SOME 270 residents and visitors attended the recent community information forums hosted by Greater Taree City Council, regarding coastal management at Old Bar.
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Council says the well-attended forums provided an opportunity for members of the public to hear factual information about coastal erosion at Old Bar and the most likely successful engineered solution to stop that continued erosion.
Those present were also given the opportunity to speak with presenters and council staff after the forums.
GTCC has been advised by some of the most eminent coastal engineers in Australia that substantial private property and community assets at risk from coastal erosion and recession will unlikely be protected by a submerged reef alone, Laura Black, council’s executive leader corporate support said. (The off-shore reef option is preferred by the Old Bar Beach Sand Replenishment Group.)
In light of this, Ms Black said late last year council further investigated an engineered solution to protect beachfront assets from erosion and recession and the result of that work was again presented to the community at the forum.
The community was advised that an artificial offshore reef is unlikely to provide guaranteed engineering protection from erosion for beachfront properties and community infrastructure assets at Old Bar and that a rock revetment structure provides the most likely form of protection.
The community was also advised that this conclusion would be presented to the councillors in the form of a report to the May ordinary meeting.
“Both forums were emotionally charged, but we did expect that to be the case,” Ms Black said.
“The community is divided on not only whether we protect, but some also maintain the view that a reef is the solution for protection.
“I acknowledge we cannot get consensus on this matter, but nonetheless the elected body is required to make a decision and the recommendation of the professional staff is to protect the footprint of Old Bar as we now know it, by construction of a rock revetment structure.”
Last year, the community was advised that council and the State government were satisfied that sufficient investigation and resource has been spent on assessing the viability of an artificial offshore reef for protection of property and infrastructure and the staff report will now formalise that matter by recommending that no further investigation be undertaken in relation to this.
“At a loss of an average 3.5m each year for the past nine, the erosion at Old Bar is the most aggressive observed in NSW,” Ms Black said. “The matter before us right now is protection of property in Lewis Street and hard infrastructure in Pacific Parade or to plan for retreat.
“We are not reopening the debate on the merit of a reef for protection of these assets.
“We are starting to receive some feedback and questions following the community forums and we are compiling a question and answer fact sheet that we will maintain on the website for the public to access.”
Community members have been asked to participate in an online survey at taree.cc/coastal in relation to the Old Bar coastal management options, being protection through construction of a rock revetment structure or planned retreat.
Council says public opinion is welcome, but detail of property ownership in the area is required as some of the questions relate to contribution to cost and Ms Black says that in the future council may be required to make some decisions about maintenance if the option selected is protection.
“We have had some feedback that property ownership is not required for such a survey, but we maintain that it is important that only ratepayers’ views are relevant when questions regarding additional rating charges are asked.”
In conjunction with the engineered rock revetment, GTCC will investigate options for enhancing beach amenity at Old Bar.
Initially, funds are being sought to implement a sediment tracer study to better understand sand movement at Old Bar, so that beach enhancement options can be designed with greater certainty.
The Coastal Zone Management Plan discusses many options and consideration will be given to the most feasible once more is known about sand movement.
“Obviously groynes and reefs only work if part of an integrated solution and if there is sufficient sand in the system to trap in this location,” Ms Black says. “If the sediment tracing study finds that the majority of sand lost from Old Bar moves to a nearby location, then beach nourishment through sand placement may be a solution though the cost of such an option will ultimately determine whether this is feasible.”
For more information, please see the taree.cc/coastal web page.