The NZ Beach Tour finals, pictured in 2020, are always a crowd favourite in Mount Maunganui. Photo / File
The organiser of a national beach volleyball tournament says he may be forced to move the event to another city due to "unfair" noise complaints plaguing the event.
But his views do not have the support of the sport's national body.
Dave Miller said he had done all he could to appease noise complaints about the GJ Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour but still could not meet Tauranga's noise restrictions.
The weekend before last, Tauranga City Council received five noise complaints relating to the beach volleyball event and Miller was served with an official warning.
On Saturday, the event reportedly breached noise levels again. However, Miller said the sound of the ocean was louder than the event on the day.
Miller said a noise control officer visited the area on both days during the finals. On Saturday morning, he was asked to turn the volume down, which he did.
Afterwards, Miller visited the Oceanside Resort and Twin Towers - where he says he was told the complaints came from - and took his own noise readings. The city council would not say where the complaints originated from.
"We went out on the balcony and found the ocean was by far the dominant noise."
Miller said the sound of the ocean measured 75dBA on his reader. He had been told the event could not measure more than 70dBA Leq "so we were lower than the ocean".
Despite this, the noise control officer "thought we had turned it up again, which we hadn't".
On Sunday, concerns were raised again.
"We moved our speakers on Saturday and on Sunday we moved them again to make it more muffled."
Miller said he was approached by the noise control officer halfway through the tour's final event on Sunday afternoon.
"It was during the men's finals. We are live on TV and I'm trying to sort out the prize ceremony and everything that's going on with a live event," he said.
"You can't be doing that in the middle of the event. I'm pretty sure you can't be phoning up New Zealand Cricket in the middle of a T20 match at Bay Oval to ask them to turn it down.
"We had our biggest crowd in years down there. The atmosphere was great and people were really getting into the games. We couldn't really change anything at that point."
Miller was now waiting to hear from the council as to what his penalty might be.
Miller said he believed the event was being unfairly targeted and questioned how other events such as One Love and surf lifesaving events were treated.
He said if there continued to be issues regarding the noise levels of the event despite his efforts, the tour might have to move to another city.
"Do they not want events here? I guarantee there are other events that breach noise levels," Miller said.
Council general manager of regulatory and compliance Barbara Dempsey said the organisation was working with Volleyball NZ on a solution for future events.
"The volleyball competition is a fantastic event so we do not wish to close it down," Dempsey said.
"The issue was the level of noise emitted from the stereo equipment. To resolve this we tried to work with the organiser to ensure the equipment was set up in a way that minimised the noise for the neighbouring community, while still ensuring participants could have amplified music and commentary."
Dempsey said there were no new complaints from the weekend but a noise control officer, aware of the previous complaints, found seven breaches of the permitted noise levels which would be followed up.
In response to criticism of the last instruction to turn the volume down during the final, Dempsey said Saturday's noise monitoring supported the organiser and provided a bench-mark ahead of the finals.
Other events such as One Love sought resource consent to allow for excessive noise, she said.
Volleyball New Zealand (VNZ) chief executive Toni-Maree Carnie said the organisation supported abiding by council regulations "and in any future events we will ensure we do so".
"VNZ do not plan to move to another city and do not believe that the event is being unfairly targeted. We have a long and respectful relationship with council and we intend to continue with that and thank them for [their] support of Beach Volleyball."
Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said events like the beach volleyball nationals were "significant" and made a big difference to the economy.
"We want Tauranga to be a popular place and really play to our strengths and anything beach or surf-related is something we would want to be strong on," Tutt said.
"We would want to make sure we look after events ... look after our reputation. We want to be encouraging events like that which bring people to the city."
Hospitality NZ Bay of Plenty regional manager Alan Sciascia said events like the beach volleyball nationals were "critical to the survival of hospitality businesses within the Bay of Plenty".
"It's not just cafes and restaurants. It's also motels and hotels that people come for and stay in. It does bring a lot of revenue and support to a lot of jobs in the sector.
"Being a national event is huge. It's bigger than just a regional or local event. It brings a lot of people to the district and they don't just come from a day or afternoon, they come for a number of days."
Hospitality New Zealand accommodation sector Bay of Plenty chairman and 850 Cameron Motel owner Tony Bullot said Mount Maunganui had always been a vibrant place.
"Tauranga has been affected less than many places in New Zealand because of events. Lockdown has hurt everybody but it does bounce back with events like the Hockey Masters, volleyball and triathlons.
"There has always been something on so from the accommodation sector, we love events. You get teams come in, and their supporters, they are of huge value."
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