Tauranga Bridge Marina is applying for a coastal permit to construct a rock wall breakwater around its northern perimeter.

More than 40 people support the proposal and there are a handful opposing it, including the Port of Tauranga Ltd, and the NZ Transport Agency.

Tony Arnold and Graeme Butler.

'We are addressing some of the more serious concerns raised by some of the objectors and expect to have some pre-hearing meetings to address their concerns,” says marina manager Tony Arnold.

During Tony's 14 year tenure as manager, he's seen northerly storms cause significant damage to boats and the marina.

'Luckily to date no-one has been seriously injured or worse,” says Tony.

'We have put together a dedicated group of staff and volunteers who have put their names on a list should we need help in a bad storm, tsunami or another disaster – but we dread the day we get a northerly storm of cyclone strength in the hours of darkness.”

The bridge marina is protected by a 3.6m wide pontoon around the northern extent of the marina. It was intended to reduce the wave height within the marina, but it has not performed to expectation.

The shortcomings were pointed out by Gemini Galaxsea skipper Graeme Butler at the original marina consent hearings and before the permit proposal was formally lodged on November 5.

Figures for waves driven by northerly winds were not provided in the engineer's report that asserted that waves of more than 70cm were not possible.

When Graeme told the hearing his 60ft ketch, moored in the town reach near where the marina was to go, had been seen to pitch its bows to deck level in incoming seas; his qualifications were challenged.

After accusing the engineer of deliberately misleading the hearing, Graeme says he was stopped and the consent was originally granted.

'Since the marina was built there has been trouble during heavy weather from the north,” says Graeme in his Waterline magazine column, Butler's View, published this week:

'As a result of the flawed resource consents process and the granting of the application, berth users risk their vessels, but there is nowhere else to put the boats. Without the management and staff, who are brilliant in my opinion, the Tauranga Bridge Marina would be almost unusable for a vessel like Gemini Galaxsea. Something should be done. There is too much current and not enough protection from the northerly weather, two simply obvious conditions to any skipper with experience in the area. I wish that the engineers had done a better job designing this marina, that the consents process hadn't been blinkered to the obvious problems and that they can now, get on with getting a solution.”

Tauranga Bridge Marina last sustained damage in a northerly storm in 2006.

Vessels at the marina have been damaged in storms, breaking mooring lines, or even breaking loose. The marina structure itself has been damaged with connecting bolts between the pontoons being broken as well as pontoons incurring damage.

A rock breakwater will protect the marina in northerly storms and future proof the marina from ongoing Port of Tauranga expansion, says Tony.

The Port of Tauranga plan provides for an additional sitting basin directly north of the marina and dredging to 12m below current depth immediately north and west of A Pier.

A rock wall will block propeller wash from flowing through the marina from the nearby operation of large cargo ships and tugs, and allow the port to carry out future proposed activities without restriction.

The traditional rock wall is the preferred choice, being environmentally, aesthetically, and economically the best option, says Tony.

The application to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council allows for the current floating breakwater to be moved to the south by about 20 metres so that the Tauranga Bridge Marina boundary to the north remains the same.