2020/21 Quarter 3

April 2021

Welcome to our third quarterly report for Year 3 of the SRA.

Projects

The SFPO NPC has three projects funded by the SRA levy:

River, Spit and Beach

Roads

CCTV Cameras

The SFPO NPC also actively engages in obtaining additional external funding to uplift and improve the Sea Vista residents’ infrastructure. We have completed one project, funded by the Kouga Wind Farm Community Trust, the Pathway linking the Village CBD to Sea Vista, starting on Kansies Road and ending on the northern perimeter of the Industrial Sites.

We have submitted a proposal to the Kouga Wind Farm Community Development Trust for Phase 2 of the Pathway, to extend this Pathway through the Industrial Sites and along Tarragona Road to God’s Acre.

River, Spit and Beach

Long Term Solution (Phase 2)

• The long term solution includes a groyne field and some 1 million cubic metres of sand placed on the 2,7km length of the beach from the river mouth to the southern end of Main Beach, which will result in widening the beach by some 40 metres. Ongoing sand nourishment will be required to maintain the beach.
  The current status of the Long Term Solution (Phase 2) project is as follows:
  • Advisian completed the preliminary design of the long term solution for restoring our river, spit and beach in February 2018. This is available on our website.
  • DEDEAT requested that additional modelling be done to assess the impact of the long term solution on the northern side of the river mouth and the beaches north of the river mouth.
  • Advisian have completed the additional modelling necessary to address DEDEAT’s request in 2020, together with amendments made to the long term solution resulting from input from various other parties, including the surfing community. The additional modelling is based on new surveys of the bay, beach and estuary.
  • CES completed a final round of public participation in February/March 2021. They have responded to all submissions, and is in the process of finalizing the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), after which it will be submitted to DEDEAT for approval.
  • The long term solution is shown in the picture below. The beach has been divided into 5 areas, which form the basis of phasing the project i.e. Areas 1 to 5 are Phases 1 to 5. Implementation of these phases will be undertaken as we accumulate sufficient funding to afford each phase.

Emergency Plan for the Spit

The Spit breached four times in 2020. The last breach was the most serious. The Municipality has completed the construction of a rock revetment along the Spit’s length, up to a point roughly in line with the Pump House. The SFPO NPC and Riparian HOA have placed sandbags along the canal walls of several properties and public open space in the Pump House’s vicinity. The full length of the Spit is now protected by a rock revetment. It is clear that the long term solution’s implementation needs to begin as soon as possible after DEDEAT approves the EIA application for the long term solution as proposed by Advisian. The emergency repairs to the Spit have been paid for by the Municipality. The sandbags have been contributed by the SFPO NPC, and the Riparian Home Owners have placed and filled the sandbags at our own respective costs. The breach/Ski canal exit has made a significant northwesterly shift and is now entering the river in a similar position to the pre-breach environment. The Riparian HOA have deposited a significant amount of sand to the north of the new rock revetment. This sand is intended to act as a sacrificial buffer to help protect both the revetment and canals over the winter period.

Roads

•Arterial Roads
The arterial roads we specified in the SRA Business Plan include the Village Entrance, Lyme Road North and South, and St Francis Drive from Lyme Road north to Assissi Drive, and Assissi Drive from St Francis Drive to the Municipal building entrance.
•Village Entrance
We completed the Village Entrance project a year ago. Pam Golding is maintaining the gardens on the Village side, and The Links on their side.
•Village Roads
The Municipality, previously, as part of their contribution to the restoration of the roads infrastructure in the SRA demarcated area, re-surfaced some 40% of the arterial roads included in the SRA Business Plan, i.e. St Francis Drive from Lyme Road North to Assisi Drive, and a section of Lyme Road South. This work was extended further to Harbour Road, a further 0,5km into Santareme, 0,5km up Tarragona Road, and two Sea Vista streets. The dip in the road between Lyme Road North and the Fire Station was also repaired. The SFPO upgraded the stormwater pipe in the dip near the United Church.
•The Municipality had delayed the road surfacing work they had planned for the current year 2020/21) due to COVID uncertainties, but have now commenced their road re-surfacing, which will include Lyme Road South, St Francis Drive from the Lyme Road North intersection to Sea Glades/Sunset Drive intersection, and the remainder of Tarragona Road up to the R330.

Car Parks

•The George Road Car Park was paved with the assistance of donations from two property owners some time ago. More recently a road was demarcated for access to the beach for repairing revetments. It is located on the southern side of the car park. Bollards have also been installed to protect the walkway onto the beach from the car park.
•Anne Avenue Car Park was renovated some time ago.
•The Municipality has employed a contractor to repair the Main Beach Car Park revetment and the stairs. The stairs were installed before Christmas. Work on the revetment also started in December and is still in progress. The SFPO Association has started work on upgrading the toilets and surrounding area on Main Beach.

CCTV Cameras

The CCTV system continues to perform a 24/7 monitoring service which provides an effective deterrent to criminals targeting the St Francis Bay area. The cameras include:
•Licence plate recognition (LPR): 303,766 licence plates were registered on our roads in February 2021, with 159 being identified as positive alerts and followed up by Atlas, Calibre or SAPS
•Analytic cameras: a number of our cameras have AI software that monitors their zones and alerts any suspicious activity to the Control Centre operators. In February this year, there were 1,062 analytic activations which generated 52 reactive callouts by Calibre Security. These callouts often result in the person/s who activated the analytic being escorted out of the area if there is no valid reason for them being there.
•PTZ: follow people’s movements and can be operated by Control Room staff to follow, and zoom in on anything suspicious. These are situated around our primary beaches.
We are satisfied that the CCTV system is operating effectively and are in negotiations to implement our continuous improvement policy.

To assist with responses there is now local access to live and recorded footage. We have also been approached by various parties (i.e. streets, river estates) to possibly extend our camera network into their areas at their own cost.

The Pathway

The Pathway is complete. The final payment will be made to the Contractor once the retention period has been completed and any defects repaired. This pathway is a wonderful facility for our Village, and especially for our Sea Vista residents. The pathway has a concrete surface with 25 mosaics made by township artists from school children inspired artwork, embedded in the surface. The bush along the length of the pathway has been cleared and landscaped. CCTV cameras, LED streetlights, rubbish bins, and benches have been placed at intervals along the pathway.

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