Tell Auckland Council to fix Kennedy Park Stairs of Doom!

Ilan from Castor Bay

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The popular staircase with large viewing platform, connecting J.F. Kennedy Park with Castor Bay’s beach, has been closed to the public since April 2017. They were severely damaged by a slip during cyclone Debbie which left the structure severely damaged and closed to the public. Work to repair and reopen the Kennedy Park staircase at North Shore's Castor Bay was set to start in early March 2019 according to Auckland Council website!

Local Board Chair George Wood said in 2017 that the end is in sight for locals who have been waiting patiently for staircase access to the beach to reopen but nothing seems to happen. “It’s not always obvious why things take as long as they do"...

Following the damage, Auckland Council's community facilities branch asked Riley's Consultants to do a preliminary geotechnical inspection on the site. "Riley's Consultants concluded that the depth of the failure of the slip is relatively shallow, at less than one metre." The consultants recommended a structural inspection and this was undertaken in August 2017. The report found the stairs had been "severely damaged" but the foundations were in good condition. To replace the staircase would cost approximately $471,000, including physical works, design, consent and project management.

In a post on Facebook, the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board said it had received a report into the stairs but was waiting on a geotechnical report into future slip risks and slope stabilisation requirements before approving repair works. "This report will better inform us of the real cost of reinstatement, as well as how safe it will be and how resistant the works will be to future storm events." The board expected the report in the first few months of 2018 and hoped to approve the works in autumn 2018. From there, the job should have been "tendered and approved by the end of spring 2018, and work start and conclude during the 2018/19 summer season."

Chairman Grant Gillon said it was positive the work had been added to the list and was now in the system. John Crews, the chairman of the World War II Preservation Society in the park, said the absence of stairs had roughly halved the number of park users. "People know they can't go down the beach to walk, You've also got the 'keep-fit people', and there's a lot of them," Crews said. "Before the stairs washed out, from 7am till it was getting dark you've got the keep fit people, you've got dog walkers."

Call Auckland Council to act now and fix the Stairs of Doom for the benefit of the public!