Little progress over boat ramp row

No one was using the boat ramp on Thursday evening, but it can be the busiest place at Pukenui.

The Houhora Big Game and Sports Fishing Club explained the rationale behind its proposal to restrict vehicular access to its boat ramp and jetty at a public meeting at Pukenui last week, but critics were unimpressed.

Club president Justin Kernan said the club and its members paid through annual subscriptions to use the facilities, while others, much greater in numbers, did not.

That made it difficult to meet the cost of maintaining the ramp and jetty, while the club had no control over non-members who parked vehicles and trailers on the ramp, causing significant congestion.

The critics argued that the Northland Regional Council consent granted to the club 20 years ago included a condition that public access be maintained.

That condition had been deleted when the consent was renewed in 2001, although Mr Kernan denied that.

Swimmers and fishers had always been welcome on the ramp and jetty, and would continue to be, he said.

Public access would not be denied in the event of a barrier arm being erected, but vehicular access for non-members would be.

There was also a financial issue. In the last six years the club had spent around $75,000 maintaining the ramp and jetty, using funds generated by subscriptions, the bar and restaurant.

It wasn't fair that club members paid to use the facilities but others did not.

On a recent occasion 46 boat trailers had been parked there, only 15 of them owned by members.

For 22 years the club had been asking boat owners not to park in the lower area, near the water, but at times up to 12 or 15 vehicles/trailers would be left there, severely limiting access to the ramp and jetty.

The common response from those asked to move vehicles was "two words involving sex and travel".

Fish heads, frames and guts were also being dumped in the water, hardly ideal in a popular swimming area, while club members picked up broken bottles and rubbish left by overnight campers.

"We've been talking about this for several years," Mr Kernan said.

"Putting up a barrier will only affect boat owners. The public will have exactly the same access they have now to fish or swim."

Thursday's meeting did little to suggest that the fishing club and community can reach a compromise over access to the club's boat ramp and wharf.

People arrived at Pukenui towing "beautiful" boats, having bought $60 worth of bait and $200 worth of fuel, and didn't want to pay $1.30 per week (the annual subscription was $70) to launch, he added.

Lead critic Kirk Denison argued that the 1993 Northland Regional Council resource consent had been granted on the condition that the facilities would be freely accessible to all for the 25-year life of the consent.

A new consent, issued at the club's request, had been granted without public notification.

He called for the council, which he accused of negligence in monitoring and administering the consent, to issue an abatement notice until the Ombudsman had reviewed the proposal, and that as a gesture of good faith that it not accept surrender of the original consent.

NRC's Kaitaia area manager Peter Wiessing said the barrier would be installed on land owned by the Far North District Council, which was not subject to the resource consent.

Mr Kernan referred to a 2007 letter from the FNDC, stating the club had the right to charge for use of the boat ramp and jetty providing it could prove ownership.

Mr Denison said his legal advice was that the new consent should not have been issued without public notification.

Regional councillor Mike Finlayson, who chaired the meeting, closed it with the suggestion that the club, members of the community and the NRC discuss the issue in an attempt to reach a compromise, which is expected to happen in the New Year.