KEY POINTS:
A group's four-year campaign to build an artificial reef at Orewa has raised $100,000 to prepare a detailed bid for resource consent.
Orewa Beach Charitable Trust spokesman Zane Taylor said the milestone in its campaign had been achieved due to overwhelming community support.
The aim was to restore a wider sandy beach for Orewa.
Interest in the idea had grown with storms like those this month ripping out chunks of the beach and currents washing away sand.
"The council are cleaning up damage now and sand renourishment is an ongoing cost for the community," said Mr Taylor.
"Our plan is to hold the beach in place with a reef that dissipates the energy of waves offshore and slightly rotates waves to work against the sand drift down the beach.
"It will build up a buffer zone of beach between the back of the beach and the water and we are looking at getting it between 80m-140m at the widest part of the bell curve."
Mr Taylor said the trust had now decided it was more efficient to expand the resource consent application to include multiple reefs.
This would save preparing further consents should the community later want protection for the whole length of the beach.
It was hoped to finish gathering scientific information in time to put in an application by November.
The trust was happy for the bid to go through a public hearing by the Auckland Regional Council and Rodney District Council.
If consent was granted, about $1.3 million to $1.5 million would be needed for the first reef.
The Rodney council had granted $60,000 to allow the trust to prove the feasibility of the project.
Mr Taylor said the first reef would be about 150m out from the surf club and would be fully submerged. He said a study showed that for every 10,000 people who used Orewa Beach, $500,000 went into the local economy.
BENEFITS
The Orewa Beach Charitable Trust says the project's many benefits include:
* Increased dry section of the beach allowing for more beach activity through all tides.
* Creation of a stable environment for marine life.
* Opportunities for education, diving and snorkelling.
* Quality waves for various surfing activities.
* Boosting tourism and the local economy.
