The future of the Whakatāne Sport Fishing Club building is among matters being weighed up at by Whakatāne District Council.

The club was constructed in 1998 at 2 The Strand, on land belonging to the council. The club's lease on the land expires on October 1 next year.

The council must make a decision at some stage whether to allow the club to renew its lease or not. At the meeting the council was asked to choose between two options. To retain the site as it is or gather further information for councillors to issue its decision.

It voted unanimously to follow the latter option, which will involve staff engaging with the club, the three tenants of the council's own buildings on the site, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Ngāti Awa and prepare a further report for council to consider in issuing a decision on the land lease and future of the buildings.

Whakatāne Sports Fishing Club vice president Heyden Johnston told the Beacon the club was very keen to come to a resolution with the council at the soonest possible time.

'We need to know what options the council have available to us to be able to make a decision about the best way to move forward for the Whakatāne Sport Fishing Club.”

Whakatāne Sport Fishing Club vice president Heyden Johnston.

A report to council at last week's meeting detailed some of the considerations council needed to note in deciding how to proceed.

The two buildings on the land are the privately-owned Whakatāne Sportfishing Club and a council-owned building, which is currently leased out to commercial businesses Gibbos on the Wharf, Iceman and Te Rāhui Herenga Waka Boat Harbour Development. The buildings sit between the commercial wharf and the floodwall that Bay of Plenty Regional Council has announced its intentions to make improvements to over the next two years to reduce flooding risk to the town centre.

The regional council's Project Future Proof will see the current flood wall raised by 800mm, which would leave the club on the wrong side of any flood mitigation measures, but the report said the regional council had also suggested an option of moving the wall, or possibly creating a grass stopbank in a line that passes directly through where the club sits.

The floodwall, which is on council land, now dog legs around the buildings and has an opening for access to the carpark that is a potential flood breach risk for the town centre. Even if sealed by gates at huge expense, these would create weak points in the floodwall structure.

'If the floodwall passed straight through the site and joined with the other side, it would have no gaps. This approach would be easier to construct and could also be used to continue the riverfront promenade along the top of the stop banks,” the report stated.

The report said Gibbos and Iceman were on rolling leases with 20-days' notice for termination, while The Rāhui Herenga Waka had a fixed term lease expiring in February next year.

The report also touches on the district council's own plans for revitalisation of the Whakatāne riverfront. It includes consultation with iwi in which Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Hokopu hapū share aspirations to restore viewshafts from Te Whare o Toroa and Te Mānuka Tūtahi marae across the river to the urupa.

'This viewshaft is currently restricted by the buildings at 2 The Strand.”

Engagement between Whakatāne District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the sport fishing club executive committee and members has been ongoing since April last year.

During these discussions, the club had raised the role of the spit fuse in flood protection.

The report contains a literature review from Christensen Consulting that concludes that the spit fuse intervention is likely to decrease in effectiveness over time as sea levels rose.

Mayor Victor Luca said he felt the conclusions should be taken 'with a pinch of salt”.

'Fishermen and other folk who work here have made direct observations about what happens when that spit fuse is open. They've observed the river level dropping by metres in minutes. I can see lots of debate coming up.”

Councillor Gavin Dennis questioned why the pressure was being put on the district council to decide the fate of the building when it was the regional council that wanted to raise the stopbanks.

'We all know that the fishing club is a bit of an iconic building and has become a well-loved place to gaze across the river and imbibe with your dinner. Why is it now on us to take all the grief on shutting down these places that are well loved on the side of the wharf?

'If the regional council want to raise the stopbanks, why isn't it regional council's responsibility to raise, or remove temporarily, the fishing club and the other buildings, build their stopbanks and put the building back on top of the stopbanks?”

General manager of strategy and transformation Steve Perdia said the regional council was happy to raise the stopbanks in their current location.

'However, they do note that in their current location this doesn't offer the best flood resilience to the town centre. If they are able to put a stopbank straight through it is actually a cheaper and easier exercise.”

Councillor John Pullar said he felt for the fishing club because the decision left them in a state of flux. He asked whether council staff were keeping them up to date with consultation.

Mr Perdia said they certainly were and noted the club was holding its annual meeting in August, at which it would need to make decisions about its long-term plan.

-Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.