BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF KAWAU ISLAND AND SETTLEMENT

(Operations Manual Section 7)

The location map shows Kawau Island on the east coast of the Rodney District.

Kawau Island is situated in the Hauraki Gulf in the Rodney District, approximately 8.4 kilometres from Sandspit and at its closest point to the mainland is 1.5 kilometres from Tawharanui Peninsula.

The topography of  Kawau can be described as hilly to steep with some relatively large flat to gently sloping areas, both elevated and in valleys. High cliffs face the open sea to the east and for the most part are impassable with few safe landing places for vessels on that coast. Inlets and harbours formed by drowned valleys (as the land tilted downward to the west and as the sea level rose following the last Ice Age) penetrate the more sheltered western shoreline. There are two large sandy bays at the flanks of the western shoreline.

Kawau has a land area of just over 2000 ha (5200 acres), 90% of which is privately owned, and 10% is public land administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

The low density settlement, distributed on the sheltered western shoreline consists of about 260 dwellings, mostly built close to the sea. For the majority of landowners their legal access is from the sea, which was the design of subdivision of the Island in the first decade of last century. Many landowners rely on private jetties for their access. There are about 60 permanent residents, the dwellings being mostly holiday homes and baches.

Kawau Island is in the Rodney District, and in the District Plans the Island is called the Kawau Island Zone, which is divided into two areas, a Settlement Policy Area and a Bush Policy Area. By urban standards development in the Settlement Policy Area is very low density, and in the (larger) Bush Policy Area there is very little development. The two policy areas are a product of participation by the Kawau Island community in developing the District Plans over the years, with emphasis upon preserving the special character of the Island by discouraging the formation of roads (there is no road network) and the introduction of motor vehicles, and recognising the potential to progressively restore the Island’s flora and fauna, integrated with some small scale appropriate sustainable land uses such as large bush lots where experience has shown owners will look after and enhance ecological values, and small scale  vineyards, or orchards, for fruit, nut or oil production for example.