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Dr Sea Rotmann and her husband Karl Weber got married on their Golden Bay property in March. They’d hoped to have a legal street address by the wedding date, but despite the name they had chosen for a private way on their property being approved by council in November, still live in a nameless locale.
Dr Sea Rotmann and her husband Karl Weber have lived for the last six months without a legal address, caught in a breakdown in council processes.
Their private way, despite being approved by the Tasman District Council in November, appears in no online address menu. Google Maps sends friends and contractors to a closed off driveway, and their business bank accounts are registered for an address that no longer exists.
Rotmann and Weber, who married earlier this year, bought 35 hectares of land in Golden Bay in 2021, and planned to turn the property into an eco-community.
Because there was a subdivision process underway, the council said the entrance way to the land had to move about 80 metres down the road, because of visibility issues if there was more than one residence on the lot.
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The couple put in a new driveway, and were told by the council their right of way was able to be named.
Rotmann and Weber looked up the documentation process on the council website and followed the procedure.
They came up with the name Bifrost Rise, referring to the rainbow bridge of Norse legend which connects the realms. The couple both have Scandinavian heritage and there is a Viking theme to the eco-community that they are building – they’re constructing a long house, the land is named Maelstrom End, and all of their paddocks are named after Norse Gods.
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Sea Rotmann and her husband Karl Weber got married on their Golden Bay property. They’d hoped to have a legal street address by the wedding, but a council “breakdown in process” has caused significant delays.
On November 23, 2022, they received a letter from group manager environmental assurance Kim Drummond, approving the name, and advising them to get in touch with a council staff member to put them onto a contractor to sort out a sign.
Then, in February, they found out via a community newspaper that the name of their private way had come up during a Golden Bay Community Board meeting, and had caused a “long discussion” and “consternation” amongst elected members.
The issue has come up several times in the months since.
Golden Bay Community Board chair Abbie Langford said from her understanding there was a “breakdown in the process” in the naming of the private way.
“There may have been a staff member who was unaware of the policy at Golden Bay, which was that names of streets and subdivisions went to Manawhenua ki Mohua before coming to the community board,” she said.
Manawhenua ki Mohua is an umbrella entity for three iwi living in Mohua; Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa.
However, part of the delay in getting the name signed off was the back and forth the couple was involved in finding a name in te reo Māori that all parties were happy with, Langford said.
“We don’t want to impose our culture over [Māori’s], because that’s a supercolonial thing to do,” Rotmann said.
The couple are now working with Manawhenua ki Mohua to find a name that fits for iwi, fits for the area, and suits all parties.
Langford said she understood council was “tightening” processes around naming.
When the pair appeared at a community board meeting, Langford apologised on behalf of the board for the “breakdown in the process”.
“We are following closely to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”
Tasman District Council spokesperson Chris Choat said that it appeared that council was “not talking to the right people”.
“We sent a number of emails, had no reply whatsoever, and then it appears that they were going to the wrong people. There’s a resolution in the process, and I think everyone is just working their way through it,” he said.