Coastal Hazards

Planning

The extended submission period for specified coastal environment provisions in the Proposed District Plan has now ended. To learn more about the proposed plan, go here.

Kāpiti residents are hearing a lot about coastal hazards and it is important people have the facts. Read our publication Challenges facing our coastline, which highlights the issues facing our community.

How we respond to the effects of increased sea levels and storm intensity on Kāpiti’s low lying coast will be a major focus for Council and the community in the next few decades.

All councils are required by the Government’s National Coastal Policy Statement 2010 to do a coastal hazard assessment with a 100 year timeframe. Kāpiti Coast District Council’s assessment was completed in August 2012.

The assessment projects where the shoreline along the Kāpiti Coast could be within 50 and 100 years. It shows what might happen to the shoreline in managed and unmanaged scenarios.

Around 1, 800 properties in Kāpiti, including most beachfront properties, are shown to be at risk of potential erosion or inundation from coastal hazards within 100 years. Up to 1,000 of these may be at risk within 50 years.

The new coastal hazard risk information will be included in Land Information Memorandums (LIMs) requested for affected properties. This is because information held on erosion or inundation (flooding) is required to be included in LIMs under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.

LIMs are property specific reports generated by councils on request, most commonly as part of a property sale process. Since 2004 it has been noted on coastal LIMs that coastal hazard management information is being reviewed.

The shoreline projections are hazard risk information only at this stage. However, under the Resource Management Act, councils must try to avoid new buildings and developments in areas of high risk from natural hazards. In line with this, coastal hazards are an important issue for the current District Plan Review, which looks at policies and rules for land use.

The 50 and 100 year coastal hazard assessments were undertaken by Coastal System Ltd using best practice methodology, and peer reviewed by leading coastal science experts.

With regard to managing the risks to existing buildings and infrastructure, the Council has set up a project to develop response options with the community. If you would like to be part of a local working group on these issues, please contact Alison Lash at alison.lash@kapiticoast.govt.nz

To find out more about the shoreline projections see the FAQs here.