Port Chalmers recreational fisherman Warren Lewis and Chalmers Community Board deputy chairman Trevor Johnson have also questioned why the council did not consult the community before putting up the $8000 fence in the Back Beach car park over the past two weeks.
Council acting group manager parks and recreation Tom Dyer said the fence was only a ''temporary measure'' to help out the Port Chalmers Yacht Club and the board would be involved before a decision was made on a long-term solution.
He did not comment on the suggestion he had apologised to community board chairman Steve Walker over a lack of consultation before the fence was installed.
Meanwhile, Port Chalmers Yacht Club commodore Richard Hawkins has hit back at complaints and questioned why Mr Lewis and Mr Johnson had not gone to the club with their concerns.
''I think you will find that some disgruntled people that don't like seeing people get things that they can't have are against it,'' Mr Hawkins said.
The club was happy the council had gone ahead with the plan, which would help the club and the ''whole community''.
Mr Johnson could not understand why the council should pay for a fence and take away public car parks so private boat owners could store their vessels.
The decision was always meant to come back to the community board.
''It may have been that it still will have gone ahead, but the point is nobody really knows in the community ... the full reasons as to why it's being done.''
He also questioned whether the fence would, in fact, be a temporary measure.
''The only reason why it was ever made temporary was because they failed to consult on the matter and a number of people kicked up a fuss about it,'' he said.
If it was only temporary it was an ''even bigger waste of ratepayers' money''.
My Dyer said the fence was installed after the yacht club had to vacate the council's Sims building, which was found to contain potentially hazardous levels of asbestos.
''We have worked to limit the impact on other users of the car park and there are still parking spaces available.
''We appreciate there are varying views on this, which is why the area is available on a temporary basis only to address the immediate need,'' Mr Dyer said.
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Comments
Temporary use tends to become permanent when the noise dies down. People need to keep a close watch. Smart cracks such as "some disgruntled people that don't like seeing people get things that they can't have" just reinforces to the rest of us the opinion that the yacht club is simply out to grab as much public land and resources as it can without them paying.
The Yacht Club are just another bunch of well off people with their snouts in the public trough as deeply as they can get them. They should be paying for all costs for their hobbies, not expecting ratepayers to keep their toys safe.