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Collapse Issue 401 - 05 Sep 2016Issue 401 - 05 Sep 2016
Collapse  NEWS NEWS
Chamber opposes Bullion St carpark sale
First proposal submitted for Council land sale site
Buses stop for 24 hours
Broken Bay rec centre won't be sold, says Minister
Reserves campaigners attend council session
Work to start on former Tesrol site
Hotel sale surprises Patonga residents
Bridge named after Robert Payne
PCYC receives opera donation
Environment group plans biggest festival yet
'Sip and Say' gathering to discuss disability plan
Submission threshold 'affects small communities'
Comment on submission policy closes this week
Opportunity to comment on meeting frequency
Discounts for new appliances in no-interest loan scheme
Woy Woy Bay house open on Sustainable House Day
Trivia night for Mary Mac's
PCYC receives three awards
Four flats proposed for West St site
Tender awarded for Rogers Park work
Chemical 'cleanout' at Gosford
Council 'didn't tell me', says applicant
Seniors' housing given go ahead
Flag is 'reminder to live out democracy', says O'Neill
O'Neill to 'hold Wicks to account'
Information about peacock spiders
Fire brigade to work with students on hydrant poster
Bushfire preparations
New branding for registered club
ICAC finds against Chris Hartcher
Bushcare and dunecare groups active on the Peninsula
Driver charged with firearms offences
More martial arts
Music school moves
Collapse  FORUM FORUM
Hand drying needed at Woy Woy oval
Hotel blight on beautiful part of the Coast
Residents don't want a Gold Coast-type environment
Regional plan largely meaningless
Texting on horseback
Colourful characters fondly remembered
Collapse  ARTS ARTS
Fashion parade success
Woy Woy debut for duo
Collapse  EDUCATION EDUCATION
Two schools listed as overcrowded
Students develop professional skills
Students play at Opera House concert hall
School holds multi-cultural expo
Ex-students attend 60th anniversary
Students excel for school
Fathers' Day breakfast
Grant for sporting uniforms
Playgroup looks for members
High distinction for Mitchell
School spelling bee
Planting to celebrate tree day
Author visits
School fields 40 athletes
Collapse  SPORT SPORT
Woy Woy goes through to rugby union grand final
Lions Reserves make grand final
Pirates swim in great results
Wombats want members
Summer touch football starts
Peninsula players in singles final
Annual tournament at Everglades
Bowlers fight out minor singles title
Floorball at leisure centre

Residents don't want a Gold Coast-type environment

Peninsula Chamber of Commerce president, Mr Matthew Wales, is again calling for a boardwalk between the surf clubs at Ocean Beach and Umina Beach; "Chamber calls for Ocean Beach Masterplan," Peninsula News, August 22.

Mr Wales made similar calls in a media release he dated May 6, 2014.

Since the 2014 media release a great deal has occurred in relation to the management of the Ocean Beach-Umina beachfront.

The Coastal Zone Management Study involving substantial community consultation, was conducted at financial costs to the ratepayers which resulted in the publication and Gosford Council adoption of the Coastal Zone Management Plan in late 2015.

I would have thought it more appropriate Mr Wales' public calls for a beach masterplan and claims of a sub-standard beachfront, should have been raised by him to be addressed in that process.

Mr Wales' calls for a boardwalk along the dunes do not appear in either the study or the Worley Parsons Report adopted by Council.

What does appear in Appendix Five, Summary of Public Submissions, are repeated calls from residents and community groups to protect the dunes and not to construct any path in the dune parallel to the beach.

Mr Wales' recent calls for Federal Member for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks, to assist with funding comes at a time when interest alone on Federal Debt is running at $1 billion a month.

In July 2015, Ms Wicks already secured $55,000 in funding for dune works.

The dunes between the surf club have been, in some areas, over-run with noxious weeds such as prickly pear, tipuana tipu trees, asparagus ferns, bitou bush and lantana. The money is to be used for repair works and dune stabilization.

However, the cost of a boardwalk would be much greater than the current grant.

In my view, if such substantial sums are available they would be better spent on fixing the serious flooding problems in Umina's Streets, and the aging pipes carrying Umina's water supply which goes a dirty orange colour on a regular basis.

The dunes are currently zoned RE1 (public recreation) and in the management plan residents' interest groups called for the re-zoning of the Dune Area to E2 (environmental) to protect the flora and fauna.

To ensure protection of environmentally valued lands, Gosford Council commenced liaison with the Department of Planning and Environment to establish a new appropriate zone to ensure protection of the dunes. (P.344)

The beach reserve at Umina and Ocean Beach is part of, and known as Ettalong Beach Reserve 82759 Trust.

At the time the Gosford Council was appointed trustee of the Ettalong Beach Reserve for public recreation published in the NSW Government Gazette August 28, 1981, the sand dunes at Umina Beach did not exist.

The beach extended right up to the boundaries of beachfront residents' properties.

The reserve dune area itself at Umina Beach is a mere 100 feet wide from residents' boundaries to the surveyed high tide mark.

It was surveyed in the early 1800's and the deposited survey is still used and referred to this date.

Gosford Council engineers decided in the 80s to deposit seaweed wrack on the beach and bulldoze sand to commence the formation of the dunes.

The dunes are well on the seaward side of the mean high tide mark and outside the 100 foot width of the Ettalong Beach Reserve.

This means that heavy seas will continue to erode the dunes on a regular basis as we currently witness all too frequently.

There is no guarantee the dunes will survive total destruction in a heavy storm.

There is only a 34-year history of the dunes at Umina Beach.

It has not been a happy history.

During that 34 years, Gosford Council constructed a dune fence along the entire frontal dune of Umina Beach, despite old time residents predicting storms would take the dune and destroy the fence.

Council Officers disregarded their advice with good intentions of protecting the dunes, only to see the residents' predictions come true.

Thousands of dollars of ratepayers' money was washed into the sea, posts, rails and wire.

Council commenced to reinstall the fence higher up the dune, and residents again advised against this.

Gosford Council again disregarded community advice and again the entire fence washed into the sea.

Since then the fence was never completely re-built.

Should the dune be swept away, to the immediate hazard line in heavy seas, the assets on the landward side of the dune face destruction, along with any development in the reserve.

At Barrenjoey Rd, Ettalong Beach, The Esplanade is in danger of inundation and undermining in this location.

The sand eroded from the beach is clogging the channel at Half Tide Rocks, and regularly requires dredging.

Central Coast Council is spending a lot of money currently to do what it can to repair storm damage, in this location and along Umina/Ocean Beaches and unnecessary criticism is not helping.

There are many residents, community group members, and other interested visitors to the area who don't think Umina Beach is sub-standard, but like Pearl Beach is a beautiful ambient vista unspoiled by graffiti covered concrete paths, boardwalks and signs.

Those people disillusioned by a perception of a sub-standard beach perhaps might consider joining one of these groups to help weed and clean up the area and the existing wheelchair friendly viewing platforms.

Residents don't want Umina Beach turned into a Gold Coast type environment as is happening at Ettalong.





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