A Christchurch community board heard impassioned pleas in front of a packed public gallery on Thursday afternoon, as the battle raged over a historic set of lights in a seaside suburb.
The original maritime mast atop Tuawera Cave Rock in Sumner was erected in 1864 to signal the state of the bar to coastal ships entering or leaving the Estuary.
It was lit for the first time in May 1937 to mark the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and later as a community tradition for Easter, Anzac Day, Christmas and other events such as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day).
In 1961, the Sumner Lifeboat Institute took over the signal station as a lifeboat control tower.
According to the city council's historical timeline, it was first lit up as a cross after new wiring was installed in 1994.
After the signal house was damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, the lights began to deteriorate and were removed when the station was repaired in 2016.
A new deed was established in 2020 with Christian charity Breakfree Foundation, allowing them to install, own and operate the lights.
Funds were raised by the community and solar-powered lights were installed in 2021, but with an shorter array of lights across the horizontal beam, which created the impression of a Christian cross.
After concerns were raised with the community board about the configuration, brightness and frequency of the illumination, the council carried out two weeks of public consultation earlier this year, which saw almost 950 submissions received.
The majority supported the current operating hours and frequency for the lights of dusk until 11pm every day, except during Matariki.
On Thursday, council staff presented the Waihoro Spreydon-Cashmere-Heathcote Community Board with a report outlining three proposed options - to reduce the hours and to reconfigure the lights to emphasise the maritime mast and remove perceived religious symbolism; to retain the same hours and reconfigure the lights; or to reduce the lighting to special occasions, such as Easter, Christmas, Anzac Day, whenever the government has flags at half mast and on the death of any member of the Sumner Lifeboat Institution, ambulance or fire brigade.
This provoked the ire of some who presented to the meeting, who felt the report neglected the option favoured by the majority of submitters to retain the status quo.
Residents spoke on both sides of the debate, and referred to the fractious nature of issue in the community.
The board eventually voted on an amended recommendation to maintain the current hours, formalise the lights staying off during Matariki, explore alternative lighting options that would have less of an environmental impact and look at reconfiguring the lights to more resemble a mast.
"Obviously there's been a lot of contention about the actual meaning of the symbol - to lots of people it looks like a Christian cross and other people insist its a maritime or ship's mast," board chair Callum Ward said.
"The community really identifies with it's maritime identity, and there were enough people in the community that felt alienated by what appeared to be a Christian cross that the board felt there it was important to explore changing the configuration of the lights to reflect more of a maritime structure."
It was not clear who would pay for additional lighting or alterations to the type of lights used.
The staff report put the cost of reconfiguring the lights at $18,975, and stated that deed holder Breakfree Foundation "has no funding to install the additional lights".
Ward said it was too soon to know exactly what the costs were and who would meet them.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said.
He said the next step would be for staff to begin negotiations with the deed holder, Breakfree Foundation, on the changes.
Ward did not expect any issues, but said ultimately it would be an issue for the next community board.
"It's a contract with two parties and both parties have to agree to vary the contract, but both parties also have the ability to terminate the contract. If for some reason the deed holder declined to meet the council and the community half way, they would be within their legal rights to do that, but staff would probably bring a report back to the board with options to either accept that, do nothing and leave the status quo as it is, or to terminate the deed.
"But that would be the decision of the next board well after the next [local government] election."
He hoped the decision would bring some closure to the inflammatory topic.
"I know the community's experienced a lot of division about this issue. I really hope this is a bit of a line in the sand for Sumner and others who visit here and there can be a bit of healing and unity moving forward."
He said a positive side to the years of wrangling had been seeing how much the lights matter to so many, and "the number of people that really appreciate those lights and see it as a part of Sumner and part of their identity".
The Breakfree Foundation is a charitable trust set up in 2019 to advance the Christian religion and provide financial donations to Christian organisations, programmes and projects.
Some community members have raised concerns about the trust controlling the landmark in an otherwise secular setting.
