Recent community meeting @ Makarau Hall, opposing new Shooting Club on Tuhirangi Rd.

Simon Wilson, a journalist from The Spinoff attended the community meeting held in Makarau Hall this last Sunday and has provided this well balanced and informative write-up on the meeting.

Guns vs roses: the new battle of the Kaipara

Click here to access the article

There is a growing amount of local concern in the shooting club as it nears their opening date of the 1st July. The newly formed club is situated at the top of Tuhirangi Road, which is just under 600m from the closest section of Martin Access Rd and also in close proximity to properties on Makarau Road too. – It is obviously closest to neighbouring properties on Tuhirangi Road.

A local group “Keep the Peace in Makarau Valley Inc” has been established to coordinate a community effort in opposition to the development and operation of the club and have been fighting the issuance of a ‘Certificate of Compliance’ which was granted by the Auckland Regional Council last year. [email protected] – this is their email address if you would like to request further information from them.

The club, and opposition to it also featured recently on a TV2 show called Gutsfull – which is available on demand here:  https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/gutsful/episodes/s2016/e8-6528484

The club has publicly stated; they aim to build a significant development with over 30+ ranges; including a 300m high powered rifle range, two other rifle ranges, and shotgun shooting facilities, operating 7 days a week, they currently intend to open to their members on the 1st July, with a formal opening, featuring MP, Paula Bennett on the 7th July.

Community meeting re: shooting club – Sunday 3pm Makarau Hall


A message from the organizers: 
We’re holding a community meeting at the Makarau Hall this Sunday at 3pm. Please inform your friends and neighbours and spread the word.

We’ll update on what has been achieved so far, why it matters, and what you can do. 

It will also be a chance for people new to the issue from the community to get involved. We plan to speak for half and hour and then answer some questions, and offer some tea and biscuits. It may take an hour all up. 

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday. 

Please do invite as many people as you can and do your bit to Keep the Peace in this beautiful valley.

Update on shooting range developments and further information.

Fair warning: this is a long post…

The proposed site for the Auckland Shooting Club’s new shooting range on Tuhirangi Road has generated a good amount of local interest. Which has included a number of local residents contacting the council for more information and a better understanding of the process which has been followed. I will try my best to accurately represent this below (if you know of any corrections please let me know and I will subsequently amend the posted web based version of this with any corrections – thank you).

The owners / developers of the property apparently bought the land in July this year and conducted planning exercises which included having assessments and reports written up by various domain experts, including acoustic engineers and development planners. A submission was made to the council which expressed a fairly limited and modestly sized operation, they requested a CoC (Certificate of Compliance). Given the nature of the operations expressed within this application, and the modest scale expressed, both in terms of size of development and also the noise thresholds, and types of firearms to be used at the range; the council assessed the proposed operation against the district plan and current and future zoning. Given the assertions made in the reports, and the council’s own cross-checking, they deemed that if operations were limited to that expressed in the application that Resource Consent was not required as the expressed, intended operation fell within limits already permitted for the area.

As such, the council did not need to, nor could they, require resource consent. And so there has been no public consultation required or possible by the council with the local community. The council issued the CoC, in compliance with their established operational procedures.

The full CoC documents are available for your information on the Ahuroa.nz website; they were supplied by the council to us through one of the local community members who lodged a request to see them; they were released to us with council’s approval as there was sufficient local interest in this. If you haven’t read these yet, they are available on this page: https://www.ahuroa.nz/2016/10/06/further-information-on-auckland-shooting-clubs-application-to-the-auckland-council/

In general terms, the council have advised us that the CoC covers operations as laid out within the CoC and the associated report; it does not provide assurance to the owners that operations outside of that scope would be permissible under the regional plan etc; that is not to say that anything outside of that scope would be automatically prohibited, or would be constrained by default.

It is possible that the owners may extend their operations in a non-permitted manner, but if they did, then it would take some form of action, a complaint and an upheld  investigation to then force the owners to require resource consent. The council are not forced to observe or manage operations in any way; whether operations fall within or outside the CoC, is a question which will become very hard to answer without access to the property / facilities once they become active.

It should also be noted that the owners / club are accountable for their operation but that this is a self-monitoring activity. There will be no policing or compliance checking conducted by any external party, this is not a requirement of the CoC, the council are not obligated to perform this for you. From here on, their continued operation will be subject only to ‘exception reporting to the council’, whereby someone would have to raise a concern (with evidence) to back them up in order for any type of council action to be taken.

It it not specifically enough, to say that they have exceeded the CoC, even in terms of hours of operation; they need to have exceeded what is generally-permitted-activity in order for resource consent to be required. A CoC is not strictly required to operate, what it does is it provides a clear and well laid out set of standing authority for that described activity to take place; it is (only) in the favour of the land-owners. You should not view the CoC as a limiting document, it is an empowering document for the land-owners.

As and when the operation may exceed what is generally-permissible without a resource consent; in order for any one of us to know exactly when this has happened, we would need to be an arm-chair expert in local zoning regulations and actively monitoring their operations. – The likelihood of any one of us getting this right, and achieving anything actionable is slim. It would likely take the same degree of expertise as held by the consulting group who crafted the CoC application, to know when, exactly, the general zoning permissible activities had been exceeded. While this has the potential to turn some of you into warrior-crusaders against their cause, for you to actively achieve anything tangible would take an enormous commitment from you; it would’ve had to have ruined your lives by that point.

The council issued a statement to media in the last week:

Statement to media:

Auckland Council issued a certificate of compliance to the Auckland Shooting Club, which simply confirms that the operation of the club, as detailed in their application, is able to comply with the requirements of the Auckland Council District Plan – Operative Rodney Section 2011, and the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (at the time of the application).

A certificate of compliance confirms an activity can be undertaken lawfully at a particular location without the need for a resource consent, and the council has no ability under the Resource Management Act to notify such applications.

We understand the information included on the Auckland Shooting Club’s website significantly differs from, and is much larger than, the proposal included within the certificate of compliance issued by Auckland Council. If the club did wish to undertake an activity of this scale in the future, a resource consent may be required. We have contacted the applicants and informed them that a facility of the scale as indicated on the website will not be able to rely on the certificate of compliance, and a resource consent application may be required.”

Note the use of the words ‘may’ in the above; they cannot say what would be required until someone tells them either what they would like to be able to do, or someone else tells them what they have actually started doing…

This came out a day before an article appeared in The Herald here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11724754

Since then Scoop released an article here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/85027667/countrys-largest-gun-club-to-be-built-next-to-meditation-centre

The council will not step in, they cannot step in, unless a well founded, and legitimate complaint is laid (which needs to be based on a violation of some by-law or regulation). They are duty bound by their processes to respect the club’s desire to operate, and if they do operate within the bounds of permitted activities under the zoning regulations (not specifically within the limits of the CoC), then they cannot get involved. – And this is fair enough.

A number of you have written to the council expressing your views to them, I have been given permission to release the contact details of the person handling further enquires:

Rebecca Harris – <[email protected]>
Rebecca Harris | Planner 
Northern Resource Consenting and Compliance (Orewa)
Auckland Council
Ph 09 427 3951 extn. 443951 | Level 1, Tasman Building, 50 Centreway Road, Orewa


On a separate and more personal note:

I’d like to reflect on the type of people who get involved in establishing sporting clubs; they are well meaning, enthusiastic people, they are looking out for the interests of a collective group, their efforts are for more than just themselves. – They are often very focussed and passionate about their interests.

A reflection on firearm owners / license holders: They are of good standing, they are almost always reputable people. On pistol shooters: these are some of the more elite users of firearms; it takes a further, specialist application to the police to be licensed to hold a pistol category license.

A reflection on the council’s attitude to the range; they are impassionate about this; they have viewed this by the book and have made their decision / determination based on their current operational procedures. They have operated appropriately in terms of their impartiality and they’ve conducted themselves in the only way in which they can.

A reflection on how this will be seen / treated by the police: organised and well run shooting environments are encouraged, the police play a key part in permitting and enforcing responsible firearms usage in NZ; they administer the licensing system. On the whole they can be expected to come out in support of this range and the activities conducted at it. The police actively use a number of these types of ranges throughout the country for their own training.

A reflection on the current CoC; The units of sound measurement in the CoC are a concern to me: dBA (Leq) is an averaged noise level over a period of time, not a peak noise reading. It is beneficial for the applicant to use this means to express sound exposure for short bursts of noise, as the level is expressed as an average; it does not appropriately describe the peak noise level which is experienced.

To say that the expected noise levels are “45 or 50 dBA“, would be wrong; this is what some of the comparisons have been likened to; ‘noise levels of rain on a roof’. As an averaged level this may be true, but in terms of noise exposure (max) this is a misleading representation. See http://www.noisenet.org/Noise_Terms_Leq.htm for a brief explanation of these units.

The district plan allows for this in its current state: http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/districtplanrodney/rodney-district-plan-chapter16-2011.pdf – The acoustic report provided to support the application was in line with these averaged measurements and aligned to the district plan’s limits. It is the district plan itself which has directed this style of measurement to be used within the application.

The district plan was written with ‘general / continuous noise’ in mind, of the type which you would generally be expected to be exposed to, within a rural area: farming machinery, milking plants etc; it does not cater specifically for exposure to short, sharp cracks of gunfire. The plan itself aims to meet a general purpose, it is that general purpose which is perhaps being exploited currently by the CoC application and the misleading comparisons with ‘rain on a roof’ statements being made by various people – which are plain wrong.

http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/districtplanrodney/rodney-district-plan-chapter16-2011.pdf – See Pg 12: Table 16.9.2.1.2(i): Noise Received in Rural Zones (Leq) – it will become clear why the 6pm upper limit was applied, that because the units of measurement change from dBA(Leq) to dBA(max) at 6pm, and although the level is higher (75dBA[max]), I suspect that the (max) method of measurement is what will have forced the applicant not to have sought any permission to operate beyond 6pm. You can draw your own conclusions then as to what type of (max) level may be emanating from the range during daytime hours…?

The purpose and intent of the rural noise limits within the district plan are explained later in that document:

Explanation and Reasons

Noise has been identified in Chapter 7 – Rural, as having an adverse effect on the amenity values of rural areas. The protection afforded dwellings in the rural area needs to reflect that rural areas are essentially production areas, where significant noise generating activities can be expected to occur. The control level should therefore not be unreasonably stringent, and should recognise the time of day when rural activities take place; that is, they start earlier and finish later than in urban environments. The notional boundary approach is used to protect the dwelling without giving the same degree of protection to land closer to the noise source.

Reflection on the above: when the council are describing rural activities, they are describing the largely Rural Production type of activity, this does not appear to me to be crafted for recreationally orientated (or firearms) noise, they state that rural activities specifically start earlier and end later. – This is bordering on a misapplication of those rural limits, it is making use of a loop-hole in my view.

The Unitary plan is being constructed to replace the current Regional Plan, and the feedback period is now closed. I would have liked to have seen an over-riding noise limit placed throughout the day, with a dBA(max) limit being applied throughout the daytime hours too. In that way, this type of activity could still be permitted as it is measured at the notional boundary. All this would mean is that they would need to surround themselves with a truely-large-enough, privately owned buffer zone to ensure that their ‘cracks’ could not exceed (max) stated limits for neighbours.

I do not believe that the Leq method of measurement was deliberately introduced to permit repetitive, sharp cracks of shooting noise over boundaries from 6am to 6pm during weekdays and during weekends. Approaching council about this particular point is unlikely to create any shift, but it may be reasonable to write to them expressing concern that the dBA(Leq) method is applied to all types of noise universally, including those which have a sharp, loud peak. It does not provide for any specific protection or noise control as it ought to be applied to gunfire to prevent nuisance for neighbours. – This may be a reasonable question to ask the council?

What does provide a degree of protection against nuisance noise from firearms, are the Firearms Code and the Act itself:

http://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/publication/arms-code/understanding-firearms

3b) Where and when you may use firearms
Before you do any shooting, whether with a firearm or airgun, you need to know when and where it can be safely and lawfully used.

You should take steps to ensure that your shooting does not endanger property or frighten, annoy or put neighbours at risk. Telling your neighbours about what you are doing is always a good first step.

This is based on the Act:

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1983/0044/latest/DLM72622.html

Arms Act 1983:

  • 48  Discharging firearm, airgun, pistol, or restricted weapon in or near dwellinghouse or public placeEvery person commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to both who, without reasonable cause, discharges a firearm, airgun, pistol, or restric- ted weapon in or near
    1. (a)  a dwellinghouse; or
    2. (b)  a public place,—

    so as to endanger property or to endanger, annoy, or frighten any person. Compare: 1958 No 21 s 16(2B), (3); 1964 No 36 s 6(1)

    Section 48: amended, on 1 July 2013, by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).

This is part of criminal law, it is no longer a civil offence; this is not something which a council CoC can guard anyone from.

However, for this to be enforceable, you require the interest and cooperation of the police. – Which, you would get (initially) as it is a potential firearms offence, however you may not get their support on an ongoing basis for nuisance complaints.

All of this is provided just for your information; there are plenty of reasons why the owners and users of a facility like this are expected and required to be reasonable. It is in their best interests not to fall out with the local community, but to work with them. Many gun clubs around the country have suffered restrictions, loss of members and faced potential closure through persistent noise complaints. Take a look at these two linked articles on stuff to see how hard things can become for gun clubs when they fall out with their neighbours: http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/nor-west-news/83478097/Waitemata-clay-shooters-under-the-gun and http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/papakura-courier/7568626/Bullseye-Gun-club-wins-long-battle-with-neighbour – (I would hardly call that last one a ‘win’ given the battle and loss of membership experienced).

Reflection on the comments provided on the Grapevine’s Facebook presence: On the whole the discussion on the Facebook comments section was courteous and allowed for a degree of natural exploration of the potential issues. Discussion for the initial part was civilised and helpful for a community group trying to grapple with what was seen as a concerning issue. This was ‘shocking and concerning news’ for most locals, and the discussion was kept to practical and useful comments while people sought more information and expressed their initial views and concern.

We also had comments from supporters of the Club too; and they were welcome to post and share their views too; the presence is a public one and we do not discriminate or require membership in order for people to comment. I do not want to moderate content in the group, I simply don’t have the time; I would make it a closed FB group before I start to actively moderate.

Then, as Facebook always does, it degenerated somewhat. Some people started to personalise their comments, calling others ignorant… Unfortunately they got a reaction and things went downhill a little from there. It became a disappointing, non-constructive slagging match. Disappointing, as we ought to have tried to work the two sides together with useful and informative discussion.

Next steps?

Given the owner’s investment to-date, while you may not like the idea that a large scale shooting range may be opening across your boundary fence within the near future, it is a reality that they can operate under the current district plan. – I would suggest that we seek to engage positively with the owners to proactively discuss their intentions and to see if your concerns can be managed proactively.

I suggest that you do not engage on Facebook in any type of discussion which may end up degenerating into non-productive exchanges, if you do then don’t be surprised if you get blocked from our page; regardless of your point of view..

The CoC is just a document, it does not truly determine how they will operate, it also doesn’t strictly constrain them either. Only reasonablness on both parts will help to make this something which is both tolerable (for you, all) and also usable (for them).

I understand that my view is a moderate one, and is not as extreme as some of our local neighbours who live on the boundary of this proposed facility; I would encourage all of those who have a view on this to nominate a coordinator (not me), and seek an initial (private) meeting with the owners… We might start by asking them what their measured dBA(max) levels were during their acoustic testing, then re-framing a more reasonable discussion – without any comparison to ‘rain on a roof’, or average noise levels.

Chris – Ahuroa Grapevine Administrator.
(Also, a firearms holder of ~7 years)

Further Information on Auckland Shooting Club’s application to the Auckland Council.

The Grapevine received the following documents today relating to the proposed auckland shooting club site and activities at 273 Tuhirangi Road.

The details contained within these are very different from the public information released on the shooting club’s website. You should all treat the shooting club’s website as a PR / Advertising mechanism to generate interest for potential members, it does not accurately reflect their approved scope of operations at this point in time.

Please have a detailed read for yourselves, below I have provided my own summary of what I believe are some of the key points from these documents:

  1. These appear to be council approvals to develop and operate. – This would, I believe, imply that there was no intention to perform a publicly notified consent process.
  2. The scope of operations is different from that outlined on the website, in particular:
    • (Only) two outdoor pistol ranges have been approved, one to the West and one to the East of the site.
    • The Western range is limited in its operations, and excludes Sundays.
    • Both ranges are limited in their hours of operations, allowing for (only) 8 hours of operation per day, at times between 6am and 6pm.
    • The site is normally expected to support (only) 30 people during normal operations.
    • At no more than 3 seperate occasions per year is it permitted for a ‘carnival’ type of event (competition) to be held, at which, no more than 200 people, including 120-150 competitors would be in attendance.
    • There is no mention of rifle shooting, there is no mention of shotgun facilities.
  3. There are specified and enforceable noise restrictions and limitations (dB limits), listed in these documents.
  4. There are specified and potentially measurable limits on the amount of earth works to be performed.
  5. There are noted building structures included within this consent, i.e.: it would not be permitted for any further development to ‘just happen’, without the council being required to provide further permission.

Have a read for yourselves, mine is a quick summary and does not include all of the information which you might need if you intend to get involved in this to any proper level.

The club’s website did say that their plans were going to be phased; I read their plans as solid indications of their intentions for their further development. I do not believe that they have misrepresented anything to the council, the council have issued these consents based, I’m sure, on what was presented to them; which was unlikely to be an outline of their longer term development plans.

I am told that the council is now considering this application, given the public reaction. If there are properwell reasoned objections then I would recommend you put them in writing and lodge them with the council.

I have received appropriate contact details from the council for such lodgement. – In the first instance email [email protected] and I will pass those details on to you. – We would also appreciate a copy of such correspondence if you are willing to share it.

Thanks, Chris.
Ahuroa Grapevine Administrator.

**Very large scale** shooting club planned @ Tuhirangi Road (will open 7 days / week).

Hi,

It has come to the attention of the Grapevine through some concerned local residents that there is a very large scale shooting club being planned; to be located at the top of Tuhirangi Road. – Link to GoogleMaps

aklshootingclublocation

According to their website: http://www.aucklandshootingclub.org.nz it is due to open in July 2017. There is no mention about resource consents, and this does not appear on the Akl Council’s website as a publicly notified consent process. Their own website states that they intend to operate 7 days per week and to run a number of high profile events, up to international competition level, including rifle, shotgun and pistol activities.

It is my personal feeling that this type of constant gunfire, with regular, intense shooting activity in the area represents a potentially significant impact on existing land use in the area. That is may not be possible for them to suitably limit and constrain the nuisance that this type of regular noise would create.

Personally, I would like to see this become a notifiable, resource consent hearing in order for any other concerned residents and neighbours of this facility to have their concerns considered.

I personally am not anti-firearms, I have held my own firearms license for 7 years, I have an active interest in rifle and shotgun shooting; including developing my own hand-loaded rounds, I have personally undertaken recreational shooting activities on my own land, but in doing so, I have always been mindful of the impact of the noise and have tried to minimise that for the sake of my neighbours, keeping it  limited and ensuring that it is not a repetitive or constant nuisance. – I cannot see that a range, intended to be open 7 days / week could exercise these same considerations and I am concerned for the wellbeing of those who live close to this planned facility. A lot of us moved to the country for a peaceful existence and may not welcome this type of potentially continual noise.

Elsewhere in NZ, larger scale ranges, such as in Whanganui (where I have used their 300m range) are located in extremely remote, non-populated areas; such as beside the airport / backing on to the beach / sand-dunes. I would have thought that somewhere such as South Head, or perhaps Woodhill forest may have provided a more suitable location (in terms of remoteness and proximity to existing residential dwellings), but their current location is surely going to cause a number of people to be very concerned.

I do not personally have the time to manage or coordinate any community based effort in this regard, but I do think that this may be important enough to encourage a number of others to take a closer look at what is being planned. There are people in our community who are knowledgeable in terms of council processes with some existing contacts within the council who may be able to shed some light on what is known / considered and already approved, formally.

It needs to be stressed that at this point in time, the only source of information on this project is that of the newly forming club, and that this information is one-sided, potentially biased towards positive marketing of their concept / ideas and that it may not have progressed solidly to council yet. I would encourage those who may feel strongly in opposition of this, to make yourselves known, so that I can circulate a further bulletin for you to coordinate what-ever further efforts *you believe are required*. (I can’t drive this, I do not have the time or capacity to do so – sorry).

In the interim, if you do have any comments or want to share your thoughts, then please do not reply to me here; share your thoughts with the community through the Grapevine’s Facebook page. – Post a comment in reply to this post on Facebook. Initially we should see what type of scale of opposition there may be to this type of facility in our neighbourhood, then respond accordingly.

Thanks for reading this, regards,

Chris. – Your Grapevine administrator. – [email protected]