Adelaide businessman Lance Vater opens his private garden as he fights Burnside Council over a shipping container
He is fighting Burnside Council over a shipping container tower on his hillside property. Now flamboyant businessman Lance Vater is opening the gates to his huge private garden for the first time. TAKE THE TOUR
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Adelaide millionaire Lance Vater is throwing open his garden to the public – champagne included – in a bid to keep an illuminated shipping container tower on the eastern suburbs hillside property.
The flamboyant entrepreneur – known for his Rolls Royce cars and extravagant dress sense – is launching a campaign to win support for the tower, which is at the centre of an escalating dispute with Burnside Council.
The council is seeking court orders to force the removal of the vertical container – which features a cross made from fluorescent tubes – from the intersection of Wyfield Street and Knox Terrace, Wattle Park, following complaints from residents.
Mr Vater, 77, has been ordered not to switch on the cross at night while discussions continue between his lawyers and the council.
Mr Vater said he would be asking people for their opinion during an open day on Sunday, October 4.
It will be the first time he has hosted large numbers of people at the former olive orchard and mine site, which he has spent millions of dollars landscaping since buying the 2ha block in 1978.
Thousands of tonnes of rock from Kanmantoo and tens of thousands of plants had been used in the project, which Mr Vater said was preparation for the site of a large “manor” he planned to build.
“Until now, I have had gardening societies visit but I have never opened the gates like this before,” he said.
While Mr Vater is a well-known figure within Adelaide business circles, he has maintained a relatively low public profile during his decades of operating various companies.
In 2012, a video of one of his Rolls Royces parked at Glenelg with its roof down during a thunderstorm went viral on the internet.
The inventor of a sliding door mechanism which purportedly made him millions, Mr Vater planted the palm plantation at Cavan.
He also operates a barramundi hatchery at West Beach, a farm with fish, sheep and cattle at Robe and several factories.
A wine enthusiast, Penfolds Grange collector, Variety Bash supporter and ardent Adelaide Crows follower, Mr Vater owns multiple properties across Adelaide, including penthouse apartments.
“When people come to the Magill Cellars at Auldana, which I own, for my open day they will have a champagne or freshly squeezed fruit juice.
“I will also have some of my wine available for tasting.
“When they go up to my property in groups of 20 by shuttle bus, they will get my barramundi on arrival and I will have a bullock and two sheep on a spit down below.”
He would have forms available for people to say whether they supported the shipping container remaining or wanted it to be removed from the property.
“I want to know what people think about it,” he said.
Lawyers for Mr Vater have obtained an engineering report which states the container is not at risk of falling over.
Burnside Council chief executive Chris Cowley said the container required development approval, which had not been sought by Mr Vater.
“This is a case where we have an individual who is asking for forgiveness rather than permission and that approach doesn’t cut it in the City of Burnside,” he said.
Mr Cowley said the council had received numerous complaints from “both close to the site and further afield”