Minutes of TAPP Inc. Meeting July 4th 2023
Held at the Caloundra Power Boat Club
Welcome to Country – Ken acknowledged the traditional owners of the land on which we meet.
Guest Speaker – Division 2 Councillor – Terry Landsberg
Terry congratulated TAPP On our work and commitment to the Caloundra environment. Sunrise TV program came to the coast this morning to do a live presentation of the weather. A large number of community groups as well as Council officers and Chamber of Commerce attended it – apparently it was the largest crowd at a Sunrise Weather Live presentation.
Pumicestone Catchment Meeting – An important meeting with Moreton Bay Council, SC Council and several catchment stakeholders. The most recent Catchment Plan still needs to be endorsed which Terry will ensure happens in the near future. Resilient Rivers Presentation by John Howie. This group has funds available for which SC Council will need to apply. Jim Fewings from Dept. of Environment and Science – Developers are improving their compliance to run off regulations.
$4.5 million dollars have been allocated from State and Commonwealth disaster funds to repair the damage to the foreshore at TS Onslow. A project control group will be formed and SC Council will be the Project Managers. Dredging in the Passage is to continue. Dredging is going on north of Gemini Towers at the moment to move sand back onto the foreshore. This is an attempt to improve the profile of the beach – it will take time as the erosion is continuing along there due to the increase in the water level of the Passage. The old Caloundra Bar is continuing to silt up and TAPP is concerned about the storm water that is coming in to the Northern end of the Passage. Council is relying on Community input to inform them if there are any concerns with obvious water pooling. Contact the Council Office and they will get a positron out to clear the storm water.
Water Quality discussions are ongoing with Council and TAPP. As we are a biosphere, we need to provide water monitoring and data in regard to the sustainability of the region. Our Biosphere status is assessed again in 5 years so we need to be aware of issues and react appropriately. Ken mentioned the difficulty with getting information from the State Government departments. The review of the Local Government Development Plan will look at the storm water catchment and this will consider some refurbishment of the old drains. Carla asked whether, when this review is undertaken, it will consider that the northern end of the Passage is now basically an Intermittent Closing and Opening Lake or Lagoon (ICOLL) and is there a way that the storm water coming in can be appropriately filtered, not just for the litter?
There is a study on ‘triple receptors,’ like mini gross pollutant traps, which are attached to outfalls of storm water drains but they are expensive and there are a lot of storm water outfalls coming in to the Northern Passage. There are also studies in Germany into the micro plastics coming into our waterways in street runoff and the possibility of filtering these – again expensive and also requiring specialized expertise. Ken expressed an interest in meeting with the SC Council engineers to discuss the drains Denise commented on the difficulty in understanding the links between Council and State Government in regard to responsibility of different sections of our environment and perhaps where the interaction could be improved. Problems are easily lost in the different departments who are dealing with the issues. Many different departments are involved in the management of the coast.
Concern was expressed that there are now obvious problems with water quality at Bulcock Beach. The problem could quickly become dangerous and the beach would need to be closed at great cost to our tourist industry, therefore we need to act sooner rather than later. To close Bulcock Beach due to water quality issues would be a big call and it would be a call made by the State Government not SC Council. We need to continue to gather data to assess the situation, as it is now, recognise the trend and react appropriately. Gary mentioned that he feels that it is obvious that the water quality is going to suffer and that the storm water outflows need to be appropriately refurbished. It does not seem sensible to wait until the water samplings show that it has become toxic before we do something about it. Council needs to take a primary role in looking after residents and the beaches.
The State Departments advise Council and their reports are not showing any concerns.
Gerry asked whether, like Currimundi Lake, the old Caloundra bar could be opened occasionally. Apparently, this would entail declaring the Northern Pumicestone Passage an ICOLL and would need permission from the many relevant State departments. In the Northern Pumicestone Passage, there are 10-storm water outlets that need refurbishments.
Council has allocated money in this budget to address the Storm Water issues so the problems will be addressed.
Thanks to Cr Terry Landsberg for his time and support of TAPP
The general meeting began at 3.45
Member attendance: – 14 (as listed in attendance book)
Apologies : – 6
Motion put that the apologies be accepted –
Moved: Carla Seconded– Tony Carried
Motion put that the minutes of the April meeting be accepted as a true record.
Moved: Carla Seconded- Lynn Carried
Correspondence
If anyone is interested in any of the correspondence, please let the team know and we will send this on to you.
Emails in – 105
- Water Quality – email from Graham Webb SC Council Water ecologist.
- Emails from Peter Kamen regarding water quality
- Inter-Urban Break – Caloundra Residents Association (CRA) invitation to meeting
- CRA letter to SEQ Regional Plan Review Panel re the inter-urban break and the response from the review panel
- E-petition to Qld Parliament to save last property at 15 Oval Avenue from Compulsory Acquisition
<https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Petitions/Petition-Details?id=3914>
- SC Environment Council (SCEC) Draft brochure to hand out to the public
- SCEC – Protect our Regional Inter-Urban Break Alliance (PORIUBA) Fact sheet For the IUB
- Invitation to SCEC Annual General Meeting Sat 5th August 2,30 pm and Green Drinks – Thurs 13th July, 5-7 pm Club Hotel Namba – community groups get together and networking opportunity
- Two different emails from members of the public noting the changes in water in the Northern section of the Passage – requesting information about what is happening.
- Sunshine Coast Wildflower Festival 19th to the 27th August – booking are open for the various walks and these are often booked up quickly.
Emails Out 87
- General information to members and responses to emails coming in
Motion put that the correspondence be endorsed and accepted
Moved: Ken Seconded: Helen Carried
Treasurers Report
As the monthly statement from Bendigo Bank was not available to date, both June and July will be presented at the next TAPP Meeting in August
Matters for Information
Bells Creek Project – Ken
Continuing discussions with Gabrielle Schuster of Healthy Land and Water to review the project and begin new works.
RAMSAR Meeting – summary sent out to members
Formal minutes of the Pumicestone Catchment Meeting available to members
Matters for Discussion – All
Division 2 Meetings with Cr Terry Landsberg
At the last meeting TAPP brought up the issue with Council signage about dogs on the sandbars. – Council is working with Dept. of Parks and Wildlife to produce signs ready for migratory bird’s arrival. TAPP mentioned the problem with organising an event at a public Park. The process was far too difficult and prohibitive. Terry mentioned that this is an issue that Council needs to address. John, on behalf of TAPP, commended Cr Landsberg on his initiative to run these meetings regularly to give community groups an avenue of communication with Council. The responses to queries are always quick and relevant. Alan mentioned a problem that he would like John to ask about at the next meeting. Sand is building up on the fences along Golden Beach that Council workers have to clear away. . It would be a simple matter of redesigning the fence line at the Beach entrances so the buildup does not occur.
TS Onslow Seat
The Dawn Wilson memorial seat is ready to place at the TS Onslow site when the restoration works are complete. Council is reviewing the memorial plaque strategy at present. They receive several requests for memorial trees and plaques on benches.
Inter-Urban Break Update – John
Caloundra Residents association meeting last week had two council officers as guest speakers. They outlined Councils position in regard to the Northern Inter-Urban break. The State Government has final say about the use of the land in the Urban break. The draft plan will be presented to the public in August and we will have 30 days to respond. Tony and Narelle will be meeting with the Dept. of Local Govt. and Planning on Thursday morning about the SEQ Plan update. SE Qld Communities Association have written a 200 page report which they will present to the Dept.
SCEC have finalised the brochure which we can hand out to the public to encourage them to respond in August. As mentioned in correspondence Narelle from SCEC wrote a fact sheet or brief on behalf of the Protecting Our Regional Inter-urban Break Alliance (PORIUBA). This will be distributed to several SC community groups and in particular the members of the Caloundra Alliance, to enable these groups to prepare informed responses to Shaping SEQ Review Team in August.
Water Quality in the Northern Pumicestone Passage
As mentioned in Correspondence Graham Webb – SC Council Water ecologist, sent an email outlining where Council is looking at with the water quality issues in the Passage.
- Data and interpretation have been requested from Healthy Land and Water – should be available in coming weeks.
- Potential State Govt. led study to assess changes in ecological habitats and water quality
- Algal blooms –discussion with SC Council Public Health staff
- Storm Water infrastructure – will be reviewed in the upcoming Local Govt. Infrastructure Plan
- TAPP will meet again with Graham Webb – SC Council Aquatic Ecologist and a SC Council Water Ways Tech Officer, next week, Tuesday 11th on zoom.
TAPP also met with SC university staff who have expressed a willingness to be involved. Samples have been taken and analyzed by Peter. They are showing some algae which could be a problem and if not could quickly become one. We need more definite samples taken with a finely meshed net and we need these samples to be analyzed professionally.
Motion put that TAPP buy a finer meshed net to enable us to collect more relevant water samples. The net will cost approximately $300
Moved: Ken Seconded: Helen Carried
Around The Table:
Tony –Tony and Patricia regularly run a Grey Medallion Course that covers resuscitation techniques and water safety. It is a very informative and well run course.
Helen – Stonefish are becoming a greater problem in the northern area of the Passage with the construction of rock more walls
Tony reported that they have one stonefish sting a week in the past year- 90% of these go to hospital.
Helen is concerned for Ken as he is taking on the bulk of the work in TAPP. He is also storing all the TAPP equipment in his tiny garage. Helen is hoping that other members may be able to help with storage and more of the on ground work that Ken is involved in. Terry mentioned the same problem occurs in most associations – Suggested making a succession plan and marketing TAPP to encourage new members.
Denise- Agreed with Helen that the work Ken does is amazing. Marketing TAPP Is a good idea which we should think about.
John thanked all attendees and the Meeting Closed at 4.22
Next meeting will be held on August 1st at the Caloundra Power Boat Club
This meeting will be the AGM.