operating the same way. "It's fair enough that I have to do this work (making alterations to the 80 year old house) to

meet the regulations - I have no argument with that," said Mr Birkhead, "But I know of about 20 or 30 other buildings that the council isn't doing anything about and about another 100 that they should be looking at." In the council's docu-

ments supporting the case for the injunction Fire Inspector Edward Pike states: "...in our opinion any outbreak of fire in these premises would almost certainly result in a loss of life." He said the property was "grossly

"Why me?" asks ski lodge owner

Frompagel deficient in the basic life safety features required"; and that "severe overcrowding would result from the full occupation of the available beds". Scrim and wallpaper lined the walls, bunkroom windows were obstructed, and a drying room lined with black polythene was sited off one bunkroom, stated the fire inspector's report. There were also three cardboard cartons of ashes inside the building. The health and building inspectors were also scathing in their reports. "Generally the instal-

lation of pipes relating to plumbing work that can be seen has been carried out in a tradesman like manner, however it is what cannot be seen that concerns me. There has been a blatant disregard for the requirements of the Plumbing and Drainage Regulations by both the plumber and owner," said the health inspector's report. Several instances of unsuitable plumbing were cited. Mr Birkhead said he had asked the council several times prior to the injunction what he had to do to meet the requirements but was given

no information. He said he has been given a list of shortcomings after the injunction was served. Mr Birkhead said he has applied for a specified departure to be allowed to operate the boarding house but has had no joy there with the council either. "I looked at buying a property in Ohakune for this purpose but there was nothing at all available in the right zones so I bought this one," he said. "And now I can't get planning permission." Mr Birkhead said he was trying to meet the

council's legal requirements to operate a boarding house and in the meantime was operating the same as everyone else. He said most chalets and the like work through a tenancy agreement with 'customers' and that was what he was doing. He said each individual would sign a tenancy agreement with him. Guests at Mr Birkhead's house were mostly clients of Go Kiwi, an adventure tours business, but Mr Birkhead said as far as accommodation went it was separate. He said even the staff of Go Kiwi were tenants of his.

"The council says I'm not a scapegoat in this but with all that' s happened I tend to think I am." The injunction was granted on Thursday 18 July but Mr Birkhead said he was not informed until late Friday night when he already had a

full house of guests. He said he had no choice but to let them stay there for the weekend. "The town was full - where else could they go?" At about 5.45am on the Sunday morning he said a number of council officers arrived to count heads, said Mr Birkhead. He said the people staying were very upset at the council officer's actions. "Bringing in the heavy artillery is a bit much don't you think?" Council officer Nicole Middleton said she had tried to serve notice of the injunction to Mr Birkhead during the day on the Friday but he was not available. She denied Mr Birkhead was being singled out - saying he was blatantly breaching the regulations and for people's safety they had to close him down. "The degree of breach of the regulations does matter - if it (a property used for accommodation) is a danger to people 's lives the Council can't condone it," she said. Mr Birkhead had applied for town planning permission to operate the lodge, said Mrs Middleton, but the applica-

tion was incomplete and the council was still waiting for further information from Mr Birkhead. Mrs Middleton said he had been advised of what needed doing to the house back in June. She agreed there was a huge grey area with regard to licensed accommodation but said the council is looking into the matter. She said they were investigating other blatant breaches of the regulations and would most likely be taking other legal action. But she said there were several other areas of council responsibility that required attention. "There are many people still waiting for us to process their liquor licence applications," said Mrs Middleton. "We've already spent three whole weeks on just this." She said council needed evidence of breaches of the regulations before they could act, not just addresses and suspicions. "It is a complicated issue and a huge workload," she said. "I was just doing what everyone else was doing," said Mr Birkhead. "Why me? Why now? Why not two years ago?"