Wanaka Rowing Club's long-running battle to find a suitable lakeside location for its proposed boat shed will be put under the microscope again today as the Wanaka Community Board considers the club's fourth site proposal.
After abandoning its latest plans to build at Eely Point on the eastern side of the lake, because of safety concerns over lake user conflicts, the club has now set its sights back on the western shore.
It has asked the Queenstown Lakes District Council to approve a lease at land below Morrows Mead, a site which was first investigated in 2009.
In 2011, the club proposed building a boat shed at Stoney Creek but withdrew its application in January before consultation was complete because of strong opposition from neighbours and the possibility of high litigation costs.
It sought community board support for a site at Morrows Mead or, as a last resort, the Eely Point recreation reserve. The board favoured the latter because it expected Morrows Mead would attract the same objections as Stoney Creek.
However, 17 submissions opposing the Eely Point site were then made to the council, most of them from people belonging to or associated with the club, creating another site dilemma.
In a letter to council property manager Jo Conroy, club committee member Nick Blennerhassett acknowledged there was possibly "some frustration" with rowers' personal submissions against the board's decision to grant a lease at Eely Point.
"It's true that there is some disagreement among the committee about the best way to proceed in terms of getting a timely result, but we are united in the belief that the western side of the lake is the right place for rowing," she said.
In a 2010 report produced by the rowing club which compared potential sites, Morrow's Mead came out ahead. The boat shed at Morrows Mead would be closer to the water than at Stoney Creek and largely hidden from town and the lake by willow trees, Ms Blennerhassett said.
The site was "well below the terrace reserve, meaning that a low building would have little visual or sound impact on the Norman Terrace and Morrows Mead properties".
A report by Ms Conroy to the community board recommends a series of terms and conditions for a lease at the Morrows Mead site, including that it be for 30 years, that the building design be approved by the community board before construction and that the boat shed should not be used between 11pm and 5am.
