Marine parking lot refusal to cause 'mayhem' in Marlborough Sounds
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Lochmara Lodge, in the Marlborough Sounds, will be mayhem with boats next summer after an application to extend its boat valet system was rejected by the Marlborough District Council, the lodge's owner says.
Shayne Olsen applied for 15 swing moorings to be installed to deal with increasing boat traffic to the lodge over the summer months.
If followed incidents of boat owners pulling up telecommunication cables in the bay when anchoring, using the neighbour's jetty and moorings, rafting up to the lodge jetty or pulling boats up onto the beach, which is popular with swimmers.
The lodge had trialled a valet-style system with six moorings that saw boat owners directed by lodge staff to a mooring suited to their boat and taken by boat to the wharf.
It proved successful in managing the problem, Olsen said.
But a council resource hearing committee rejected the 15 moorings on the grounds they were tightly positioned close to shore and their swing circles would overlap jetties in the bay.
They agreed with the Harbourmaster that the moorings would impinge the navigational route to neighbouring moorings, the Lochmara Lodge jetty and Sounds Foreshore Reserve, and any boat that wanted to drop anchor would have their options limited.
The proposal overall would have an adverse effect on neighbours' enjoyment of the bay, which already had six moorings owned by Lochmara Lodge.
Olsen said he was disappointed by the resource consent refusal.
'Watch this space, an accident is inevitable,' he said. 'It is a matter of time before a boat smashes into another.'
An additional 250 berths being built at Waikawa Marina meant boats had to go somewhere, Olsen said.
'Infrastructure in Picton has been increased but infrastructure in the Sounds haven't. There are going to be problems in the future. We are just the tip of the iceberg. Next summer, it will be mayhem.
'I have been dealing with the Resource Management Act for 20 years and its not perfect. It's pissing a lot of people off. It restricts any economic growth.'
Olsen would like to work with the council to find a solution, he said.
'I could keep coming up with ideas but I need council to control the situation themselves. We could throw $100,000 at it and still not have a solution.
Council could install the moorings and Olsen would be prepared to pay a rental charge to council.
'It is all very well council saying that they support tourism and growth in the Sounds but talk is cheap. The problem won't go away. People will still come here and tie up to a neighbour's jetty. Council need to take ownership of the problem and tell me what they require.
'Either a solution is found or we close the place down entirely and no one gets the benefit.'
Objectors said the application was leading to a monopolisation of the bay, and adversely affected the peace and quiet of other users and property owners.
Olsen said the water was public space that provided access to the lodge and the Queen Charlotte Track.
'It is not about having control over the foreshore. It's about providing a service that meets the demand from the public. I am not trying to privatise anything.'
Resource management officer Peter Johnson said Olsen could go with a block mooring that used up less space and kept boats more secure during bad weather.
Businesses in Blenheim's town centre had to provide a certain number of parking spaces but the coastal environment was a 'different kettle of fish' because it was public space that no one could own, Johnson said.
There were 3000 moorings in the Sounds all under private ownership.
Council had no interest at this time in owning moorings that could be rented out, Johnson said.
People could raise the idea through the annual plan process, Johnson said.
'The committee weren't adverse to the concept [of the application] as such but found itself unable to grant consent due to certain aspects of the proposals.
'The ball is in Mr Olsen's court for him to come back with something that meets conditions.'