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A survey of a select few local boat ramps is about to take place with an eye towards improving those that are under pressure from high use.
At a Hibiscus & Bays Local Board workshop conducted by Skype on August 26, Auckland Council’s parks and places specialist, Jeff Lyford, said building new ramps would be too expensive, so the focus is on improving the performance of existing ramps.
Responses to research conducted for Council in 2014, highlighted congestion as well as the need for more trailer parking.
“Gulf Harbour is the only safe boat ramp in any wind and any tide, unless you have a tractor. This needs to change. With the amount of boaties on the coast we must have at least three options! On a busy day you can wait for an hour to get in at Gulf Harbour, which can be very dangerous! Please consider providing better boat ramps for launching and retrieving boats,” one respondent said.
With dozens of boat ramps in the area, Council asked the local board for a shortlist of those that need improvements or where more parking can be developed.
At the workshop, members raised issues at the Stanmore Bay and Hatfields Beach ramps, including the need to widen them to reduce waiting time for boaties.
Lyford told members that evidence of waiting times would be needed to create a case for improving the ramps.
Once the local board provides a list of priority ramps, those ramps will be surveyed to find out about current use.
