Aerial photo of Mount Maunganui. Photo / File
"Old school" fixes for the Mauao base track have been pitched by Mount people fed up with waiting for the Tauranga City Council to make a plan.
Local builders are ready and willing to muck in, but experts say it is just not as simple as arming volunteers with shovels.
It has been almost two and a half years since a section of the base track was damaged by a slip that brought down a large pohutukawa tree during ex-cyclone Debbie.
The council spent $82,000 planning and building a set of temporary stairs over the slip to reopen the full loop.
Tonkin and Taylor came up with five options for a permanent solution and the council chose to go with a plan to realign the track with a 350m fully accessible boardwalk along the beach, which it hoped would future-proof the track against future slip damage.
The plan received resource consent but in June it was put on hold after elected members baulked at new cost estimates thatwent from $2.2m to between $5.2m and $6.8m.
The council asked staff to look at other solutions. As of July, the council has spent more than $661,000 on investigations, including for the original plan.
But some in the community were tired of waiting.
In a council meeting yesterday Mount residents Mike O'Neill and Trevor Clist each presented a concept for reinstating the old track.
They said would be quicker and much cheaper than the council's plan, and could be done by summer.
O'Neill presented a plan developed by Andrew Hollis, a geologist and mayoral candidate, who did not believe the risk of future slips was as serious as the council had made out.
The idea was to cut a track into the bank, in the same way the rest of the track had been created. O'Neill said they would be happy to have the work supervised by iwi but they did not believe there were any significant archaeological sites at risk.
Clist had a wooden model of an idea he said was developed by a group of volunteers: A 2m-wide timber track over the slipped area with a 1.2m-high safety fence around the edge.
"We can do this manually using shovels and spades and maybe a barrow. Real old school style," he said.
Both said they believed there would be plenty of people willing to pick up a shovel and help.
Elected members were open to cost-saving options but warned it may be more complicated than the community understood.
Both Heritage New Zealand and Mauao's iwi owners would need to be consulted for a start, and the plan would need resource consent.
The two presenters said the council was the first step and they were willing to talk to the other parties.
Councillor Bill Grainger said the council had to ensure any solution was safe.
"Over a million people per year go around the Mount. If anything does happen the first thing is fingers pointed back at council."
Ben Pick, lower North Island area manager of Heritage New Zealand, told the Bay of Plenty Times that, as a Mount resident, he understood the frustrations.
The fix, however, was not simple.
Mauao was a wahi tapu site of cultural significance to Māori. It was also a historic reserve full of archaeologically significant sites and there was a high probability that cutting into a bank would disturb one.
There were strict regulations under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, and the process to gain permission for works would take three months.
"I don't think this is something some wheelbarrows and gravel on the weekend is going to fix. Unfortunately you're going to have to lift your pram up the stairs for a little longer."
He understood the engineering challenges were the most costly consideration in the fix.
A message left for Dean Flavell, chairman of Ngā Poutiriao ō Mauao, the board that leads the management of Mauao on behalf of its iwi owners, was not returned yesterday.
Carlo Ellis, manager of strategic Māori engagement at the council, said Māori considered Mauao a living being, a tupuna.
That was why talk of carving chunks out of the maunga could be a cause for concern.
He said the archaeological and cultural impact of any potential solution for the base track would need careful consideration and would need to be presented to the board and the iwi trustees.
Builders willing to help
Kent Jarman - Mount Maunganui builder, surf lifesaving legend and resident of more than 30 years - is disappointed at the length of time and cost to get a permanent fix for the base track.
The temporary stairs were making it harder for lifeguards on quad bikes to reach people injured on that side of the track, as they had to go the long way round.
"A couple of years ago we had a woman fall down the temporary stairs and break her leg. The simplest and most comfortable way to get her out was to stretcher her down to the beach and put her in an IRB. It added 35-45 minutes to the mission."
He said reinstating the Mauao base track should be as simple as digging into the bank and putting up some retaining walls. In his experience, it would could be done for less than $500,000.
"Six million dollars is absolute nonsense."
He was more than happy to give up a few weekends to help build a new track.
"With the right supervision, it could be done as a community project. I absolutely understand that iwi are the guardians of Mauao but the council still have to pay all the bills."
Builder Dave Shaw, a resident of Mount Maunganui for 59 years, was also keen to help and believed many other people would be as well.
"We have been helping plant that mountain for years ... We don't just take it as our mountain, we also put a lot back into it. So I think the council should listen to us."
Melissa Olsen, president of the Mt Runners and Walkers club, said they were also missing having a fully accessible track.
Some older members struggled with the stairs and for the last two years the club had not been able to include people using wheelchairs in its annual half-marathon.
"We would love to see a flat access around the base to open it up for more people."
Western Bay of Plenty District could have fewer councillors to vote for next election.