Time to plan for coastal hazards

Eurobodalla Mayor Liz Innes has moved to reassure residents living in identified coastal hazard areas that Council will not change residential zones or force people to leave their homes.

New mapping shows that 1,000 coastal properties in the Eurobodalla could be at risk of inundation while 150 are potentially facing coastal erosion.

The coastal hazard assessment was first introduced to the community at a series of workshops and public drop-in sessions held during October.

Mayor Liz Innes said the sessions signalled the beginning of a process to work with property owners and the community to determine how coastal hazard risks should be managed.

“It’s important the community understands that Council has a legislative requirement to plan for coastal hazards,” Clr Innes said.

“What we learned from the sessions and from feedback since is that owners of potentially impacted properties are concerned that their property could be re-zoned.

“This is a genuine concern but I want to reassure property owners identified in the coastal hazard areas that Council will not change residential zones or force people to leave their existing homes.

“We don’t need to rush to a solution and we would be wise to use the time we have to come up with the best long-term solutions for making our beaches and coastal properties more resilient to coastal hazards.

“We will come back to the community early next year to start discussions about which solutions are the most feasible and acceptable for the whole community.

“These measures might include engineered hard structures such as rock walls, soft engineering like constructing new sand dunes, or pumping sand onto beaches to address erosion, known as beach nourishment.

“We’ll also look at things like planning and development controls for the built environment that consider coastal hazards in the same way we do any other natural hazard, such as bushfire or flooding.”

Prepared by the University of NSW Water Research Laboratory, the Eurobodalla Coastal Hazard Assessment shows how hazards such as erosion and coastal flooding will impact beaches, public infrastructure and private properties.

The report replaces Council’s temporary coastal hazard mapping and according to Clr Innes is good news for people who wish to develop in coastal hazard areas.

“The removal of the temporary mapping means people will no longer be required to pay for their own coastal hazard reports,” the Mayor said.

“This will not only save people time and money, it will provide certainty in respect to the types of hazards to expect at a site.”