KEY POINTS:
Many waterfront property owners worry about stormy seas biting chunks out of their land, but in a quiet west Auckland backwater, the sea is increasing land holdings.
A natural process in which silt carried by water builds up on the shore, has brought a windfall to partners in a Rosebank Rd industrial property development.
This week, the Crown approved their application for ownership rights on 1585 sq m of accretion land on their boundary in a mangrove-infested bay.
Rosebank Peninsula is a light industrial area, popular because of its links to the Northwestern Motorway.
The causeway built to carry the motorway across the bay has for more than 50 years blocked waves coming on to the shore from the Waitemata Harbour, said developer John Burrows, who worked for 30 years in a neighbouring scrap metal smelter business.
"So silt in the water has built up over time, but if the bay was open to the sea, a storm would have taken it away."
Mr Burrows said the accretion was revealed when it was decided to do a subdivision for small factory units.
"We found out the highwater mark went out further than originally shown on the title plan."
The owners had to apply to Land Information New Zealand to adjust the title boundary to include areas of accretion.
With land worth about $400 sq m, the application was worthwhile, said Mr Burrows and partner Tony Trubuhovich.
About 2000 sq m of land was taken from the subdivision as esplanade and reserve contributions by Auckland City Council.
Without the accretion land, the owners would have lost much more of its original land in reserve contributions.
Land Information defines accretion as a process which occurs where a water boundary has changed over time because of a "gradual and imperceptible accumulation" of land.
"We had to get approval from neighbours, the councils, Department of Conservation and we had all five parties sign it off except for the Auckland Regional Council," said Mr Burrows.
Mr Trubuhovich said: "The ARC wanted more evidence that it was a natural build-up, and not just from fill somebody had dumped years ago.
"We got a geotechnical report done and the soil test showed it was typical of seabed silt."
Mr Burrows said the development was started two years ago and had been costly.
"But it has been a success story after all that. We already have an international company wanting to set up on one of the seven sections," he said.
Last week, the ARC held an emergency council meeting to discuss the application and decided not to object.
Chairman Mike Lee said the council, which administers the coastal marine area, was left with little choice after the crown's agents signed off the application.
"There seems to be no consideration that the crown land in question could have been, or perhaps is, a part of a marine reserve and therefore forms, arguably, part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
"There was doubt about how natural this accretion was, so the ARC will insist on independent geotechnical advice, rather than just Linz reliance on the claimant to furnish proof."
