Feilding residents worry home business will disturb neighbourhood
Mahi Gr resident Roger Locke is worried the Feilding street will get busier because of a home-based business.
A Feilding couple are at the centre of a neighbourhood in uproar only months after moving their home-based business to a new subdivision.
More than 40 residents have signed a petition opposing Sarah and Richard Walton's venture, Barclae Ridge Gift Solutions, which manufactures gift hampers out of their garage.
Residents on the newly formed Mahi Gr say the enterprise violates a covenant prohibiting any of their homes being used for trade or commercial purposes.
Mahi Gr residents want their street to say quiet.
It's a rule neighbour Roger Locke said was there to protect their "family-friendly" neighbourhood from increased traffic, noise and disruption.
But Sarah Walton said her business would attract one courier van per week, on average. The business is run primarily via phone, email and online orders, and does not have a store or showroom.
Walton said her venture was secondary to the residential use of the property and did not employ any fulltime staff.
But Locke said Walton couldn't predict future growth of the business.
"There is potential the company could become more popular in the future and, therefore, an increase of traffic would be inevitable," Locke said.
"What's stopping Toyota New Zealand from picking up the phone and saying we want 50 hampers a week?"
Locke said there were 15 children who often played on the street and the design of the street didn't allow for parking or footpaths.
"Our grove is not designed for increases of traffic," Locke said.
"There would be an increase of traffic in a very small street, regardless of the quantity. There will be goods being delivered and then goods being sold."
The Waltons moved into the house three months ago after getting the all-clear from Karaka Court Trust property developer Wayne Christensen. In an email to Sarah Walton in September last year, Christensen gave his approval and said she was not in breach of the covenant.
The gift hamper business is in its 12th year and Walton designed the new build to include an extended garage from which she could pack and store her product.
It didn't require any exterior storage or visits for the collection of goods outside 7am to 8pm, she said.
Walton said residents on Mahi Gr were unaware she was running her business from home for three months. It wasn't until a public notice in the Feilding-Rangitikei Herald, advertising Walton's application for an off-licence for the sale and supply of alcohol, that they were alerted to the business.
Fitzherbert Rowe Lawyers senior associate Liam Hehir said covenants could be enforced by homeowners or property developers.
Hehir said whether or not an activity breached a covenant was a matter of how its wording was interpreted.
"You would need to get a formal legal opinion before you could have any certainty," Hehir said.
- Stuff
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