Coromandel Development

[MarkMT 68]

Just stumbled across this that I hadn't heard about before.... http://www.tcdc.govt.nz/Global/Coromandel%20Harbour%20Facilities%20Development%20Partnership%20Proposal%20-%20Generic%20Doc%20-%20WEB.pdf

 

A proposal for a new marina and ferry terminal near the town and expansion of commercial facilities at Sugarloaf Wharf.

[Steve Pope 243]

Good time to get into the dredging business!!

[Muzza 18]

I think getting the locals to support a project like this will be an issue, I just can't see the sandal wearing tree huggers going along with it, let alone alone the local Iwi. About 20 years a marina was planned for a site closer to town but never got off the ground because of various community groups opposing the project. The current dump site for dredgings is about 50 nautical miles away meaning a 100 nautical mile round  trip for barges so unless a land based dump site can be found the project will be super expensive for the revenue that will be gathered and who knows because of the toxic nature of old mine tailings that have settled in the bay the requirement may be to dump even further out to sea.

[MarkMT 68]

From a Strategy Reference Document on the TCDC website, there was a public survey in November 2013 - 146 respondents...

 

 

Respondents were asked for their preferences based on the premise that future developments would have to be environmentally responsible, affordable and appropriate for use. The results show that: 

• 83% of respondents support the development of the harbour to allow for a fast
• ferry.
• 93% of respondents would support the development of a ferry terminal.
• 58% would support a vehicle ferry service.
• 92% would support charter boat berths.
• 91% would support recreational berths.
• 77% would support a marina.
• 75% would support leisure retail opportunities.
• 87% would support marine servicing.
• 81% would support marine chandlery retail.
• 85% would support Aquaculture servicing. 

Respondents were asked to identify their top three priorities for the Harbour

development. The responses show that respondents would prioritise as follows:

1. Commercial passenger ferry terminal (29%)
2. Recreational Berths (18%)
3. Third place is shared between Charter Boat berths (12%) & Aquaculture Servicing (12%)
4. Marina provision (10%)
5. Fifth place is shared between Vehicle Ferry Service (6%) & Marine Servicing (6%)
6. Leisure retail opportunities and Marine chandlery retail were in sixth and seventh place respectively.

68.7% (79 of 115 who answered this question) of respondents indicated their support

to dredge the harbour. A number of these 79 indicated that it was provisional on

completing the work in a responsible and sustainable manner.

 

29.6% (34 of 115 who answered the question) of respondents were against dredging

the harbour. Most of the comments associated with a no answer were around antimining;

there were a number of comments regarding the protection of the local

ecology and leaving the environment as it is; some commented that dredging would

not be economical or practical; and some were concerned that no development

should take place. 

 

[Jon 360]

The entrance to that proposal is in deep enough water and if they sifted the silt then used it for the hard areas they maybe able to use all the dredging onstite plus pay for the work with the brite yellow stuff that falls out the bottom ?

[John B 106]

Good time to get into the dredging business!!

 

Isn't the bloke who owns Westpark, Bayswater and Pine harbour in the dredging business?

[tuffyluffy 76]

Isn't the bloke who owns Westpark, Bayswater and Pine harbour in the dredging business?

 

Yup

[waikiore 398]

As is the ex owner of Pine Harbour

[Muzza 18]

The volume of dredging would greatly exceed the volume in the proposed reclamations. The Remember the dredgings are not only just the marina but also the approach channel.

The depth required for the project will be somewhere between 2.2 and 2.5 metres this is a conservative guess based on existing marina depths and draft of existing ferries plus a safety factor.This will means an approach channel will need to be dredged half way across the harbour out to the current 2.4 metre contour. Council can dream about these projects but getting it through their own resource management process will be a bigger hurdle.

[Muzza 18]

The volume of dredging greatly exceeds the volume of the proposed reclamation so inevitably about 50% of dredgings will have to be dumped elsewhere and disposal at sea is the most likely. The current dump site is off Cuvier but it remains to be seen if the authorities will deem this ok for dredgings of this nature  i.e. heavy metals and traces of arsenic

[MarkMT 68]

Do you have a preferred option (if they were to go ahead)? Is some kind of onshore processing feasible? What if anything are the implications of what is there now for the marine farming that currently exists?

[Muzza 18]

land based disposal has been tried but doing one truck load  at a time is an expensive exercise. Farmers were initially keen to use dredgings as fill but the slightly toxic nature with heavy salt content means the dredged material is quite infertile for growing crops or grass also a  dump site has to be close to the construction site to be effective. A truck carries may be 7 or 8 tonnes of material a barge such as the westham ones carries maybe 800 tonnes, that is a lot of truckloads.

[harrytom 642]

It cannot go ahead due to the oyster farms in the harbour,By dredging they will unsettle the heavy metalsasnic etc from the gold processing days.Besides it will ruin the quiet settlement as marina holders will insist on a major upgrade of the Thames/Coromandel Rd. 

[Muzza 18]

It cannot go ahead due to the oyster farms in the harbour,By dredging they will unsettle the heavy metalsasnic etc from the gold processing days.Besides it will ruin the quiet settlement as marina holders will insist on a major upgrade of the Thames/Coromandel Rd. 

Yes I had been thinking about the marine farms, there are several  oyster farms in very close proximity. This was part of the reason that the earlier marina application failed. That site was adjacent to the church on the Thames Coromandel road only a 100 metres or so from the main street of Coromandel. Probably a better proposition would be  deep water close to the Tekouma Bay ferry stop (not to be confused with Tekouma Harbour)