Former Whangārei mayor Stan Semenoff denies polluting by burning tyres, plastics

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Whangārei's former mayor Stan Semenoff has denied two charges of polluting the air, in breach of the Resource Management Act.

Stanley Gillis Alexander Semenoff faces two charges laid by the Northland Regional Council – the same council he also served on, representing ratepayers in Whangārei.

He is accused of discharging contaminates into the air by burning tyres, as well as other materials including plastic, PVC piping and plywood.

Former Whangārei mayor and Northland regional councillor Stan Semenoff denies discharging contaminates to the air by burning tyres and plastics. (File photo)

The fires allegedly occurred on industrial premises in South End Avenue in Whangārei’s Raumanga in June 2020.

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Stan Semenoff, pictured in 2010 at the Bike Wise Month Mayoral Challenge, was Whangārei mayor from 1989 to 1998, and again from 2007 to 2010.

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Stan Semenoff Group bought the naming rights to Whangārei’s premier sports stadium. (File photo)

This street is where Semenoff’s company Stan Semenoff Group is based, but the charges are against him personally, as it is alleged he undertook the acts himself or knowingly permitted them to occur.

If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail or a $300,000 fine.

In the Environment Court in Whangārei on Tuesday, Semenoff's lawyer Harriet Birch reiterated his not guilty pleas to the two charges and election for a judge-alone trial.

A two-day hearing was set for September 6 and 7.

Semenoff is the managing director of Stan Semenoff Group, which includes logging, bulk transport and sand mining businesses.

The company also secured naming rights for Whangārei's premier sports centre, Semenoff Stadium.

Semenoff was Whangārei mayor from 1989 to 1998, and again from 2007 to 2010. In between this, he was an elected Northland Regional Councillor and Northland District Health Board member.

This is not the first time the Northland Regional Council has brought a prosecution against one of its elected leaders.

In September 2020, former chairman Bill Shepherd avoided a fine for illegally spilling cow effluent near a waterway on his dairy farm.

But his sharemilker manager Robert Philip and their respective farm companies had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines for what the judge called systematic problems on the farm.