Neighbours object to Omanu Surf Club lease renewal

Omanu Surf Club is facing opposition to its lease renewal. PHOTO/FILE

An Oceanbeach Rd couple living behind the Omanu Surf Life Saving Club has opposed a proposal for the city council to lease out a 1400sq m area of beachfront reserve used by the club.

Denis and Sally McMahon said in their submission to the council that they had been adversely affected by the club's repeated breaches of both its 2003 resource consent, which allowed extensions to the club, and breaches of its existing lease.

Their submission was due to be considered todayby the council which has rolled over the club's existing lease on a month-by-month basis since July this year. The council was proposing to issue a new 10-year lease to the club, with two renewals of 10 years.

A submission supporting renewing the lease, written by lawyer Kate Barry-Piceno on behalf of the club, was signed by 107 local residents and club members.

Ms Barry-Piceno said the club needed to use all the available land it leased because space was at a premium and the demands on its services had grown significantly during the term of the previous lease.

''The surrounding area contains well established residential dwellings and the club tries its best to respect the neighbouring residents...by not allowing areas around the club to fall into disrepair,'' she said.

The McMahons highlighted the section of the club's consent which said the bunkhouse was restricted to providing accommodation associated with official club events only. ''The wording leaves no room for ambiguity or interpretation.''

''The reality is that the club has repeatedly hired the club to outside groups who have nothing to do with surf lifesaving, resulting in an ongoing loss of amenities for us, not to mention considerable noise and disturbance,'' their submission said.

''When we realised that the new lease proposed legitimising such hiring of the club, we were simply dumbstruck. How can the council possibly believe it can legalise something through a lease which is in direct contravention of the resource consent.''

The other issue concerning the couple was that the new lease boundaries were based on boundaries which were established in 2009 when the council altered the club's existing boundaries without following the legal processes prescribed by both the Reserves Act and the Public Bodies Leases Act in terms of notification and advertising.

''We purchased our property in 2011 and the altered boundaries were not recorded anywhere.''

Another objector, barrister and solicitor Richard Charters, said the council had not complied with High Court orders impacting on carparking and had failed to plant appropriate plants to enhance the safety of the foreshore.

A clause in the proposed lease permits the club, with the council's consent, to make the clubhouse available to voluntary organisations for outdoor sport or recreational activities, or, in special circumstances, for recreation not directly related to the outdoors.

The proposed lease also says that the club must not carry on any noisy or offensive trade or business, or permit anything that may be a nuisance or annoy the occupiers of land in the vicinity of the clubhouse.

The club cannot apply for an alcohol licence for the premises without first obtaining consent from the council.

And the council has added resource consents to the list of legal requirements which the club must adhere to. In the section dealing with public access, the council had added that access was subject to all resource consents.

Omanu Surf Life Saving Club
- Founded 1947
- Largest surf club in the Bay of Plenty
- Membership exceeds 800 financial members
- Has one of the largest junior surf programmes with 400 members