The wharf, which was built around the turn of the 20th century by the Otago Harbour Board, has fallen into disrepair.
Ownership of the wharf was transferred to the Dunedin City Council in 1989.
The council had not carried out maintenance work on the wharf since then because it was unaware it owned it until 2010.
In a report dated July 11, council parks manager Lisa Wheeler recommended the wharf be "removed as soon as practicable".
The report references an independent engineer's assessment which said the wharf structure was "beyond repair and should be removed".
"Approximately half of all piles on the wharf have completely rotted through. The remainder are also severely rotten. The total collapse of the wharf may be imminent," the engineer's assessment said.
The report is to be presented to the council community development committee meeting next week, when a decision will be made on the wharf.
Aramoana League secretary John Davis, who has led a campaign for the wharf to be restored, said he hoped it still could be done. If this was not financially viable, the council should replace it with a new wharf, Mr Davis said.
Restoring the wharf would benefit the whole Dunedin community and not just people who lived in Aramoana, he said.
In the council report, Ms Wheeler said the replacement cost would be $450,000.
There was "no way" the wharf could be restored and it was becoming a safety hazard.
Asked if the council should build a new wharf because of its failure to maintain the old one, she said: "It's not the council's fault that this has been missed.
"There is no one organisation that can take the blame [for not maintaining it]."
A decision on whether to replace the wharf would likely be made as part of a wider study into harbour access "some time in the next year or two", Ms Wheeler said.
She would present the report to the Chalmers Community Board meeting tomorrow before it goes to the council's community development committee for approval next week.
