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A war of words is being waged on the black sands of Piha beach over a proposal to set up the village's first cafe.
Protect Piha Heritage has put out four-page glossy pamphlets saying the consequences of a cafe will be more noise, waste-water problems and traffic and
commercial use of a residential site.
However, cafe promoter Preserve Piha, a company in which television personality Marc Ellis has a shareholding, calls it "unscrupulous and misguided propaganda" and Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey says he is offended by its taking a "sideswipe" at the integrity of Waitakere's eco-city branding.
Objections against the cafe getting a resource consent were heard last year by a panel of Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and Waitakere City planning commissioners, who promised to give their decision early next month.
Protect Piha Heritage spokeswoman Sandra Coney, who is also an ARC member, said the pamphlet was to inform people who were not at the hearing and who had a romanticised view of what it would be like with a cafe.
"They don't know the problems that came out during the hearing, or the limitations that were going to be placed on the cafe," she said.
Members were also counting holiday traffic passing the community post office, which is on the cafe site.
Vehicle use indications presented to the hearing were gathered during quieter times in October and November.
Peak time counts would be used in any appeal case should official blessing come for what its promoters call "a small-scale daytime cafe in keeping with existing activity of the area".
But the pamphlet paints a different picture: "High fences, noise, traffic congestion, yellow no parking lines - it's starting to sound awfully like the place everyone came to Piha to get away from.
"The laid-back, rough at the edges beachside ambience of Piha is what makes it different from the city and east coast beaches.
"And you can ask what difference will one little cafe make? Allowing one cafe will open the doors to more of the same thing and before we know it, urbanisation will have crept in and arrived to stay at Piha."
Preserve Piha shareholder and Piha resident Andrew Higgs said many businesses operated in the village and a small beach cafe need not be the thin edge of the wedge.
"We too are passionate about Piha. We recognise that it's a special place and as such should not be spoiled by overdevelopment."
Mr Harvey said the pamphlet quoted a tourist lodge operator as saying that a consent would make a mockery of the council's claims to be an eco-city.
This remark was unfair because the operator had worked through the same process to run a tourist venture at nearby Karekare Beach. Both ARC and Waitakere City planners recommended the application go ahead.
