Coastal residents should never be allowed to build structures on public waterways without, at the very least, their proposals being notified for public input.
But that’s far from the reality of what’s been happening along our very precious Herne Bay waterfront.
The 'public waterway', where the trouble has arisen, is known as the Coastal Marine Zone (CMZ) and it belongs to all of us. It is that area of water that extends from the coastal high-water mark (technically it's known as Marine High-Water Springs or MHWS) in front of coastal properties, out 12 nautical miles to the edge of the Territorial Sea.
The MHWS is a dividing line between the land and the sea under empowering legislation – the Resource Management Act and the Marine and Coastal Area Act. The CMZ is an area that is primarily dedicated for public recreation and definitely not for the exclusive use of coastal property owners.
If local residents want to build a ramp or a boatshed that intrudes into that public area, they need to get a Resource Consent. By approving non-notification, Auckland Council is indicating that in each instance it is the property owner’s right to do what they want on the waterfront.
Resource Consents can be 'non-notified', partially notified or require full notification; in a non-notified decision, council would make a decision without any public input, or publicly notified, where everyone has the right to make themselves heard before any decision is made on the application.
Two applicants from Herne Bay before the Auckland Council didn’t want their proposals for a boatshed or ramp notified because they knew there would be a public furore about the use of the CMZ.
Resident Application No 1 is by IIowa Limited of 8 Wairangi Street and has been before the council for more than three years. Currently on hold, the applicant wants to build a 90 square metre boatshed and boat ramp within the CMZ. Opponents of the application say the size of the boatshed “would disrupt the public’s use of the bay.” Council ordered this application to be publicly notified.
In Marine Parade an application has been filed for a “non-notified consent” for a shed and jetty in the CMA. This application seeks to build a 13m x 6.3m jetty, a 2m-wide ramp and a 4.3m storage shed.
The Waitematā Local Board is seeking full notification of this particular application.
“The local board is not supportive… of building in the Coastal Marine Zone…
“We have no desire to set a precedent that enables a proliferation of privately owned structures on New Zealand’s coastline… a private structure appropriates space that should be clearly and fully public,” said the local board.
Close to the Ilowa application in Wairangi Street, is an existing boatshed at the bottom of Cremorne Street where recent activity has resulted in 16 large poles being driven into the ground adding a large deck to a consented boatshed.
Following complaints from locals, and a query to the Licensing and Regulatory Compliance team at Auckland City, HBRAI has now been assured that this structure has been rebuilt within the same footprint as a previously approved deck, the work is defined as “reconstruction work” and is therefore legal within the existing law relating to the CMZ.
We say that because of the interest in ensuring all structures in the CMZ comply with the law, owners planning to do any work in the area should advise the City of their plans.
Local barrister Gary Gotlieb who has lived in Herne Bay for more than 30 years, and who also is a Thames Coromandel District Councillor, says there is little doubt about the need for all structures proposed for the CMA to be publicly notified.
“Notification and ratepayer input is necessary for open justice and is integral in decision-making especially where there is the Coastal Marine Zone that sets out criteria that needs to be followed," he says.
Our association will keep Ponsonby News readers fully informed as to the outcome of these proposed structures. Our association is determined to retain the Coastal Marine Zone for the use by everyone.
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Published: April 2024