Demolition of house not immediate

Press, 16 January 1988, Page 2

Demolition of house not immediate

The Kaikoura County Council has no immediate plans to demolish the house lived in by the late Jack Jorgensen. The sea-front cottage at 11 Wakatu Quay, Kaikoura, is destined to go under the bulldozer after a Kaikoura County Council town planning committee decision. The house, for reasons that cannot now be explained, was built on council reserve land, instead of on an adjacent section to which Mr Jorgensen, sen., held a freehold title. When the error was discovered many years ago it was decided that Mr Jorgensen would retain tenure of the reserve land until his death. On his death last year the fate of the house became

a legal headache. It is now in the hands of the Public Trust office which is administering Mr Jorgensen’s estate. The Public Trust, acting on behalf of the beneficiary — the former wife of Ron Jorgensen, the convicted Bassett Road machine-gun murderer — had earlier written to the council about the zoning of the property. The upshot was a declaration that the house would have to be surrendered.

At present, a spokesman for the Public Trust said that there were many legal matters to be resolved before any action would or could be taken. This included whether the cottage had to go and who had to pay.

The County Clerk, Mr Gerald Nolan, said yesterday that the house was on road reserve and while the land was not required now it “may well be required some time in the future.”

“It is early days yet. We have informed the Public Trust of the situation and it is now in its hands,” he said.