In January, the club withdrew its lease application over a Stoney Creek site before the submissions process closed, citing opposition on mainly amenity grounds by neighbours and the club's desire to get going with the building.
It obtained Wanaka Community Board support for a lease over the recreation reserve at Eely Point instead.
When public submissions closed on Wednesday, there were 17 in opposition and one neutral.
The opposing submissions mainly express safety concerns at Eely Point, caused by conflict with other lake user groups. The neutral submission states there should be a boat shed somewhere on the waterfront.
APL Property Ltd manager Joanna Conroy said yesterday all the submissions arrived on Wednesday.
"While people have stated quite strongly they are personal submissions, they are the rowing club. So I have an applicant opposing the application ... I don't know what process to follow and I will be referring it back to the Wanaka Community Board for further advice," she said.
Wanaka Community Board chairman Lyal Cocks said yesterday it was important to finish the process for Eely Point "or we will keep going around in circles".
The board was dealing with a club, not individual members, and was entitled to assume the club had discussed the matter with its members.
Until he had read the submissions, talked to the board and had further discussions with the club, Cr Cocks could not say what would happen next.
Rowing club captain and committee member Amanda Inkster said in an email to the Otago Daily Times on Tuesday her submission opposing Eely Point would be a personal submission based on safety concerns. She confirmed the committee moved away from the Stoney Creek site due to objections and the threat of high litigation costs from the Stoney Creek Action Group.
"We then spoke with the community board to let them know that we were unhappy to continue and wanted them to look at Morrows Mead and, as a last resort, Eely Point. The view from the community board ... was that they would recommend Eely Point over Morrows Mead, as they thought there would be the same objection here as at Stoney Creek, and that if we looked at Waterfall Creek, environmental issues would be involved as well.
"In retrospect, this was naive and we should have let the submissions process come to its fruition in order for us to find out exactly what opposition or support we had. Similarly, nobody really wants to be at Eely Point, but the view by some was that a shed there in the short term was better than nowhere in the long term," Mrs Inkster said.
Mrs Inkster's email outlined many safety concerns with Eely Point, such as wind and the dramatic, deep drop-off close to shore.
She also noted "potential for a serious accident as the majority of boat users have no real understanding how far they need to keep away from rowing boats in order to minimise their wake, or even how their boat wash can significantly put a small rowing boat off balance or even capsize the crew".
Cr Cocks said other lake users' issues and feedback could be addressed in a separate process he had initiated to review the foreshore management plan. He had asked harbourmaster Marty Black to prepare a report for next Tuesday's community board meeting, addressing a wide range of issues such as user group conflicts, boat registration, launch fees, foreshore management, lake activities, review of ski lanes, and boat ramps issues at Eely Point and Glendhu Bay.
