Waihemo Community Board deputy chairman Kerry Stevens told Allied Media there was one particular point near the cemetery where erosion was happening more quickly than elsewhere.
‘‘If it carries on there will be bones out to sea in the next year or two.’’
Concerns had been raised with the community board by frustrated resident Stuart Barnes and passed on to the Waitaki District Council.
‘‘You cannot leave graves to wash out to sea.’’
The cemetery was one of 12 ‘‘high-risk’’ coastline areas across Waitaki District where urgent decisions were required, councillors were told at a workshop this month.
Sheer cliffs at the site had eroded to the extent that the cemetery now sat only 20m from the sea.
A recommendation to relocate it as part of a ‘‘managed retreat’’ approach could cost about $2 million, a 2024 report by specialist engineers Beca said.
Waihemo ward Cr Frans Schlack said action needed to be taken before access to the site became impossible.
‘‘You cannot wait until the erosion reaches the trees.’’
Cr Schlack said the council had to look at ‘‘all sorts of options’’ to address coastal erosion, but ‘‘everything is expensive’’.
There were different solutions that could be engineered that did not involve just ‘‘throwing rocks in the ocean’’, which he described as ‘‘not a long-term solution’’ to the issue.
Coastal erosion also needed to be dealt with at a national scale, he said.
No decisions were made at May’s council workshop, the first of three, but councillors agreed to use the Beca report to develop a wider framework.
During the workshop, council policy lead Victoria van der Spek said it was ‘‘really difficult’’ to give time-frames regarding coastal erosion.
But there were ‘‘trigger points’’ and elected representatives needed an ‘‘agreed position on what we’re going to do’’.
Councillors will return to the issue on Tuesday.
This workshop would build on discussion and feedback from the first workshop, seeking to ‘‘refine and endorse council’s approach to coastal investment decision-making’’ ahead of the development of a strategy, a prepared document stated.
Councillors were ‘‘clear’’ in the earlier workshop ‘‘we need to make decisions, not commission more reports’’, it stated.
