Wakatipu Yacht Club may be sailing close to the wind by banning vehicle access to public reserve it leases off the council.
The club — which co-leases Kelvin Peninsula lakefront reserve along with the Wakatipu Waka Ama Club and Wakatipu Anglers Club — fenced off both access roads just before Christmas, meaning only the clubs’ members can drive down to the lakefront, courtesy of a combination lock.
Yacht club commodore John Stalker says it’s taken the step to stop people vandalising and stealing from their boats.
It’s also because it’s sick of vehicles blocking access to members’ yachts.
‘‘The third one is the amount of money we’ve spent getting the [access] road rebuilt so it’s in good condition.’’
Restricting vehicle access had already ‘‘drastically reduced’’ the amount of broken bottles and other litter around the shore, Stalker adds.
A ‘‘concerned ratepayer’’, who wishes to remain anonymous, believes the yacht club’s discriminating against the elderly and disabled, who can’t walk down to the lake, as well as non-club boaties who’ve always enjoyed unfettered public access.
‘‘Over the years I have taken elderly and disabled people down to this beach by vehicle so they can have easy access to the water, the beach and the lakeshore.
‘‘It is now impossible for families to launch their own dinghies and boats from this area (which is safe in all weather conditions) because the yacht club has privatised the access track and beach.’’
Stalker says the yacht club has the right within its lease ‘‘to restrict the use of our land for yachting regattas or yachting purposes’’.
‘‘We’re asking people to park at the top and walk down.’’
He adds the club’s not blocking the public walkway running through their site.
Asked about excluding elderly who can’t walk down, he says ‘‘there are plenty of other places on the lake they can go to’’.
Councillor Craig ‘Ferg’ Ferguson, who chairs council’s community and services committee, says ‘‘obviously the club feel they have legitimate concerns — I am not going to argue that’’.
‘‘We are here to assist, so I would have expected them to have made contact and started dialogue with council to try and get to an amicable resolution, being public reserve.’’
Kelvin Peninsula Community Association chair David Mayhew says his committee’s yet to form a view on the issue.
But, speaking generally, ‘‘we’re very aware of the pressure of numbers on that part of the peninsula, both Grove beach and around to the beach area in front of the yacht club’’.
‘‘Certainly last year it got very crowded at various times, and one of the problems has been vehicles going down to the beachfronts.
‘‘I can see the problem, and there should be some attempt to grapple with it.
‘‘We weren’t consulted about the closure of the roads, but that’s entirely within the yacht club’s, and those other clubs’, remits.
‘‘I assume they have a lease, they are in control of the land, and therefore they have the right to control access to the land.’’
