It was designed to be something which would cover the city's central stormwater drainage outlet but also double as a spot people could visit to take in an elevated view along the beachfront, out to sea and back to the city. "I think it will draw people out there," she said. "I think people will love it."
Mrs Arnott said while a pier could have been built, it was recognised the cost would have been huge to ratepayers as the heavy easterly storm sea conditions which strike the seafront from time to time would mean it would have needed to be excessively strong. "We've all seen the harshness of those seas at times - they could undermine a pier."
She said people walking the seafront pathway would wander out to get a "different view" of the surroundings and added it would also offer people with restricted movement or in wheelchairs a feel for being on the beach. And when the big storms did arrive people on the platform would be able to lookdown and see the surf crashing by.
The viewing platform has been copping flak on social media and through texts to Hawke's Bay Today, with some describing it as falling short of expectations.
Mrs Arnott reiterated it had never been designed as a full pier - it had been built to cover a stormwater outlet and the opportunity to create a unique viewing platform was the silver lining to that, she said.
Both fishing or swimming from a pier into what was an unpredictable sea would pose safety issues.
"It is a viewing platform and people just have to give it time - I think it will become a real attraction and it adds to the Marine Parade development."
