Compromises called for in Orewa Beach protection plans

Council is finalising its 10-year budget (or Long Term Plan) and Local Board chair Julia Parfitt says she is confident that Orewa Beach erosion work will be a priority although it was left out of the draft budget. “We made a presentation to Council last week and it was pretty graphic,” she says. “Many councillors were shocked at the state that the beach is in.”

It’s the biggest project by far on the local board’s books, with $9 million needed over 10 years. No funding was included in the draft 10-year budget, and that omission drew the most submissions from residents, along with Penlink, to the Long Term Plan.

Council staff working on the project, which includes those from parks and coastal services, say that the beach’s defences have been built ‘ad hoc’ and with less knowledge about coastal processes than is available today.

The current approach is to divide the 2.6km long beach into 15 zones.

Local and sports parks north manager, Martin van Jaarsveld says each zone requires its own solution. “That may be restoring natural processes where we can, and other responses, such as seawalls, may be appropriate in other areas,” he says.

The money is in the kitty for design and the resource consent process for work to the north of the beach, between Kohu Street and Marine View. This area was severely damaged in a storm in 2013, threatening infrastructure such as the walkway. Council erected a ‘temporary’ rock wall that has been in place ever since.

Although this part of the beach is Council’s number one priority, because of the need to protect infrastructure, staff concede that residents are more concerned about the area in front of Orewa Reserve, because it’s a focus for recreation and many consider it looks rough with poor beach access.

Currently it is managed via transfer of sand from the southern end of the beach – this costs $50–$80,000 per year and is unpopular with many residents. The sand that is shifted provides “a sacrificial buffer” and is continually washed away and replaced.

Mr van Jaarsveld says whatever other work is done in front of Orewa Reserve, sand transfer may continue. “There may always be the need for sand replenishment, even if you build the biggest seawall in the world,” he says. “But we are looking at ways to make that process more efficient.”

Detailed plans for this part of the beach are under wraps while the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board discusses which to release for public consultation. However, Council staff indicated at a press briefing last month that two approaches are being considered – ‘managed retreat’ or building a seawall. All designs allow for predicted sea level rise.

‘Managed retreat’ replaces hard engineering with softer forms of protection such as sand dunes. At a recent meeting between local board members and Council staff at the site, the need to fell large Norfolk pines along the beachfront, in order to bring the dunes back into the reserve, was discussed. The trees are estimated to be 60–80 years old and local historians say that they were planted by Sir Edmund Hillary’s father, Percival Hillary, who was a member of the Orewa Beach Beautification Society.

Although it reduces the size of the grassed reserve, creating a dune system is cheaper than building a wall and results in a larger area of dry beach at high tide. Senior parks and coastal planning engineer Ian Murray says that the Resource Management Act is more tolerant of this approach than building an armoured wall.

However, these choices will be put before the public, and compromise will be called for.

“How much dry, high tide beach do people want?” asks Mr Murray, “Or do they prefer reserve space, trees and swings? If you want a developed facility on the reserve, you might have to forgo a more pleasant beach environment. A wall requires a far more robust consent process and there would have to be a unanimous call from the public for that.”

The designs that go out for consultation, expected to be in the next few months, will be viable, costed and include information about the implications for ongoing sand replenishment.