Kawau residents furious at wharf closure plan
AT’s proposal for Sandspit repairs called a ‘bombshell’
Auckland Transport is under fire from Kawau Island residents after a bombshell announcement that it planned to close the island’s key mainland wharf for at least three months.
The wharf at Sandspit, used by launches and ferries to collect residents and property owners for the 8km trip to the historic island, needs repairs, according to AT. The Auckland Council company owns the wharf, and has allocated $400,000 to redeck and repile the structure.
AT staff told a delegation of Kawau Islanders and interested Sandspit parties that work would start next month and take at least three months.
According to AT, vessels which use the wharf could operate from nearby Sandspit Yacht Club while the wharf was closed.
However club officials say they were never consulted by AT and dispute the authority of the agency to effectively “commandeer” the private club, which operates a marina in the Matakana estuary.
Michael Marris, who owns a property on Kawau and represented the island at a meeting with AT and council staff, says there is “widespread outrage and resistance” to the wharf plan.
He said AT “ambushed” the meeting with its announcement that the wharf had to close.
Rodney Local Board chairwoman Beth Houlbrooke, who went to the meeting, said she had spent six months trying to set up a discussion with AT over plans for the wharf.
She accepted the structure needed repairs, but the work had to take account of all the wharf users, which included school parties heading to an education camp on Kawau, Department of Conservation staff employed at Mansion House in Bon Accord Harbour, commercial fishing boats and Coastguard vessels.
Houlbrooke called AT’s proposal a “bombshell”.
“They came out and said the wharf had to close in October. They had not raised this option with me or the local board or the community.”
She said the plan seemed “half-baked” and needed reviewing.
Marris said islanders urgently wanted to clarify that the wharf would remain open while repairs were done.
AT spokesman Mark Hannan said yesterday that the agency aimed to maintain pedestrian access during the project.
In a statement Hannan said: “We are planning to do the work in two stages, the first stage will take 6-8 weeks and we aim to have it done before the end of the school year, to make sure the wharf is fully functional before the busy summer period.
“Once the summer period ends we will come back and complete the second stage of work.”
AT did not respond to claims that it had “ambushed” wharf users or failed to adequately consult Kawau Islanders.