Repairs Of Unsafe Jetty On Hold For Geotechnical Report

Wednesday, 29 January 2025, 9:31 pm
Article: Maia Hart - Local Democracy Reporter

Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor has told the region’s road boss to hold off on repairs to the closed Waitaria Bay jetty until more investigations are completed.

Marlborough Roads transport recovery manager Steve Murrin had told a council committee he thought a geotechnical analysis was needed to ensure a new jetty in the same place would be “resilient”.

The mayor said she did not want the council to authorise spending $40,000 on repairs of the jetty, which closed earlier this month, if it was just going to be demolished a few months later anyway.

The Waitaria Bay jetty, in Kenepuru, was closed due to safety concerns as it had “deteriorated significantly” since its last inspection in mid-2023.

It was damaged in the August 2022 storm after a landslide lifted the section of the jetty closest to land and shunted part of the jetty forward.

At an assets and services meeting on Tuesday, Murrin told the committee it would cost about $40,000 to make repairs to the jetty so it could be reopened.

Meanwhile, Marlborough Roads had applied for a resource consent to build a new jetty.

But submitters had raised concerns about a proposed rock groyne design and silt build up in the bay – which made it hard to use the jetty in low tide, Murrin said.

“[The] indicative replacement programme was for construction to start around May [or] June with about a two to three-month build and then the existing jetty would need to be demolished, prior to construction of the new jetty, if that is where we decide the jetty needs to be replaced,” he said.

“If investigations determine a longer jetty is required additional funding will be needed and this will need to be brought back through committee. We likely need to do some geotechnical investigations to ensure a jetty can be built in this site so that it is resilient to further land movement.

“We know the community want it built back in that site.

“I think we need to do that groundwork first, to make sure we are making the right decision building it back in that spot, so that might slow the process down but I think it's important that we get that right.”

He said they were leaning towards doing the repairs, expected to cost $40,000, so the jetty could reopen in the short term.

But Taylor asked for more clarification on the expected time frame.

“While I certainly agree that we should open up that jetty, if possible, we also need to understand how long it's going to be utilised,” she said.

Murrin said he was going to speak with contractor WSP after the committee meeting to find out what geotechnical work was needed to make sure they were comfortable with the design and its location.

“To get all that is probably going to take up to six weeks,” he said.

They could then need to alter their resource consent which could push out the start of construction to August or September, instead of June.

Taylor said she did not think the council had enough information yet to make an informed decision and authorise spending money on repairs.

Deputy mayor David Croad said he agreed with Taylor.

The council therefore told Murrin to report back to a council committee as soon as he had more information so they could decide whether to spend money on repairs.

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