Controversial Ōpua barge dock gets go-ahead

Construction of the barge dock will require a cutting in the hill and a section of the popular Twin Coast Cycle Trail to be moved inland to make room for an access road. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Plans for a commercial barge dock at Ōpua have been given the green light — but construction is unlikely to start for at least a year.

Council-owned company Far North Holdings (FNH) has been trying to get permission for a new marine industry and aquaculture dock since the Bay of Islands Marina expansion opened in 2017.

Since then the boat ramp and dock used by Waikare Inlet oyster farmers has been in the middle of the marina.

The ramp is also shared with recreational boaties, which causes health and safety issues and means it has to be blocked off any time barges are landed.

Plan showing the proposed reclamation (red), new access road and boat ramp (yellow), and the rerouted Twin Coast Cycle Trail and jetty for the steam ferry Minerva (green). Image / supplied

A first attempt to establish a new dock, further upstream at Colenso Triangle, was knocked back by independent commissioners in 2017.

That plan involved a 4500sq m reclamation near a planned terminus for the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway.

The new plan is for a smaller reclamation, 1700sq m, immediately south of Bay of Islands Marina Boatyard (also known as Ashby's Boatyard) at the Ōpua end of the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

FNH has now been granted consent to build the new dock and commercial boat ramp, subject to conditions and a management plan.

An access road will have to be built where the cycle trail is now so a cutting will be made into a bank below Kennedy St so the trail can be moved inland.

The plan includes a jetty for the steam ferry Minerva, now being restored in Opua.

The barge dock will be built along this section of the Taumarere River. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The Far North District and Northland Regional councils publicly notified the resource consent application last year and appointed independent commissioner Rob van Voorthuysen to make the decision.

A total of 75 submissions were received with hearings held in Paihia in December.

In his decision, van Voorthuysen said the new dock would provide barging and oyster landing facilities crucial to the local aquaculture industry, and allow transport of dredging equipment and construction materials around the Bay of Islands.

In 2017 marine infrastructure servicing was worth $10.2m to the regional economy and sustained 70 jobs, while oyster farming generated about $12m in export revenue.

The new facility would also remove the conflict between recreational and commercial users of the existing marina ramp, he said.

Protest placards have been erected beside the reclamation area. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Concerns raised by people opposed to the plan included construction noise, visual impact, effects on natural character, and the loss of a mature pōhutukawa and a small beach.

However, van Voorthuysen said the natural character of the site — which is bordered by a boatyard, modified foreshore and a former railway line — was already diminished.

The site was Crown land with, however, the hillside land banked for Treaty settlements when it was no longer required for the railway.

Several submitters were concerned by the loss of dinghy racks but the commissioner said they would be replaced by new racks with a dedicated dinghy ramp and six short-term car parks at the southern end of the site.

A "dilapidated" dinghy storage area will be replaced as part of the barge dock development. Photo / Peter de Graaf

''Based on my own observations I consider that the proposed new recreational wharf, dinghy rack and dedicated dinghy launching boat ramp will be a marked improvement on the current somewhat dilapidated facilities,'' he said.

About 725 truck and trailer units of fill would be taken to the site during construction.

Once complete the dock would generate extra traffic but it was within the rules for an industrial zone.

Ōpua residents opposed to the plan include former boatyard owner Jim Ashby, who said the site was lined by pōhutukawa and enjoyed by cyclists and walkers. Those views would be replaced by a fence and marine farm dock.

"Forty-thousand cyclists and other trail users are being compromised for two users, the oyster farmers and the marine industry."

Ashby said he wasn't against a commercial facility but believed FNH should have persevered with the Colenso Triangle site and tried to get it across the line with a smaller reclamation area.

Members of a local hapū have set up a protest camp, linked to a long-running protest on nearby Puketiti, next to the reclamation site. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A camp, linked to a long-running protest by Te Roroa hapū against a separate FNH development on nearby Puketiti, off Kellet St, has been set up at the start of the trail.

FNH general manager Chris Galbraith said the barge dock consents had been issued months ago but construction was likely to be more than a year away because FNH had many other projects on the go and was looking for funding support from the government or industry.

The project had not been fully costed but the reclamation was likely to cost around $3 million with a further $750,000 for the jetty and Minerva berth.

The original barge dock proposal was facilitated by FNH but funded mostly by marine contractors and oyster farmers. The new proposal is for a FNH-owned facility.

Plan of the Bay of Islands Marina expansion from 2015 showing the shared recreation and commercial boat ramp in the centre. The new facility would be built next to the boatyard at the far left of the image. Image / supplied