Yesterday I sent through a proposal I have been jointly working on to the Dunedin City Council on behalf of Holmberg Technologies Inc.
RE: Submission – Proposal – Sustainable Management Option - Ocean Beach
Dear Mick
In response to the Dunedin City Council (DCC) public request for submissions on solutions for the sustainable management of Ocean Beach I hereby submit a Proposal and supporting information to DCC on behalf of, and in support of, Holmberg Technologies Inc.
Please find enclosed:
1. A proposal from Holmberg technologies Inc. for a Scoping, Option Design and Costing project.
2. Client testimony - John Ricciardi
3. Client testimony - Dr Thomas Straw
4. A DVD with
- Holmberg Video 'Saving Beaches' (7 minutes)
- Holmberg Technologies Inc. Scientific and Technical Reviews of Projects Study Booklet
- Article - 'alternatives to traditional ways of treating shoreline erosion'
- File Folder - animated gifs of artist impressions of Ocean beach before and after appropriate intervention by Holmberg Technologies Inc.
(Please note post intervention results have been verified as practicable by Dick Holmberg of Holmberg Technologies Inc. – with provisos)
4. An artist impression of ‘Middle Beach Beach Profiles’ demonstrating the potential effects and benefits of the Holmberg technologies Undercurrent Stabilizers™
5. Two digital artist impressions of 'before and after' implementation of a “whole of beach” option intervention by Holmberg Technologies Inc. across Ocean Beach.
Following are the contact details for the Cairns City Council Infrastructure
Engineer who requested a proposal from Holmberg Technologies Inc. and
indicated an interest in discussing a jointly funded AUS/NZ working visit
by Dick Holmberg late 2007 early 2008 with NZ Councils.
(contact details removed for blog)
I hereby make this submission in “good faith” and without any liability whatsoever as a concerned and responsible citizen in the interests of the community and the environment and declare that I have no commercial interest in Holmberg Technologies Inc.
I trust this submission assists Council manage the risks associated with this issue efficiently and effectively.
I advise that this submission will be posted on my internet Blog at www.phoam.blogspot.com
Should you have any questions and or require further information in relation to this submission, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to your response.
Nicola Reeves
_______________________________
SUBMISSION BELOW
_______________________________
Attention: Nicola Reeves
Dear Nicola,
I write on behalf of Holmberg Technologies Inc. to outline a Proposal for the development of sustainable, long-term, soft -shore protection options for Ocean / Middle Beach, Dunedin, for your consideration and pursuit with Dunedin City Council.
This Proposal follows confirmation from Dick Holmberg to you on 17 October 2007 that your artistic impression of Ocean and Middle beaches was practicably achievable through the appropriate intervention of Holmberg Technologies Inc.
This Proposal is also a response to the submission Tracey Crampton-Smith and yourself presented to the Dunedin City Council Community Development Committee on September 4th 2007 re coastal erosion management at Ocean / Middle Beach which for reference concluded:
"Coastal erosion methods such as 'soft shore protection' that have a proven track record of success in managing similar sites which can stand to open transparent assessment must be given urgent and appropriate consideration."
I confirm my previous information to you that I have recently responded to a Request For Proposal (RFP) from the Infrastructure Engineer of Cairns City Council, Queensland, Australia (AUS), for the intervention of Holmberg Technologies Inc. in that region, and, that this Engineer has indicated an interest in discussing with interested New Zealand (NZ) Councils, the sharing of costs for Dick Holmberg (and a contract Engineer where appropriate) to travel to NZ (as part of a joint AUS/NZ visit).
Our Proposal:
Soft-Shore Protection, Scoping, Option Design and Costing Project.
Outcome - The main outcome of this project would be coastal management design (and costed ) options for sustainable, long-term, soft-shore protection for Ocean / Middle Beach involving the intervention of Holmberg Technologies Inc.
Key Project Objectives - This project would have the following key objectives:
a/ Engage with Council and other key stakeholders to discuss and assess stakeholder needs, expectations and constraints etc.
b/ Conduct site assessments.
c/ Review and assess quantitative and qualitative, information (historical, anecdotal, technical and scientific) - (See Note 1 below)
d/ Develop soft-shore protection option performance criteria.
e/ Develop soft-shore protection design options including engineering concept designs. (See Notes 2, 3 and 4 below)
f/ Assess local construction logistics and constraints.
g/ Develop cost estimates for design options.
h/ Present options to Council. (See Notes 4 and 5 below).
Availability :
Holmberg Technologies Inc. would be available to commence this project as a NZ only or joint AUS / NZ project mid November to early December 2007 or mid January 2008.
Investment:
The estimated investment by Council for this project is (NZD): Consulting Fee: $100,000.00
Airfares (Return): US Consulting Team (Dick Holmberg + Engineer ) + NZ Consultant. = $32,000.00
+ Accommodation, Meals and local travel = 10 days = $8,000.00
Total estimated investment for Council = $140,000.00 + (excluding GST/tax).
Total estimated investment for Council with US Consulting Team travel cost shared with AUS Council = $126,000.00 (excluding GST/tax).
Notes:
1/ Council would need to provide all scientific, technical and historical information re the site (and immediate surrounding areas) and relevant erosion issues and organise other relevant matters (including meetings with people who may have historical information, Local and Regional Council Officers etc.) to facilitate this assessment.
2/ Engineering concept designs would be limited in detail by intellectual property constraints and will require further input (at additional costs) from Holmberg Technologies Inc. and their engineering advisors (without travel to NZ) at a later date for Resource Consent Application/Permit and construction purposes. Holmberg Technologies Inc. reserves the right to not include information the company considers is commercially sensitive and or secret.
3/ Holmberg Technologies Inc. reserves the right to limit the number of options
4/ The format of presentation would need to be discussed and agreed on with Council prior to commencement of the project.
I trust this Proposal assists in meeting the needs of stakeholders by providing a postive and pro-active way forward.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and or wish to discuss any aspect of this proposal.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards,
Chris Johnson, BBS.
Australasian Representative
For Holmberg Technologies Inc.
+0064-9- 5358066
the trucks and sand movers and pushers have been hard at work the last few days replenishing the sand stockpile at Middles. Another $20,000 plus??
Channel 9 News Segment June 27, 2007 - 10:51am-
"Dunedin's coastline is paying the price for our recent wild winter weather.
Several of the city's main beaches are rapidly eroding, forcing Dunedin City Council to close the walking track connecting St clair to Middle and St Kilda beaches.
For the past few days, Council staff have been keeping a close eye on developments along the beach, and are suprised by just how fast the land is disappearing."
Below: The two houses are gone, every scrap of their existance has been removed, the topsoil/sand has been stripped/levelled in preparation for the building work to begin on the Hotel development
Above left: another view of the prepared ground, Above right: From Forbury Road.. the new beauty salon's construction is well underway.. below, caitlin takes a photo on the wee pentax while driving past of the beauty salon. with her image caught in the wing mirror.
Was taking photos for a painting project, and these were part of them, thought I'd share on the blog.. Gorgeous views of the Esplanade with the Sea Wall leading on to the Dunes. You can see Forbury Park raceway in the distance of the first photo.
The Two sportsgrounds on either side of Moana Rua Rd in the second one, and the third is pretty much the same.. but nice to see a high tide dry-sand line has returned to the beach
The sand scarps are still clearly visible, and from this view the closeness of the sports grounds is startling
Above and below.. the 'Emergency Outfall' for the Green Island sewerage treatment plant.
Looks like the sand has been recently removed from in front of the outfall area which discharges straight on to the beach.
The Green Island Sewerage treatment plant was up-graded to secondary treatment with UV disinfection and the marine outfall was extended out in the year 2000 to 850m offshore at Waldronville. This emergency outfall pipe still appears to operate.
As this is a restricted coastal activity a resource consent permit is required to discharge up to 103680 m3/day of treated effluent to the Pacific Ocean. This is via the newer 850m Waldronville sewerage outfall pipe.
Below the Dunedin Gun Club and the Dunedin Pistol Club operate on the reserve area at Waldronville, Here a Permit for sand mining is in operation, the scar is easily visible at the back of the firing range.
Also ( left below) there is another site for sand mining a short walk to the right of the range behind the pistol firing range. (right below) the above pit from another angle.
Below, nice to see a planting programme taking place in the dunes beyond the gun club.
Below:
ready to truck out.. the house on the corner.. stripped of its bricks, and parted from its foundations.
Above: Recontouring of the dunes to skim off the top of the unstable fill layers making them safer to the public is finally underway. Assuming here that this is just a small portion of what needs to be done to repair the dunes, and there is alot more work to be done.
Below left: Fill material skimmed off the top of the dunes during re-contouring is stored for removal at Kettle Park Road. Above right: from the beach at St Kilda, partially re-contoured dunes.
I still feel strongly there needs to be public education via the press and council erected signs on beach level entry points NOT to scale or disturb the dunes. Yesterday there were many people climbing the large sand store pile at Middles and jumping down it.
Foundations are now going up for the new beauty therapy business. On the section previously was the longest running commercial building in the area. It began its life as a store in 1884, and during its reign it switched hands many times alternating between a grocers and a telegraphist/telephone office until in 1961 when it became a hair salon 'Salon Susan' and then in 1965 'Kaylyn' Hairdressing Salon, then switching to the final tenant 'Wendy's Hair' this year.
Above right:: windows are coming out from the yellow house.
Above:: A photograph taken around the late 1880's, the two circled areas A/ where the new hotel development (see here) is going up now. B/ the building that was recently demolished (see here) to make way for the current construction above.
Below:: a comparison over time highlighting the encroachment of Seconds Beach Road towards the sea when the new sea wall was built.
Below: The sand scarps looking from St Kilda towards St Clair, you can see the two large sand stockpiles hugging the cliffs.
many children even under the supervision of their parents were scaling the cliffs and knocking more sand down, I even spoke [nicely] to a few and they just ignored my plea for respect and the danger their children were in and let them carry on ripping up and down the very unstable dune faces, especially some of the capping hard fill at the top which was very precariously angled ready to fall at any time.
I wonder why there is no monitoring of these actions, or notices to stay off the dune/cliff faces its clearly a danger to the public.. and how can the public be so disrespectful to their environment?
Below: closeup of Moana Rua sand stockpile, with the offshore wind blowing the sand out to sea.
Today I attended the Public segment of the 6 weekly Community Development Committee's meeting, where today they were to present the "Coastal Emergency Works" Summary Report. Present were the current city councillors, mayor, other council employees & various members of the public.
I have been working this week with Tracey Crampton-Smith, [both a mayoral candidate, and candidate for a South Dunedin seat on the DCC]. The five minute presentation, which Tracey presented was intense but effective. I put together a very short video version of the erosion that has occured at Ocean Beach the last few months which was played in the first minute of the submission.
Video Below::
Below:: is the written summary page 'conclusions' that we presented based on the content of the verbal submission presented today.
CONCLUSIONS
Ocean Beach [St Clair, Middle & St Kilda] is an artificially positioned, highly exposed, high energy site at high risk of coastal erosion and therefore requires urgent and effective management.
1. Increased storm frequency, unpredictability and severity along with predicted sea level rise and global warming will increase enormously erosion risk at Ocean Beach in the future without practicable and effective long term management.
2. Erosion management methods based on “Hard engineering” methods such as sea walls, sand sausages and rock baskets have consistently proven to exacerbate erosion and require ongoing ratepayer funding and maintenance. Sand replenishment is both financially unsustainable and unproven as a long term solution, and therefore these methods are high risk.
3. The Dunedin City Council consultants, Dtec, have suggested it would be negligent to commit ratepayer funds to the previous design plans and that finding a new remedy should be addressed with some urgency. Council and consultants have agreed they do not have a long-term solution. In 2001 the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, recommended the application of 'soft shore' protection schemes and advised avoiding the use of 'Hard' shore protection methods such as vertical concrete walls and rock piles.
4. Alternative “soft-shore” methods of coastal erosion management based on “Natural process” (such as Holmbergs' Undercurrent Stabilisation method), have been developed and proven to provide effective management of similar sites overseas.
5. Public consultation must be actioned expediently so that a sustainable long term plan can be implemented without being preempted by the currently proposed 'holding pattern' consisting of sand stockpiling and rock baskets. However, the public should be given the opportunity to be consulted and agree on solution performance criteria.
6. Since the coastal zones affected by a solution will be fall under the jurisdiction of the Otago Regional Council and the Dunedin City Council both Councils should work jointly on this issue throughout.
7. Coastal erosion methods such as 'soft shore protection' that have a proven track record of success in managing similar sites which can stand to open transparent assessment must be given urgent and appropriate consideration.
Channel 9 Website Article - September 3, 2007 - 10:35am
source link
The Dunedin City Council is asking for public comment and submissions on long term planning for St Clair and Middle Beaches.
Councillor Paul Hudson says the DCC is seeking local opinions and expertise rather than paying for advice from experts who don't live here.
It was just under two months ago, the DCC took emergency measures to stop further winter storms and strong seas undermining the sand dunes fronting Kettle park sports fields.
Tomorrow, Councillor Paul Hudson is expected to advise a committee meeting that the measures cost three quarters of a million dollars but another $400,000 is needed for follow up measures.
He says, the DCC has been inundated with information from the public about the history and suggested management of the area.
He says, he'd prefer to hear from locals rather than paid experts not from Dunedin and from the end of October they'll be formally seeking public comment.
The bricks are coming off .. the hotel is going up, the character of the esplanade is guaranteed to change drastically .. the implications of such a massive [in scale of the area] development will reveal over the coming years. So with the building permit obviously secured, despite there being an ongoing 'beach emergency' 100 metres away all we can do is watch. see previous blog post on this issue
Change again around the corner in the public playground adjacent to the Southcoast Boardriders clubrooms. I used to play there when I was a child, and I took my children to play there too, always the same old classic playground equipment and probably the last remaining of its genre in Dunedin. Below a series of photos of the reconstruction over the last 6 weeks. (inset, some kind of surfing mechanical bull thing)
I guess if the children can't play on the beach due to an absence of sand, they now have a high tech playground.
