Moffat Beach seawall repair project

The Moffat Beach seawall was damaged during February’s severe weather event.

Project scope

An investigation found that approximately 80m of the seawall had been damaged which included slumping of a 30m section of the wall and cracking in other sections.

The beach access ramp and nearby beach stairs was also within the failure area of the wall and are unsafe.

An independent engineering report recommended immediate short-term work to make the slumping section of the wall safe again for our community, while a carefully designed long-term repair solution for the reminder of the damaged section is developed, including replacement of park infrastructure and beach accesses.

These temporary repair works are complete and plans are progressing for major repair works.

The new temporary wall looks different to the existing wall as it is wider with a gentler slope. It’s only temporary and this isn’t the finished product.

Project overview

Plans for major work to repair the Moffat Beach seawall are progressing. These works will include reinstating the beach access, access ramp, and beach shower as well as further landscaping in the vicinity of the seawall. Work is expected to progress pending the outcome of an application for funding from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.

Boat ramp

The beach access ramps, and stair accesses will remain closed as these need to be completely rebuilt.

The ramp doesn’t have a solid base as it is sitting on piers. This means we can’t easily repair the void with concrete as it will collapse as soon as there is erosion again underneath and in front of the ramp.

We have to wait for the outcome of our application for funding from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority before we can do this.

In the meantime, we are working on an alternative informal slopping access location.

Beach

The beach access stairs and shower were removed during the emergency work and will be rebuilt during the major works, likely to occur later in 2023.

Norfolk pine tree removal

Unfortunately, as part of the emergency repair work, two nearby Norfolk pines needed to be removed.

We know the trees along the Moffat Beach foreshore are extremely important to our community, and every scenario was explored to keep the trees.

However, the seawall needed to be made wider and the soil at the top of the wall needed to be removed to make the seawall 100 per cent safe for our entire community.

This encroached into the structural root zone of 2 nearby Norfolk pine trees.

If the structural root system is damaged, it’s highly likely that in future high wind or storm events these trees would fall landward across the footpath, park and car park potentially causing severe injury, even death, to any person nearby. Council was not willing to take that risk.

A risk assessment was carried out by an arborist against the Australian Standard AS4970:2009 protection of trees on development sites.

More shade trees will be planted as part of the final work later in the year.

For further enquiries, email [email protected]