Eastern beaches get the sand, others get promise of a long wait

By JULIET ROWAN

Aucklanders will be able to feel plenty of sand between their toes at Kohimarama Beach this summer after a $6 million upgrade.

But the outlook is less sunny for a string of other beaches around the city where similar work is likely to be stretched out over the next 10 years.

The Kohimarama Beach project, which began in February, involves shipping 50,000cu m of sand to the beach and building new headlands and stormwater drains to contain sand and stop damage to the Tamaki Drive seawall.

The Auckland City Council says it could have chosen a cheaper plan to build a new seawall at a cost of $4 million.

But it says the $6 million option has several advantages, not least of which is a new sandy beach.

"What you are getting is a colossal amenity for people to use," said professional services manager Neill Forgie, who heads the project.

Building a new seawall would also mean cutting down pohutukawa trees lining the shore.

Kohimarama Beach has been eroded by increasing stormwater levels over 80 years, leaving only a small strip of sand now visible at high tide.

Recreation and events committee chairman Councillor Scott Milne said an extra $2 million was a small price to pay to restore a beach that was used not only by locals but people from other suburbs, particularly Glen Innes. "It's one of the cheapest regional parks we've ever built."

He said replenishment of sand at Mission Bay in 1996 meant people from around the city now flocked to that beach.

The Kohimarama Beach re-sanding is taking place in three stages, with the first and largest phase due for completion in about a month.

More than 14,000 of the 24,000cu m of sand required has already been pumped on to the beach.

The second and third phases will take place between June and August.

The sand will cover an 800m stretch of beach, 5m to 15m wide, running from the Kohimarama Yacht Club in the east to opposite Kohimarama Rd in the west.

It will elevate the beach 1.5m to 2m, creating a barrier between the sea and the seawall.

The sand is dredged from the Pakiri coast and barged to a pontoon off Kohimarama Beach from where it is pumped to shore.

The council said there was little chance of the sand being washed away because 90 per cent of stormwater would now be diverted to either side of the beach. Stormwater drains on the beach will be consolidated into two outlets and extended 50m beyond the seawall, where they terminate now.

The boat ramp opposite Neligan Ave will also be extended to about 40m to make it long enough to bridge the new beach, and work has begun on the first of two headlands at each end of the beach.

Lorenzo Canal of Urban Solutions, the engineering consultancy managing the project, said work was on target for completion in September, although rough swells and strong winds were causing some delay in dredging and transporting sand.

The Auckland City Council is considering re-sanding eight other beaches at Blockhouse Bay, Herne Bay, Home Bay, Pt England Reserve, Pt Chevalier, Sentinel Reserve, St Heliers and Taylor's Reserve at a cost of about $5 million over the next 10 years.

But Brian Rudman criticises this timeframe in his Herald column today as unfairly favouring the city's eastern suburbs against the west and the south.

The council says annual monitoring of the new sand at Mission Bay had detected negligible erosion.

At Pakiri Beach, Greg McDonald of the local Ngati Wai tribe waged a legal battle all the way to the High Court to try to stop Kaipara Ltd, the company dredging sand for the Kohimarama Beach project.

Mr McDonald's bid failed when the court rejected his appeal in June last year.