West Harbour Bowling Club, in Ravensbourne, has about 30 members and past president Dave Glover said the club used its oven once a year to "cook the spuds for the meal for one tournament".
Mr Glover said the imposition of bylaws would be the end of the club, which had an ageing and declining membership.
"It's not so bad if you have a big kitchen, but all we have here is a kitchen like anyone would have at home," Mr Glover said.
"We just play in the summer and, if you get a few wet Saturdays, the season can be over pretty quickly."
Fellow club member Graeme Jenks said the club barely used the kitchen, and it had come to agreement with its neighbour, the Ravensdown fertiliser manufacturer, over the supply of water.
Any excess water went back into the works' system.
Dunedin Rugby Football Club president John Kennedy said the proposal was more red tape for voluntary organisations.
"It's bureaucracy gone mad," he said.
The clubrooms were used quite a bit, he said, with about 200 people on a Saturday night in the rugby season.
But the club was not wealthy and already had to pay plenty of compliance costs.
"We're getting inspected for health and hygiene, bar licences, everything. It just never seems to stop," he said.
The club was considering making a submission to the council, but that took time and skills not easily available.
"We are only a voluntary club and, although we have some younger people who are up with what is going on, time is needed to carry out these things [make a submission]."
Council waste and water services manager John Mackie said there was a form of cross-subsidising going on in trade waste, with only a few large industrial users having to pay the levies.
Many other businesses and groups were being subsidised by home owners.
A hierarchy had to be set for trade waste users, including sports clubs and voluntary groups.
These could not be classed as residential properties. He said fees had not been finally set.
Submissions were sought and so far there had not been a "flood of submissions".
