Andreas Eggmann, of Hahei, launched a petition that reached more than 1500 signatures in days to protect the "locals" or "surfers" carpark from a charge of $2 an hour or $15 a day by Thames-Coromandel District Council.
"It would have been a pretty scary precedent for New Zealand as a whole for locals to have to pay to go to their own beach," he said. "And it's not like we are talking about a place like Sydney."
Accusing the council of no consultation, fellow Hahei resident Bill Stead said it was a "lose-lose" for everyone.
"As we see it we just lost the freedom to park at one of the most beautiful beaches in the country, and there's no benefits.
"All we see is potential costs.
"It's not going to move the needle on reducing rates, it's not going to be of any benefit to anybody when TCDC rates are $100 million a year. A hundred thousand dollars is not going to make any difference, so why bother? Let's see some strategies that actually reduce our rates somehow."
Penne - among numerous speakers to the board's July meeting - said locals were enjoying the relative quiet of much fewer tourists at the famed Coromandel beach and while she expected they'd one day return, the "locals" carpark had to remain free.
"Locals love this carpark, this is not a tourist carpark. It's used by dog walkers, families and surfers. Many are lower income families. Most tourists put their GPS on and go straight to the main beach, so any tourist income is going to be small."
TCDC is trying to raise revenue to offset a forecast debt of $152m this financial year.
Other proposals to charge visitors for parking fell flat in February, with one Whangamata retailer saying if parking meters were considered they would be vandalised or ripped out.
TCDC District manager North, Allan Tiplady, told the board the $20,000 it would cost for a paid parking machine was not budgeted for but would be offset by the income generated.
The carpark is a walk away from the internationally famed hot mineral pools that can usually be dug a couple of hours either side of high tide.
Tiplady told the board the introduction of paid parking in Hot Water Beach and Hahei has provided a way to manage the impacts of visitors, both current and future on these small communities, where parking demand particularly at peak times has outweighed supply.
The beach settlements south of Whitianga are quiet with the absence of international tourists.
Tiplady said he had had a discussion with the chair of Hot Water Beach Ratepayer Association, who said the community was onboard "in principle" if residents were exempt from charges.
The chair had observed people wanting to park as close as possible to an attraction and "noted that on busy days with international tourists, all carparks including the Domain Road carpark are at full capacity".
Hot Water Beach already has two revenue producing carparks operated by TCDC.
The Domain Rd carpark had recently been sealed and had kerbs and lines installed for 43 carparks along with a toilet upgrade, partially funded by the Government's Tourism Infrastructure Fund.
Andreas Eggmann said surfers and beachgoers had noted the recent upgrade "and I personally wondered if paid parking was going to follow".
He said many signatories to the petition came from Coromandel Town, nearby Tairua, Hahei and Hikuai who also saw themselves as local users.
"A lot of people feel like that is the locals' carpark. I go to the beach all the time and it was going to be really expensive if I had to pay every time I wanted to go for a surf. The feeling was, ratepayers pay their rates so why are we having to pay again for carparking?"
The installation of the machines and subsequent enforcement was reliant on internet connectivity which may be limited in that area, the council noted, potentially delaying installation.
The council said parking charges can help offset the cost of building and maintaining facilities, such as toilets and carparks, in busy visitor areas.
Board members Jeremy Lomas and Deli Connell said the proposal should be dismissed.
Deputy Mayor Murray McLean said he was against exemptions for any locals, as was the case currently for an area of the other paid carparks at Hot Water Beach. However these exemptions still stand.
Cr Tony Fox said this was a way of getting money: "The issue of how do we fund what we do is not going away."
