Protection for beach aim of DCC

The Dunedin City Council's $100,000 investigation into the issues affecting Ocean Beach is aimed at providing a 50-year plan for protecting the erosion-plagued beach.

The council will vote on approving the funding at a full council meeting on June 27.

Erosion has been an issue along the coastal stretch since the first seawalls were built and the dunes altered in the 19th century.

The issue came to a head last June when storms bit into the steep dunes, causing concern for some nearby residents.

The council's parks and recreation asset and commercial manager, Tom Dyer, discussed details of the planned $100,000 investigation with the Otago Daily Times last week.

"This funding will be used to develop a plan to address the coastal erosion affecting Ocean Beach, including the St Clair seawall,'' he said.

"The work will consider all of the other relevant technical reports generated over time.

"Information from earlier reports that is still relevant will be reused.

"Assumptions and methods will be updated where technical advances have been made in areas such as management options and modelling practices.

"The result will be detailed options analysis, including budget impacts, to manage the St Clair seawall and Ocean Beach over 50 years, and a suite of recommendations for councillors to consider.''

Once approved, tendering for the work would begin in late July.

It was hoped the work would be completed by the time the council reviewed its long-term plan in 2018.

However, Mr Dyer could not discuss timeframes in depth this early in the process.

"At this stage, it's about getting to a point where we have enough information in front of us so we can have a conversation with council and, in time, the public and make a decision about the solutions that come from that,'' he said.

"If we get a really good proposal and it takes a bit longer to complete, that might be an investment worth making,'' Mr Dyer said.

One solution which would not be assessed as part of the investigation was any form of retreat from Dunedin's low-lying southern suburbs.

"We will be investigating options to continue work at Ocean Beach,'' Mr Dyer said.

"It's going to be around protection and keeping a similar beach line as what we have got now.''

He was sympathetic to residents in the area, but hoped the current work taking place at the beach would provide relief in the interim.

"We are looking now at getting these sand sausages in place and we do expect a reasonable life out of them,'' he said.

"So I'm hoping the immediate anxiety will be quelled by the fact we are getting these sand sausages under way and those structures will be in place in the next month or so.''

The proposed investigation would be highly technical and draw advice from geotechnical experts, engineers and erosion experts, as well as others, he said.

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