Golf club objects to landfill

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 4

Golf club objects to landfill

If the proposed coastal landfill site near Waimairi Beach goes ahead, the Waimairi Beach Golf Club fears that it will lose some of its members, the landfill hearing was told yesterday. “If this decline is great enough, the loss of finance would cause acute embarrassment and could even cause the club to close,” said Mr J. C. Ellerm, when making submissions on behalf of the club.

Speaking about possible changes to the water-table and run-off in the area, should the landfill site go ahead, Mr Ellerm said the golf course, which was to the south of Rothesay Road and the proposed landfill site, suffered heavy flooding over many acres between 1975 and 1977.

“The water depth in many places exceeded a metre, and six of the 18 holes were unplayable. The flooding was caused by heavy rainfall and

extremely high watertables,” Mr Ellerm said. “Club members were patient and put up with it. The club spent $20,000 in an effort to rectify the problem. But if the proposed landfill site goes ahead, and further flooding occurs, it would appear to club members that flooding would be permanent and membership would decline.” he said. “We strenuously object to any change in the surrounding areas that will increase our vulnerability to the part or total loss of recreational use of our golf course.” Mr Ellerm said the .club had more than 700 members and had been in existence for 50 years. As well as the flooding problem, the club objected to the proposed landfill site on the grounds of smell, dust, flies and insects, rodents, seagulls, litter, and traffic. “The golf course will be

subject to any smells from the landfill site, particularly when the strong, dry nor’westers, so common in the summer, are blowing,” Mr Ellerm said. “The course is already subject to high degrees of insect infestation during periods of high humidity, and any increase in the adjacent areas of rubbish, water ponding, or rotton vegetation can only increase this problem.” On litter, Mr Ellerm said that a game of golf would become extremely difficult if the ground were covered in pieces of paper and other windblown debris, making it hard to see the ball. Asked about the landscaping proposed for the landfill site, Mr Ellern said that the golf club had planted some 300 trees on the course, only 10 of which were still growing. This was mainly because of the salt air, poor soil, and strong winds in the area.

The Rev. D. J. Whelan, a Catholic priest at the Redemptorist Community in Bower Avenue, said that the community had also experienced great difficulty in getting trees to grow in the area. The Redemptorists had been at North Beach since 1945 and had chosen it for its peace and quiet, as a suitable environment for prayer and reflection. The church was used regularly on Sundays for worship, attracting 200 people, and it was also used for weddings and funerals.

“The full-throated roar of heavy articulated transports whose' exhaust fumes will exacerbate the already polluted atmosphere, and the irritating rattle of empty containers as the transports ■hasten back along the potholed and overworked road will obviously bring a disturbing change to the present congenial surroundings of the retreat centre,” Father Whelan said. “External noise factors and proximity to busy roads do not contribute to the dignity appropriate to church services."