An Otago Peninsula resident is worried her local beach could be destroyed by work needed to buttress a $2.8 million slip repair at Turnbull Bay.
The Dunedin City Council started work this week on the final stage of the repair, which involves building a temporary causeway more than 200m across the bay so rocks can be installed at the base of the reinforced wall.
The work, which will protect the wall from tidal forces, erosion and earthquake damage, was expected to cost about $130,000, bringing the total to $2.8million, up from an original estimate of $1.51million.
Lois Paterson (67) was worried the causeway, which starts north of Bacon St, will cause "immeasurable damage'' to the beach, where she and her family had spent many joyful hours since moving there 46 years ago.
She pointed to tyre marks which were still visible in the bay more than six years on from when the Otago Regional Council removed an illegally built structure built near where the retaining wall is now.
She was also worried about the impact it could have on the sea life and angry the council had not kept her and neighbours fully informed about how the work would be carried out.
City council transport projects team leader Gareth Evans said the buttressing work was included in the original design, but required additional approval and consent to proceed.
The proposed path was along the rocky foreshore and an ecological and archaeological evaluation found no issues with building a causeway, Mr Evans said.
There would be an impact on the amenity of the beach, but this had to be balanced against the need to secure peninsula access.
He was sorry Mrs Paterson felt she had not been kept fully informed, but the need for buttressing had been well documented and this was the most practical and cost effective method of doing it.
The work, which will be carried out by Downer, involves installing buttresses on the eastern and western sides of the wall.
It was expected to take six to eight weeks and the causeway will be removed once it was finished.
There could be minor traffic delays, but every effort would be made to keep them to a minimum and avoid busy periods of the day.
The slip repair work was needed after a storm in June 2013 which damaged 200m of Portobello Rd above Turnbull Bay.
The project was completed in February, apart from the buttressing work.
Mr Evans previously said the budget for the project ballooned and work took much longer than expected after contractors struck unfavourable ground conditions.
