How Dunedin coast may look in future

A redesigned seawall at St Clair, moving an old landfill away from Middle Beach and creating better access at St Kilda are all possibilities for Dunedin's coast for the next 100 years.

Other options include installing groynes or breakwaters, bolstering sand dunes and shifting playing fields.

The Dunedin City Council today released information on the St Clair-St Kilda Coastal Plan ( Whakahekerau-Rakiātea Rautaki). It said concept visuals included were not design drawings, rather they have been produced to provide a general sense of the options on offer.

DCC coastal specialist Tom Simons-Smith said the total price tag of work could extend to hundreds of millions of dollars over the next century.

The council has created a series of images to give people visual representations of options to think about.

They include different looks for the St Clair seawall, a representation of how a broad and set-back Middle Beach could appear and a concept visual of what could result from improved dune management and access at St Kilda.

Mr Simons-Smith said the status quo was not an option at Middle Beach.

The old landfill under Kettle and Marlow parks is at risk of being exposed by erosion of the sand dunes.

More broadly, the city council has said the beach and sand dunes have been squeezed between development and the sea since land has been reclaimed and European settlement.

John Wilson Ocean Drive and green spaces along the coast restrict the dune system and the dunes have steepened, becoming more prone to erosion from storms.

Climate change is expected to complicate management of the coastal environment.

Mr Simons-Smith presented St Clair Beach, Middle Beach and St Kilda Beach as three distinct areas and signalled different approaches could be adopted for each.

The council is seeking feedback on the latest developments in forming its St Clair-St Kilda Coastal Plan and will host seven community workshops in the next month.

Infrastructure services group manager Simon Drew said the concept visuals were designed to provide a general sense of options.

“Through community conversations to date, about 1200 people have told us what they value about this coast and what they’re concerned about," Mr Drew said.

"Some of the key themes to emerge were the community’s desire for better protection from coastal erosion, improved and safer access to the beach, an enhanced natural environment and habitats for wildlife, and more opportunities for recreation.

“These new concept visuals aim to capture what people have told us, and this next round of consultation will help us to firm up a solid long-term vision and plan for managing and protecting the coast over the coming decades and beyond.”

People could complete online surveys.

Mr Simons-Smith said feedback would help officials and experts to create a draft plan.

“While we have broken the coast into three parts for the purposes of the survey, we do of course consider how management at one part can affect the coast as a whole,” he said.

It would be the city’s first coastal management plan designed specifically to support in adapting to the effects of coastal hazards and climate change.

Mr Simons-Smith said the process and lessons learned would help the council plan for other coastal areas.

The next round of consultation runs from today until March 29.

• More information about the Coastal Plan, including details about upcoming community workshops and survey links, is available online at www.dunedin.govt.nz/coast&community