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Auckland Council has put its cards on the table for the future of Ōrewa Beach Reserve, and they don’t include a seawall or the protected Norfolk pine trees on the shoreline.
At its March 26 meeting, the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board unanimously supported ‘naturalisation’ of the beachfront in the reserve, between the holiday park and Riverside Road.
A report featuring four concepts, drafts of which were shown to the board at a workshop last year (HM March 6, 2023), was presented with key differences being the location of carparks and recreation/play areas.
There is a rock revetment in front of the surf club in all the designs, with the remainder of the reserve having dune planting between the grass and beach.
The elephant in the room at that meeting, the potential to protect the grass reserve with a seawall, was raised by chair Gary Brown, who asked how far the reserve would be allowed to erode. Calculations by Tonkin & Taylor show coastal erosion of between one-third and half the reserve, at different points along its length, by 2080.
Parks and places specialist, Matt Woodside, said the naturalisation approach means while you lose grassed reserve over time, you gain high tide beach.
He pointed to visitor surveys conducted in 2020, which indicated that the beach was the drawcard, together with recreational options such as the playground and basketball court, which would remain although likely to be moved landward.
Brown also said that the removal of the Norfolk pines would be unpopular with the public.
The report says initially the trees will be retained, as they are in good health. Their roots are exposed after storms, but ongoing transfer of sand from the southern end of the beach to the north acts as a buffer.
However, Woodside said that eventually the sand beneath the trees may scour out more, or other issues could occur, which might require removal of the trees for safety reasons.
With the trees gone, that edge of the reserve could be reshaped with dunes, reducing the requirement for the expensive sand transfer process, Woodside explained.
Sand transfer costs around $200,000 each time.
Resilient land and coasts general manager, Paul Klinac, said council’s belt-tightening and the likelihood of another protracted Environment Court process, were among the reasons that made building a seawall along the reserve prohibitive.
However, he said resource consents would most likely be required for any works related to the trees and possibly supporting dune creation/reshaping works. Exactly which resource consents are needed would not be known until an agreed management response has been determined via the local board, after public consultation.
In the meantime, the four concepts are being costed and further analysed from a technical perspective before they are put before the public for feedback.
Klinac said council hoped that consultation will start around the middle of this year.
The final choice rests with the local board.
The report and designs are linked here:
Natural examples
Naturalisation by dune restoration was implemented at the eastern end of Stanmore Bay, immediately following the January 2018 storms. This involved the removal of unconsented, legacy rock armour material that was exposed during the storm, reprofiling the eroded reserve edge to a safe gradient and replanting. Another example of dune restoration is the southern end of Ōrewa Beach, in front of the camping ground, which was established approximately 25 years ago.
Meanwhile, at the northern end of Ōrewa Beach…
The final design of the seawall to be built at the northern end of Ōrewa Beach, from Kohu Street to Marine View, was released by Auckland Council recently. It includes three ramps and five sets of stairs, including near Kinloch and Remembrance Reserves. The seawall and path are separated by a planted border and a fence. The wall will be built around the pohutukawa trees near Marine View and the trees’ roots protected with a boardwalk. Three contractors have been chosen to submit tenders this month. Currently the work is budgeted at $18.9 million and is expected to begin on site in June.
