Businessman Lance Vater fails to get approval for divisive shipping container with illuminated cross

A local council has made a decision on a flamboyant entrepreneur’s application to get approval for an “offensive” upright shipping container with an illuminated cross.

UPDATE: A flamboyant entrepreneur’s application for retrospective approval for seven shipping containers at his hillside property has been rejected by the local council’s assessment panel.

Lance Vater had upset his neighbours by placing a 12m high container with an illuminated cross at his Wattle Park property, amid grand plans for his ‘Skye Manor House Gardens’.

However, Burnside Council’s panel rejected the application, saying it would compromise the “natural backdrop to the Adelaide Plains and (it) impacts the visual landscape”.

“The number and proliferation of containers is not a scale of development anticipated

in the Hills Face Zone,” panel minutes reveal.

“The activities associated with the use of the containers for the storage of building

materials and equipment, has caused nuisance to nearby sensitive receivers.

“It fails to satisfy the spirit, intent and specifics of the Hills Face Zone policies.”

Mr Vater has been contacted for comment.

EARLIER: A wealthy businessman’s plan to get retrospective approval for a 12 metre high shipping container with an illuminated cross which upset the neighbours has been recommended to be dismissed.

Burnside Council took action in the Environment, Resources and Development Court to force Lance Vater to remove the structure from the entrance to a block on land at 55 Wyfield Street in Wattle Park which has sweeping views of Adelaide.

Mr Vater told The Messenger last year he had spent $10 million transforming the former olive orchard and mine site into a private “Garden of Eden” visited by garden enthusiasts from across the country.

Flamboyant businessman Lance Vater has sought retrospective approval for a shipping container which has upset his neighbours. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

He vowed to keep the container, located at the top of a driveway which leads down to a proposed building site, arguing it was intended to be an elevator shaft to move building supplies.

Mr Vater revealed his plans for “Skye Manor House Gardens” ahead of an open day on October 4 last year as a “self-sufficient organic paradise” with a farmyard, council assessment panel documents reveal.

Vater Corporation then lodged a retrospective application with the panel in November to place seven shipping containers, after he received a section 84 notice from the council.

The containers were placed for “various integrated purposes” associated with the construction of a dwelling and the maintenance of an existing private garden, panel documents show.

The 12 metre shipping container has been described as a “visual offence” by a neighbour. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Now, several residents have objected to the application.

Skye resident David Cox, who has lived in the area for 43 years, said the “supposedly temporary shipping container installations are a sham” and Mr Vater had been “caught out”.

“I completely and unreservedly object to this development as a travesty of process and principle,” Mr Cox submitted, calling it a “visual offence”.

“It should not be given any hope of acceptance.”

Two other Skye residents, who wished to remain anonymous, said Mr Vater’s “public display” of “religious ideology” on the upright container had been “offensive” and was visible for hundreds of metres.

Vater has grand plans to build a “self-sufficient organic paradise”. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

“(It) is disrespectful to the citizens of Sky, Wattle Park and surrounding properties who chose to live in this zone for its natural character,” they said.

Skye resident, Lee Maitland, said the proposed works are “going to be messy, likely to obstruct views and will not blend in”.

The panel has been recommended to reject the application at its next meeting on June 7 as the proposed development “compromises the achievement of a natural backdrop”.

Some of the other containers used by Vater. Picture: Colin James

Wattle Park resident Jennifer Simmons said “council needs to send a clear message that processes must be adhered to”.

Rosslyn Park residents Jeremy and Loir Blanks said his works continued “unabated” over a three-month period from August last year despite them being the subject of several hearings in the ERD.

However, in a letter to the council through a planning consultant in March, Mr Vater said the application warranted consent.

He said the vertical container would be lowered onto the ground to become a lift shaft, plans for his new dwelling would be submitted by late April and the containers had been painted black.