Southland District Council has set aside $40,000 for a swimming pontoon at Steamers Beach on Lake Te Anau, where an unauthorised pontoon has floated since last summer despite a Department of Conservation request to remove it.
Councillors made the decision at a meeting on Wednesday, the Otago Daily Times reported.
A local resident installed the existing structure, which has a ladder, a seat and stairs. It does not meet DOC or Environment Southland rules.
It is not yet clear whether the council will buy the pontoon or replace it.
Stella O'Connor, the council's community partnership leader, said the pontoon had "huge and significant community support".
She said Steamers Beach suited a pontoon because it was an area for non-motorised craft.
A report to the meeting described discussions involving DOC, council staff, the Fiordland Community Board chair and the pontoon's installer.
DOC first asked the community board to help the installer make the structure compliant. It later asked for the pontoon to be taken out, and said any future pontoon would need to go through the concession and resource consent processes.
According to the report, the installer agreed to take the temporary structure out and asked the board to support a permanent pontoon that met the rules.
The pontoon is still on the lake.
John Lucas, DOC's operations manager in Te Anau, said the department had met the owners and asked them to apply for a permit.
He said the owners had told DOC they intended to take it out "over winter to complete some alterations and maintenance".
Mr Lucas said the pontoon remained at Steamers Beach and no permit application had been received.
He said the site was inside the national park, where DOC managed every structure through a concession or permit.
Deputy mayor Christine Menzies asked whether staff could deliver the project in the current financial year without other work suffering.
Council acting general manager Jendi Paterson said they could.
"We will make it work. The community has spoken," she said.
What happens next
The council expects to deliver its pontoon at Steamers Beach by the end of the financial year in June 2027.
DOC is still waiting for the owners of the current pontoon to apply for a permit.
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