Seawall plan to stop Far North town disappearing into the tide

An artist’s impression of the completed seawall at Ōmāpere in South Hokianga. Photo / FNDC

Work has started on a 120-metre-long seawall designed to stop erosion claiming any more land at Ōmāpere in South Hokianga.

During the past decade, the shoreline has retreated by 9m in the holiday hotspot about 54 kilometres west of Kaikohe, threatening homes, a playground and council infrastructure, including a sewage pipeline.

Work on the rock wall, which will fill a gap between two existing seawalls, started last week and is expected to take four months to complete.

The project was expected to cost $630,000, a Far North District Council spokesman said.

Without intervention, public assets including a wastewater pipeline, the Freese Park playground, toilets and a carpark were in danger of disappearing into the Hokianga Harbour.

Beach access and landscaping were also part of the project.

As well as the council-owned Freese Park Reserve, the seawall would protect privately owned land at 7 Freese Park Rd and 308 Hokianga Dr.

The owners of those properties had agreed, after negotiations, to help pay for the project.

That was necessary because the council was barred from funding structures to protect private property, the spokesperson said.

The seawall would consist of large boulders placed on geotechnical fabric to stop soil being washed into the harbour.

The council consulted with the community in 2021 on options for protecting Freese Park.

The options included different types of seawall, “managed retreat” (with planting to try to stabilise the dunes) or doing nothing.

While managed retreat and doing nothing would have been cheaper, having to move council infrastructure would have incurred its own costs in the long-term.

The project was blessed by Ngāti Korokoro kaitiaki on February 24. Council-owned company Far North Holdings is managing construction.

Weather and tides may affect the expected June completion date.

In 2019, the Government spent $3.2 million rebuilding sections of the seawall alongside State Highway 12 in nearby Ōpononi.