SANDRINGHAM FORESHORE ASSOCIATION E-NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2011-01-31

Dear all
We are pleased to provide you with a news update with photos of our Sandringham
beaches during these beautiful summer days and hope you are enjoying your time on the
beach.

Shoreline stability at Sandringham beach report 2010

We are pleased Monash University have taken an interest in our foreshore again. A project
was completed by the science student James Blythe under the supervision of Professor
James Peterson of the Science/Geography Department at Monash University on the beach
management and shoreline stability at Sandringham beaches, and includes a series of aerial
photos of our foreshore since the early 1970’s highlighting the cliff erosions are
predominantly as a result of the Royal Ave car parking and the old Royal Ave groyne.
For anyone interested in reading the report, just let us know and we will e-mail it to you in
PDF.

Bayside and Sandringham Foreshore – predominant southerly winds over summer

Prevailing southerly winds typical of this time of the year have now set in. We should see
movement of our sand to the northern beaches. It will be interesting to see what will
happen to sand movement at the Royal Ave and Southey St beaches since sand
renourishment 18 months ago, particularly over February and March, when we have
witnessed maximum erosion from the groynes in previous years.

Dr Vicki Karalis was recently honoured to be invited by His Worship The Mayor Cr Alex
del Porto and Councillors to a luncheon to acknowledge Community Leaders in the year of
‘Women in Local Government’

New Path to Southey St beach

We are pleased Bayside Council officers liaised and consulted with SFA on the planning of
this path last year. The works have already commenced and should be completed in the
near future. The site of this new access path makes good sense as it is located ½ way
between the Edward St beach steps (also known as Cathy Freeman steps) and Tennyson St
ramp. It has access to toilets (the only ones available to beach users apart from those
located at the playground opposite Tennyson St and at the Sandringham Lifesaving club.
The path uses part of the existing access closest to the grassy area at the end of Southey
Street and then skirts the edge of the grassy knoll and runs down the slope to a new set of
steps near the end of the Southey St groyne where minimal vegetation has been removed.
To our knowledge there were no objections to the construction of this path.
The SFA thanks Bayside Council for improving access to our local Sandringham beaches.
Hopefully the "temporary" fencing used to block the old path for the past 10 years will soon
be removed.
Offshore Power Boats races
On the weekend of 20th and 21st November 2010, there was a high speed boat race along
our Sandringham foreshore. The SFA received numerous complaints from locals and beach
users due to these races. Both days were hot and the locals said that they couldn’t go
swimming to enjoy the weather due to the very excessive noise level and pollution created
by the boats (by stirring up the water). They were also disturbed by one boat flipping over
during the race and fearing the driver was hurt. Furthermore, there were complaints about
the excessive noise level at their own homes created by these boats. Many Sandringham
locals and beach users clearly expressed they would not want to allow this event to take
place again; not because it is an event, but more because they found this particular event to
be disruptive to their lives (psychologically and physically). We have a number of events that
take place on our beach that we fully support – such as swimming races and carnivals. But
the nature of this event was truly quite disturbing.
As a result of these complaints, the SFA wrote to Parks Victoria, Ranger In Charge. Please
see their reply to Dr Vicki Karalis of SFA:
“Thankyou for your below email which has been forwarded onto myself as the Ranger In
Charge of East Port Phillip. As the local Port Authority, Parks Victoria both authorises and
supervises a large number of events on Port Phillip Bay every year. Events range in size and
complexity from small local yacht races to those of a much larger nature which are often of
international significance, such as the previous Volvo Ocean Race. Parks Victoria support and
encourage many varying recreational activities on Port Phillip Bay attempting to minimise
disruptions on other bay users.
As mentioned below in your email the event ran on the 20th and 21st November was the
Offshore Power Boats races. This event was approved through Parks Victoria's event
framework process with a major focus within the event permit being that the event
organisers needed to communicate the presence of this event to local stakeholders through
a variety of measures. Further to your complaints regarding the excessive noise levels Parks
Victoria was dissatisfied with the level of communication with the local stakeholders which
was undertaken in the area.
Any future events planned by these event organisers will take into consideration both the
lack of communication prior to the event and also the positioning of the event in such a
location to cause such excessive noise as was pointed out in your email.
Thankyou for your time,
Reece Taranto
Parks Victoria
Ranger In Charge”

Protecting our Reef system

On many occasions, the SFA have written about the importance of protecting our local reef
systems. Apart from supporting marine life, they play an important role in protecting our
foreshore from wave action and consequently cliff erosion. In fact, artificial reef systems
strategically placed along the Sandringham beaches could play an important role in
preventing beach erosion instead of using rock groynes which contribute to beach erosion
problems as we have witnessed first hand.
We were pleased to meet a long-term local resident Terry Reynolds who has put in hours of
work (about 20 hours per week) since January 2010 removing rubbish and rubble from the
reef systems at the beaches near Picnic Point (end of Jetty Rd) as well as restoring an old
blue stone path (as pictured below). Terry should be congratulated on his work. His work
has encouraged the growth of food sources such as seaweed in the area which has led to a
better inhabitant for marine life such as fish, sting ray, mussels and abalone.
It is illegal to remove shell fish from the reef system. Anyone who spots abalone poachers,
please call our local police immediately via 000, who promptly attend to catch these
poachers. The SFA regularly honor local residents who care and are committed to preserving
our local beaches.

Middens find at Tennyson St car park delays repairs and works on car park
Recent Indigenous midden finds during exaction of the Tennyson St car parking has recently
halted works. Council will update on this issue soon. The Midden area has been covered
with soil again and no longer visible. Unfortunately the works on the car parking have
prevented cleaning vehicles and tractors to access the beaches to clean the rubbish from
the beaches particularly near the cliff edges and groynes. Due to the voluntary efforts of a
number of locals, they have collected bags of rubbish on a regular basis to help out.


SFA congratulates Murray Thompson, re-elected as our local MP.

We look forward to further communications and meetings with Murray on our foreshore in
the near future.

Thank you

Vicki Karalis
President, Sandringham Foreshore Association

John Amiet
Chair, Sandringham Foreshore Association
Photographer and SFA website manager