General Business
- Many residents raised their concerns about the 3 page letter that was sent by the Mayor to 1400 ratepayers in Broulee and Mossy Point accusing the Association of distributing "factual inaccuracies". It was explained that all figures provided within the BMPCA newsletters have come solely from official Council documents. The Association Executive organised a meeting with the Mayor on Wednesday 16th to raise our concerns about these accusations. (See below for the outcome of that meeting)
- It was decided to decline the offer of the Eurobodalla Business and Community Forum to join their party.
- It was agreed that the Association should accept the invitation from the General Manager of the shire to participate in a process of improving the Communication with the Community.
- It was noted that the Broulee village signs need replacing and that we should get some created for Mossy Point as well.
- The water pooling on Coronation Drive near the North Broulee Toilets after rain was raised with Council staff.
- Policing of the no Dog signs (Rangers, Dog rules are very complex)
- It was noted that the Fallen Tree on the reserve in Mossy Point had been cleared from the path
- It was noted that the bridge work has result in the bins being removed from Candlagan Creek carpark.
- There was agreement that the Community Association should run the New Years Eve Sandcastle Competition. Broulee Surf School to Sponsor
- Landcare held a planting at Skatepark today Friday 18th
- Approve $1000 expenditure for printing material
- A resident suggested that Council should consider following Canberra Cat containment laws for new developments. (http://www.environment.act.gov.au/cpr/conservation-research/cat_containment).
Richard and Lynn Noted previous minutes
Treasurers Report
General Account $5,187
Pathway Account $26, 033
Warren Sharpe Director of Infrastructure.
Warren gave an insightful overview of the excellent work his team is doing around the Shire.
- Warren gave an overview of the major works that the Council has been involved with including overseeing many upgrades on the Kings Highway on behalf of the RMS. You can read more on the Infrastructure Priorities on the Advocacy Section of the Council website
- Warren provided an overview of the Councils involvement with South East Australian Transport Inc as a means to advocate for the development of progressive plans for the upgrade of Kings Highway. He noted that Canberra Tourism is critical for the Eurobodalla Shire and he noted that Broulee has many members of our community who are from Canberra. He encouraged Broulee residents to support the SEATs organisation and Council in this process.
- Warren gave an overview of the construction of a wheelchair accessible viewing platform at South Broulee. In the Council rate variation proposal, $40,000 was allocated for this project. Construction would be done after Christmas. It was noted in the meeting that it would be good to extend the existing Bike racks near the platform as the current ones are always full. The Community Association would like to thank local resident Greg Howlett who has been championing the project.
- Extension of the dirt path to North Head Camp ground is not part of Councils main pathway program but they would like to help if possible. The major issue is that it would classed as a major ground disturbance and thus would require an archaeological and fauna survey which would take 6 months and could cost $10,000.
- There are no plans for constructing an off road cycleway on North Head road around the bends. The cost would be prohibitive
- Review of other major projects – Rosedale-Guerilla Bay Sewerage Scheme is going ahead to accommodate the major developments which are planned at Rosedale.
Candlagan Bridge Replacement
Russell Burke – Senior Projects Engineer
Mark Cutting – Project Engineer
Initially Council tried to repair the bridge but found the concrete cancer was too severe and the bridge needed replacing. The project budget is $2.5 million. Council was able to secure $2.22million by Federal and State Governments. Council contributed the remaining $0.28 million. One of the common community questions was about timing and why Council chose to commence the construction before Christmas. This was explained because the external funding must be used within a particular timeframe and if work commenced after Christmas there was a risk that the external funding may not be able to be fully utilised.
The new bridge was designed by Snowy Mountains Engineering Authority (SMEC). Tender for construction was won by Nelmac and supervised by Council.
Council have chosen to build the temporary pedestrian bridge on the upstream side of the bridge. Feedback from the community was that the eastern side of the site was difficult pedestrian access because of the muddy sections after the rain.
Council had contacted the local schools to try and organise a field trip to the site and to encourage our future Engineers.
There have been some delays in commencing the work including:
- Due to wet Weather delays
- Contractor has been delayed on previous job
- Environment approvals for the temporary footbridge have taken longer than expected due to the bridge being in a marine sanctuary.
- Existing bridge piles are in different place than original plans so the new bridge plans needed refinement.
- The Contractor commenced work on site Monday 14th September and first step is to build the temporary foot bridge.
Given the delays to commencing work it may be possible that the bridge will not be completed before Christmas. Council Engineers are available to discuss any issues you have and Russell has agreed to provide regular updates and will attend the next Community Association meeting.
Next meeting is Thursday Evening November 26th which will be our AGM.
34 Attendees and 7 Apologies
Note: As with each of our newsletters, every effort has been made to ensure that information in this newsletter is factually accurate. Lindsay Usher the Head of Planning at Council said he had received numerous phone calls from readers of this newsletter complaining about the accuracy of the content. We haven't received any complaints directly so I would encourage you to please contact us if you have a concern about anything and I will send out a correction.