Omanawa Falls new plans could include platform, paid tours and cafe

The beautiful but fatal Omanawa Falls is out of bounds to public until next summer. Photo / File

People could gain safe access to the beautiful but deadly Omanawa Falls as soon as summer, all going to plan.

Access to the falls has long been closed.

Yesterday, representatives from the Tauranga City Council and Ngāti Hungarau presented an update on the project to improve safety at the falls in a Western Bay of Plenty District Council meeting, supported by residents from Omanawa Rd and Tourism Bay of Plenty.

The meeting follows the death of a man at the falls on January 3, and the death of student Kishore Arvindan, 25, who drowned in a pool at the base of the falls in 2018. The deaths are among countless incidents involving injury and rescue from people trying to access the falls in recent years.

At the meeting, Ngāti Hungarau representative Koro Nicholas spoke first, saying all groups were at the meeting in partnership "about a very important kaupapa".

"To us, this is occurring in our rohe, the Omanawa Falls."

Omanawa Falls track remains closed to the public. Photo / File

Tauranga City Council director of spaces and places Paul Dunphy told the meeting the team was still finalising detailed designs of what they proposed access to the falls to look like but draft plans included a carpark, cafe and a safe, cliff-face trail down to the falls.

Last week, the city council approved plans to fund $4.5 million towards the completed project as part of its 2021-2031 Long-term Plan, yet to go out for consultation.

Dunphy told the Western Bay council this funding gave the project team confidence "and confidence to our partners and residents in the area that we will continue to complete this project".

"We understand that people are still visiting the site and we need to provide a safe access, as the landowner. But also, we don't want just a safe site, we want an area that people come to and understand the cultural significance of that area."

Dunphy spoke of plans to potentially introduce guided tours down to the falls to offer a cultural and historic background, for which people could pay.

"We are looking at different types of experiences, both free and paid. Going to the site itself will be free but there other things we could pay for and we are in the very, very early stages of [exploring] that."

Construction was expected to begin in May with access to the falls reopened in time for summer. The council would then close the falls during the next off-season to continue the works to complete the design which includes a viewing platform.

Dunphy also said there had been a marked reduction in people accessing the falls since the introduction of kaitiaki (guardians) at the site.

In figures provided by Dunphy, after the meeting, 647 people visited the falls between December 23 and January 17 during working hours. Each were met by the kaitiaki. Of these visitors, just two carried on to the falls, ignoring the kaitiaki and warning signs.

Future plans for Omanawa Falls. Image / Supplied

"Out of interest, most of the visitors (80 per cent) arrived at the falls between December 23 and January 3 which shows how much it tailed off after this time," Dunphy said.

However, residents in the area have previously told the Bay of Plenty Times dozens of people still arrived after the kaitiaki had left.

In the meeting, councillor James Denyer asked about some of the details the project team were considering in the design, and whether this included a carpark, toilets, cafe and viewing platform, to which Dunphy said "yes".

Councillor Mark Dean said one of the real attractions of the site was the tunnel down to the power station and asked if the project team was considering using this.

Dunphy responded saying it was not safe enough for multiple groups of people on a daily basis "so we are finding a safer way of getting people through and down to the platform".

This was expected to be a cliff-face trail.

A finalised design will form part of the city council's application for resource consent next month.