A Mount Maunganui builder has lost his patience with being woken up before 6am by the noise of boot camp fitness instructors barking orders.
Mike Taka yesterday took his case to city councillors, asking for action to quieten the classes on the ocean side of Mt Drury.
"Would you behappy being woken up on a regular basis like this?" the Grace Ave resident asked.
Mr Taka said builders could not start work before 7am, so boot camp classes should not be allowed to disturb the peace of a neighbourhood. On one occasion an instructor told him to stop moaning and bugger off.
His neighbourhood was mostly absentee owners' holiday homes, which he said made it harder when he tried to get council's noise control to take action on the problem.
Mr Taka asked for the boot camp classes to be excluded from Mt Drury before 7am on weekdays and 8am on weekends. "Noise travels a long way on a still morning," he said.
Staff advised councillors that there were rules to deal with this type of problem but there was no quick fix because it required a warning followed by other measures. Councillor Wayne Moultrie said he had heard of cases where boot camp classes going up and down steps had brushed people aside.
Meeting chairman David Stewart said it was a commercial activity on council land and Mr Taka's request would be considered when the council looked at submissions on the review of the policy dealing with temporary commercial activities on council reserves. The council will make decisions on the submissions later this month.
Boot camp instructor and Global Fitness gym manager Carl Newman said he had toned down what they did on Mt Drury and his classes now started beside the toilet block on Mount Main Beach and did not move across the road until 6.30am.
Mr Newman said he no longer barked orders at his classes on Mt Drury and previous practices when he started six seasons ago had not been acceptable.
"I remember a resident coming out and having a chat, and I apologised ... we have changed the way we do things to be more considerate towards neighbours," Mr Newman said.
He said he believed the problems Mr Taka was experiencing were caused by other groups using Mt Drury.
