Save Ocean Beach

The natural and physical resources of Ocean beach and its adjacent City Dunedin are under threat and you can help!

Proposed Management Options for Ocean Beach

Closes: 25/11/2011

In 2008, the Council appointed a Project Team to gather data and consider management options for Ocean Beach. This followed significant erosion on the beach in June/July 2007, the DCC’s replenishment of sand on the beach and other remedial works as part of a now established ‘holding pattern’, and a comprehensive consultation process. Since then the Project Team has gathered and analysed that data and completed a risk assessment process. It has now identified proposed management options for Ocean Beach, taking into account the existing processes and risks.

A report from Tonkin & Taylor dated October 2011 entitled: ‘Ocean Beach, Coastal Issues and Options’, sets out preferred options for managing the area using an adaptive management approach. The report is available for inspection at the DCC’s Customer Services Centre and Libraries from Tuesday 25 October during their ordinary opening hours. A summary of intent and submission forms are also available. The information, plus background material on erosion at Ocean Beach, can be found at www.dunedin.govt.nz/consultation.

Submissions must be received by 5.00 pm on Friday 25 November. Hearing dates have been scheduled for Tuesday 31 January to Thursday 2 February 2012. Please state in your submission whether or not you wish to be heard.

Consultation documents

Consultation details

Closing date25/11/2011
Contact personBusiness Development Team Leader
Public feedback
  • Online submission form (new window)
  • Email to - oceanbeach.comment@dcc.govt.nz
  • Post to - Proposed Management Options for Ocean Beach, Community and Recreation Services, Dunedin City Council, PO Box 5045 Moray Place, Dunedin 9058, Attention: Lisa Labuchagne
  • Hand deliver to - Proposed Management Options for Ocean Beach, Customer Service Centre, Ground Floor Civic Centre, 50 The Octagon - Attention Lisa Labuchagne
Public meetings

The public meeting is to be held on Monday 7 November 2011 at 7.00 pm.

The venue is the Port Otago Room, first floor, Edgar Centre, corner Portsmouth Drive and Teviot Street.

All interested members of the public are cordially invited to attend. A summary of the options and submission forms will also be available at the meeting

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Damage to the St Clair access ramp, which occurred following heavy seas earlier this month. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Damage to the St Clair access ramp, which occurred following heavy seas earlier this month. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
 Major changes may be in store for a ramp and staircase at Dunedin's St Clair Beach, facilities which have had repeated failures in the face of heavy seas.
Dunedin community life general manager Graeme Hall said the ramp might be shifted further down the Esplanade towards Middle Beach, once councillors had made a decision on its future.
And with extensive research on the troublesome coastline recently, any decision made should be based on better information.
Mr Hall is writing a report on the future of the ramp and staircase, after the ramp failed earlier this month - the third time since the sea wall was built in 2004.
Council staff acted to keep the public safe by closing access. It has remained closed.
The damage followed rough seas that scoured sand from Tomahawk Beach and forced the council to shore up dunes at Middle Beach and disconnect electricity to lights at Kettle Park after sand hills were cut to within metres of the sportsground's light poles.
At St Clair, the ramp's concrete cracked, and steel reinforcing rods were exposed.
Asked about the likely contents of his report, Mr Hall said while sea walls at St Clair had historically had problems, the new wall itself had handled all the sea had thrown at it since it was established in 2004.
The ramp and the nearby staircase, however, had been a problem, he said.
Mr Hall said he had been writing a report on the history of the issue, dealing with engineering, insurance and guarantees, when the latest damage occurred.
After the recent damage the council would attempt to discover who was responsible for the constructions unable to stand the force of the sea.
Design consultant Duffill Watts and King and construction company Naylor Love agreed to strengthen and repair the ramp and staircase at no cost to the council when the facilities were replaced in 2007.
Mr Hall said it had been known since that time that the position and construction of the ramp was "not ideal" for the sea conditions in the area.
At the same time as the ramp and stair issues, the council had been dealing with erosion as a separate matter, and it was sensible to wait until reports, like the recently released Tonkin and Taylor report on coastal erosion, before making decisions.
"Whatever solutions come up, we will have a greater understanding of the beach than we have had previously," Mr Hall said.
Asked if the council had to provide the ramp for disability access, he said the council had the opportunity in the past to get a government exemption from having disability access at the beach, but had not followed that route.
The report will go before the next community development committee meeting on November 30.


St Clair ramp damaged again

Home » News » Dunedin
By David Loughrey on Thu, 6 Oct 2011
News: Dunedin | St Clair beach
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2011: A close-up of the cracked concrete, taken yesterday.
2011: A close-up of the cracked concrete, taken yesterday.
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A damaged ramp at the Esplanade in St Clair will remain closed, as the Dunedin City Council attempts to discover who is responsible for a construction unable to stand the tests of time and tide.
The ramp has failed for the third time since the seawall was built in 2004, and council staff have acted to keep the public safe by closing access.
The damage follows rough seas that scoured sand from Tomahawk Beach and forced the council to shore up dunes at Middle Beach and disconnect electricity to lights at Kettle Park after sand hills were cut to within metres of the sportsground's light poles.
At St Clair, the concrete ramp was hit so hard concrete cracked and steel reinforcing rods were exposed.
Council project engineer Evan Matheson yesterday said he had been notified of the damage by a property owner at the beach.
There was a "long history" to the issue, and council community life general manager Graeme Hall was writing a report to the council.
That report would help decide "what we do next".
Mr Hall was on leave, but council community development committee chairman Cr Bill Acklin said the report would be coming to his committee.
The council was recently forced to accept its design requirements for guard rails on the Esplanade were not up to scratch after it spent $347,000 repairing corrosion.
The ramp was damaged twice in three months during storms late in 2004 and early in 2005, not long after the seawall was built. The stairs were also damaged at the time.
A report commissioned by the council after those incidents found the failures were caused by a combination of construction and design faults.
Design consultant Duffill Watts and King and construction company Naylor Love agreed to strengthen and repair the ramp and staircase at no cost to the council, and the facilities were replaced in 2007.
Cr Acklin yesterday said he understood there were "issues in relation to who is responsible", which Mr Hall's report would consider.
The issue was not listed in the agenda for the next committee meeting on October 19, so he expected it to go before the November 30 meeting.

By David Loughrey on Sat, 1 Oct 2011

News: Dunedin | DCC

The lights have been turned off at Kettle Park, and Dunedin's Middle Beach will be replenished with sand, after concerns the sea has worked its way dangerously close to light poles at the park.

The Dunedin City Council confirmed yesterday fences and signs were being installed along the edge of the sports ground in the interests of public safety, and power had been disconnected from the sports field lights.

The work is expected to cost about $60,000.

"A further inspection of Ocean Beach was held this morning following our monitoring of the latest pattern of storm activity," council parks manager Lisa Wheeler said yesterday.

"It is now clear that the erosion of the dunes adjacent to Kettle Park on the eastern side of Moana Rua Rd requires remedial work."

Dunedin man John Piper, who walks his dog on the beach each day, raised concerns about the issue this week, after he noticed heavy seas had eroded sand dunes to within metres of light poles at the ground.

The council is coming to the end of an extended consultation and research period, as it tries to find a way to deal with the constant erosion at the beaches from St Clair to Lawyers Head, which was made worse by severe storms in 2007.

The council has been shoring up the dunes since then, dumping extra sand and placing "reno blankets" - rock-filled wire netting - along the beach.

Yesterday, community and recreation services manager Mick Reece said a rip had formed at Middle Beach.

The council has a stockpile of sand at Tahuna, which it dredged from Otago Harbour, and 5000cu m would be used to replenish the beach.

Contractors would also attempt during low tides to remove rubble from the beach that had been dumped there in the past, but had been exposed.

Ms Wheeler said the swell at the beach was predicted to ease yesterday, and work was being organised to begin next week to replenish the dunes most severely affected.

In 2009, the council set aside $400,000 for the following three years to deal with the problems until a longer-term solution was found.

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz

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