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Complaints flooding in over a proposal to allow nude bathing at Kapiti Coast beaches north of Wellington crashed the district council's email system.
Submissions close on October 24 on the draft beach bylaw which has generated a record response from residents.
Councillor Tony Jack said he believed it had been the hottest issue the council had to face for some time.
It had generated about five times the discussion sparked earlier this year when a community board member wore a Ku Klux Klan costume to a council meeting, he told The Dominion Post.
The hundreds of emails the council received on the topic had crashed its email system.
Council chief executive Pat Dougherty said there was a lot of concern in the community and he wanted to stress that the council was not promoting nudity in its draft beach bylaw.
Any offensive or lewd behaviour would be dealt with by police. In an effort to allay public concern it has taken out an advertisement in a local newspaper explaining its position.
- NZPA
