Enforcement action has again been recommended against a multimillion-dollar home on Agar's Island after proposals to modify its prominent glass atrium hit a brick wall last week.

Yet there appears to be no end in sight to the relentless showdown over the home - one of the Island's most recognisable and opulent - barring the developer running out of money.

The Development Applications Board (DAB) and Planning Department technical officers have consistently taken the position that the atrium outside the home, which belongs to computer guru James Martin, is too large and must be reduced in size.

Several retroactive applications to try and save the atrium have been rejected since a stop work order was slapped on the property last March after Planning officers found roughly a dozen infractions of regulations and approved building on a site visit.

The most recent application, rejected at DAB meeting on April 10, sought to add a large balcony to the front of the atrium along with a pergola and landscaping to disguise its actual size. The proposal was to break the line of the estimated three-storey structure so that it would no longer violate planning regulations with regard to maximum height.

But the application has failed, with the DAB noting the structure still fails to fit the contours of the site and the changes suggested "do not provide a sufficient screen to reduce the visual impact of the scale and massing of the atrium".

The board went on to say the atrium is out of keeping with traditional forms of residential development, a situation exacerbated by its prominent location.

The board advised the Minister to institute enforcement action. "The board also wishes to express concern that the applicant has shown disregard for the planning process in that development was not constructed according to the approved plans," it was noted.

The already thorny relations between the property's agents and the Planning department seem to have take a further downturn in the last month.

Letters to Planning note that Erwin Adderley Associates were denied the opportunity to personally address the board and do not accept the suggestion hat the best solution to the atrium dispute is to reduce its size.

"We have now spent eleven months and submitted seven applications in trying to resolve your department's issues with the atrium," wrote agent Christine Rickards.

She continued: "In suggesting that the best approach is to reduce the size of the atrium, your department is attempting to treat the issue de novo without reference to plans of the atrium already being approved by your department."

Ms Rickards also suggests reducing the size of the atrium would not significantly reduce its overall visual impact.

While the enforcement action has again been recommended, Director of Planning Rudolph Hollis noted yesterday, no action can be taken as long as the agents are still involved in the Planning process.

He said there is still an application on appeal with the Minister to be consider and the agents can continue to submit applications for retroactive approval with only minor modifications.

"If you can afford to keep submitting like that," the process can go on indefinitely, he said.

"It could reach a point where we say enough is enough and seek advice on how to stop this," he added.

But the department has not reached that juncture yet - partially due to the outstanding appeal. In his personal opinion, Mr. Hollis said he does not believe the entire atrium would have to be torn down to be reduced in size.

"As someone said to me recently, there is an engineering solution for everything."

But the recent suggestion to build the land up around the bottom of the atrium is not an acceptable one for Planning.

"To build the land up around it, is to simply attempt to hide it," Mr. Hollis said.