Progress on the planned development of a 100-metre long floating pontoon wharf along the river edge adjacent to Quay Street in Whakatāne was reported to the Whakatāne District Council’s Projects and Services Committee last week, together with proposed harbour entrance dredging options to be trialled next summer.
Harbour Development Project Manager Jim Finlay said the Quay Street Wharf is required to meet the demand for additional moorage in the Whakatāne Harbour and will also facilitate the replacement of the main Commercial Wharf.
“We currently have a waiting list for berths in the harbour, and in the short-term we also have to accommodate the vessels which berth at the deteriorating Commercial Wharf, which is scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt from 2017. Without those additional berths, the commercial operators who use the main wharf will have nowhere to go during the reconstruction period, so we really need to make a start on the Quay Street structure as soon as possible,” he said. “A resource consent application was lodged for the project in December 2015, and since then we have provided additional information on several aspects of the proposed structure and made a number of changes to address the concerns raised through a cultural impact assessment.”
A key change is the reduction in the length of the proposed wharf from 160 to 100 metres, ensuring that it ends to the west of the Wairere Stream mouth and well clear of the Te Toka o Taiao Reef. The project would not require the river bed to be lowered, and the berths provided would be along the edge of the existing navigation channel. Mr Finlay said public access to the wharf would be available at all times, and expert advice confirmed that the structure would not adversely impact whitebait numbers or migratory behaviour.
“We await further information from Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa about the proposed changes and confirmation from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council as to when the consent application will be publicly notified.”
Meanwhile, the Committee approved two new dredging trials for the harbour bar and entrance channel, allowing bed scarifying and barge excavation to be carried out during the next dredging season. Bed scarifying will involve the use of the Northern Quest mussel farm vessel to undertake intensive harrowing of the bar on outgoing tides, which disperse the loosened sediment in the deeper water outside the bar. The second trial will involve the use of ‘spud piles’ for stability while a barge-mounted excavator lifts sediment onto the barge for offloading onshore.
The work will be funded from the existing harbour dredging budget.