Whakatāne Sportfishing Club senior members have overwhelmingly backed a plan to shift the club’s building away from the wharf to avoid the risk of future flooding and loss of insurance.

Club president Heyden Johnston said more than 100 people attended a meeting on Tuesday on the building's fate, with more than 80 percent of votes supporting shifting the building at its address at 2 The Strand.

The club will be moved west of its current position, and further back from the wharf, in front of the current carpark entrance.

It will also be raised so the floor level will be higher than a new floodwall to be built by Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

The council is building the floodwall as part of its multistage Project Futureproof, which aims to boost flood defences for Whakatāne’s town centre.

The stage of the project affecting the club is expected to take place late next year.

Johnston said the floor level of the club would be 1.2 metres higher than it is now.

A sign with a red mark showing the floor level of the Whakatāne Sportfishing Club, erected on the wharf outside club, shows that not everyone is convinced the fishing club needs to be moved. Photo Troy Baker 

The cost of moving the club would be less than $2.5 million.

Club members told Local Democracy Reporting that Whakatāne District Council, which owns the land, would need to pay $1.6 million towards the relocation due to a clause in the ground lease.

The council’s strategic property manager Vanessa Fergusson said negotiations with the club were ongoing, but confirmed the council needed to compensate the building owner on termination of the lease.

“Since the terms of the lease and any potential compensation are commercially sensitive, it’s our practice to keep these discussions confidential.

"We can however advise the community that there will be no rating impact as a result of any compensation council is required to pay.”

Johnston said the council had also agreed, if required, to help fund the move through a loan.

This is consistent with a letter from Ms Fergusson to Mr Johnston disclosing decisions made at a public-excluded meeting on October 17, made available on the club’s website.

The club has been in discussions with the council over arrangements for renewal of its long-term ground lease since April.

Johnston said there had been an option for the club to stay in its current position and for the regional council to build the floodwall along the back of the club, following the course of the current wall.

This would have left the club unprotected from floods.

Johnston said staying outside the floodwall would have resulted in the eventual demise of the club.

“That opportunity did exist but it posed a significant amount of risk to the club and its ability to have a future.”

He said the highest risk to the club was its ability to obtain insurance.

“If we weren’t able to obtain insurance in the future, because of the location and the risk to the club, then that would have been it, we’d have been all over.”

A Powerpoint presentation at a special meeting at the Whakatāne Sportfishing Club by president Heyden Johnston showed the proposed new location of the club, an area currently occupied by a council-owned former wharfshed building. The green line depicts the possible new flood wall location. Image supplied

Other disadvantages presented to members at Tuesday’s meeting were not being able to renew a long-term lease on the land, potential for flooding and inability to lease equipment and apply for grants.

The plan to reposition the club would allow the wall to be built right through the area where the club, and the neighbouring council-owned building, currently stands.

He said the repositioned club would be an asset for the whole Whakatāne community.

“What the community will get from this is a fantastic area for everybody.”

A steering committee would be created to take control of the repositioning.

“Then we begin the exciting process of growing this club and making it the best club in New Zealand,” he said.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.