The Dunedin City Council has proposed the remediation of a disused landfill, the redesign of a seawall and improved beach access for Ocean Beach.
A concept for a redesigned St Clair seawall. Photo: Supplied
Covering more than three kilometres from the seaside suburbs of St Clair to St Kilda, the area is a destination for visitors and locals but climate change hangs over the whole coast.
Concerns have only ramped up since the wider South Dunedin basin was inundated by heavy rain in 2015.
In an effort to combat climate change and improve the amenity of the area, the council will carry out massive projects over decades.
The council has launched its third round of consultation on the St Clair-St Kilda Coastal Plan.
Nothing was off the table.
The council's coastal specialist, Tom Simons-Smith, said the DCC was planning for the next century of use.
"The St Clair-St Kilda Coastal Plan is essentially that - we want to consider resilience within that 100 year timeframe," he said.
Some work would begin in the very near future and some would take place over decades.
The council divided the coast into the three well-known areas in Dunedin - St Clair, Middle Beach and St Kilda - and suggested a range of possibilities for each.
Those included a redesign of the sea wall and Esplanade at St Clair, excavation of a disused landfill and setting Middle Beach further back from the ocean, and changing the dunes and improving access at St Kilda.
What a set-back of Middle Beach could look like. Photo: Supplied
Whatever options were chosen by the public it would not be cheap, Simons-Smith said.
"Across the whole section of coast, if we were to look at it all and all this is to be at least considered it would be hundreds of millions."
The massive spending would be spread across generations and attempt to tackle the dual threat of climate change causing rising sea levels and more severe storms which scoured out sections of the beach already.
While the future impact of climate change on the area remained unclear, the community had shown it widely supported putting money into the area, Simons-Smith said.
"The Esplanade is highly valued by the city as one of the most popular spaces and is that gateway to other parts of that coast, so maintaining that space is critically important and of course it's going to cost money but I would say it's money well spent," he said.
DCC infrastructure services general manager Simon Drew said whatever was decided by the community and council, it would also have to adaptable for future generations.
A concept for how St Kilda beach could look like with improved access and dune management. Photo: Supplied
"It is important that anything we do now doesn't preclude what the community might want in future," he said.
The challenges for the area were immense.
Underneath Kettle Park, about 25 metres from Middle Beach, was a disused landfill which would need to be dealt with and on the other side of the coastal system sat the wider South Dunedin basin, which was inundated during heavy rainfall in 2015.
Planning for the future of South Dunedin would go hand-in-hand with the future of Ocean Beach, Drew said.
"Shortly we'll come to the community and talk about the vision and values of South Dunedin's future and we'll go through a very similar process. There'll be a number of options on the table and the two workstreams are very closely connected and linked."
Simon Drew and Tom Simons-Smith. Photo: Supplied
St Clair Action Group co-chair Richard Egan said he was impressed by what the council's staff put forward, but after 10 years of talk he wanted action from the city's elected arm.
"I think they need to put their money where their mouth is. I think the council staff have done a good job, now it's up to the people of Dunedin to have a final say and then our representatives - our councillors - to get behind it and support it," Egan said.
"We've been really impressed by the process so far. They've created this process of engagement with the community and stakeholders and it's been pretty impressive. The outcomes are going to be challenging for everyone, which is probably a good thing. They're going to cost a lot of money if we go for the whole hog but something needs to be done because it's just not good enough how it is."
Public consultation on the proposals opened today and runs until 29 March.
The council would be hosting public workshops to get feedback as part of the consultation.
Funding for work would then be decided at future council planning meetings.
