SFPO NPC Quarterly Report
2023/24 Quarter 1
October 2023
Welcome to our first quarterly report for Year 6 of the SRA. We issue three quarterly reports and an annual report each year.
Executive Summary
The SRA (Self Rating Area) was established on 01 July 2018 for the Canals and Village demarcated area. The focus was to restore our beach, resurface our arterial roads, and establish a CCTV camera infrastructure to fight the escalating crime in our area.
We required the majority of the 1,590 property owners in the proposed Canals and Village Areas to vote for the introduction of the SRA levy (ie 50%+1 votes), which we received.
We are now in our 6th year of operation and the positive impact the SRA has had on St Francis Bay is clearly visible.
Value
We have delivered significant value to all of our members, the property owners and SRA levy payers in the SRA demarcated area:
- The arterial roads we included in our Business Plan have been resurfaced
- The Village entrance is an attractive first impression for anyone entering our town
- We have extensive CCTV camera coverage that has transformed the security of our Village
- We have environmental authorisation to restore our river, spit and beach
- We have, with generous third party funding, upgraded the George Road Car Park and built an attractive Pathway linking our Village Centre with the Sea Vista Township
Kouga Municipality
The Municipality has played its part in accelerating the resurfacing of our arterial roads, building an emergency revetment on the Spit to protect the Canals and Canal properties, building a revetment to protect the ablution, car park facilities and adjacent private properties at Main Beach, and providing electrical power to our CCTV infrastructure.
Property Boom
We have witnessed an unprecedented demand for property in St Francis Bay that has resulted in property values increasing significantly over the past couple of years in the Canals and Village areas. This recovery of property values, after a decade of property value stagnation, has also benefitted Santareme, St Francis-on-Sea, the Port and Otters Landing properties where demand for property has risen significantly, and values have risen accordingly.
This increase in demand for property has also seen an unprecedented boom in building activity that is providing many jobs and injecting millions into our local economy to the direct benefit of local business. This is the result of establishing St Francis Bay as a premier property investment destination for holiday makers and permanent residents.
We have several retirement home complexes in various stages of approval and development, which will fill the retirement village facility void that forced many residents to relocate when they needed such a facility.
Legal Challenge
We achieved all of this despite the ongoing efforts of the Concerned Residents Association (CRA) to reverse the Kouga Municipality’s approval for the SRA and the collection of the SRA levy from the property owners in the Village and Canal areas of St Francis Bay. In April 2022 the Court ruling on the CRA’s court action declared the SRA and levy as unlawful.
The Kouga Local Municipality (the First Respondent) and its legal team believed that there are a number of basic flaws in the ruling and immediately submitted an application for leave to appeal. The appeal application was granted on 26 September 2022, and will be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on 13 November 2023.
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 infrastructure serving the Sea Vista residents. We have completed one project, funded by the Kouga Wind Farm Community Trust:
- The Pathway linking the Village CBD to Sea Vista
River, Spit and Beach
Long Term Coastal Protection Solution
The Preliminary Design of the Long Term Coastal Protection Solution (Beach Project) was completed by Advisian in 2018, prior to the submission of our application for the SRA. The EIA application for this long term coastal protection solution was approved by DEDEAT in April 2022, after a 4 year process.
We are awaiting the outcome of the Appeal process as it will determine if we kick on with the Long Term Coastal Protection Solution. Should the appeal be successful, then we can once again focus on raising the necessary additional funding required to accelerate this project. We will commission Advisian to undertake the detailed design of the groyne field and sand nourishment, and prepare, issue and award the tender(s) to complete the Beach Project.
Next Steps:
- Appeal against the CRA’s Court Ruling
The Appeal hearing at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein is scheduled for 13 November. Thereafter we await the judgment.
- Fund Raising to Accelerate Construction
We have been asked by a number of property owners how we can accelerate the construction and completion of the long term coastal protection solution, suggesting raising money through donations and loans from existing property owners, and institutions. We completed the first round of fund raising with a 12J investment offer on 30 June 2021, and raised R11.9m. We were about to embark on our second round of fund raising focusing on donations and soft loans (interest free), but have had to delay this due to the court ruling and the uncertainty of a future levy stream to repay loans. If KLM successfully appeals the court ruling, then we will press ahead with this fund raising. The Funding Proposal is included at the end of this report.
- Detailed Design
The results of the fund raising process will determine the scope of the first phase of construction i.e. how many groynes and sections of the beach we can include in this first phase of construction. We will then commission Advisian to complete the detailed design of the groynes and sand nourishment for the scope of construction determined by the availability of funds.
- Tender Process
Once Advisian have completed the Detailed Design, a tender process will be followed to select the contractor(s) to undertake this construction.
We expect to complete these steps by April 2024, and start construction immediately thereafter.
Emergency Plan for the Spit
The Municipality constructed an emergency revetment along the Spit, following the multiple breaches of the Spit.
Roads
Arterial Roads
We completed the Village Entrance project 3 years ago, which provides an attractive first impression of our Village.
The Municipality, as part of their contribution to the restoration of the roads infrastructure in the SRA demarcated area, have re-surfaced all of the arterial roads included in the SRA Business Plan, i.e. St Francis Drive from Lyme Road North to Assissi Drive, Lyme Road South and Lyme Road North. In addition to this the Municipality resurfaced St Francis Drive from Lyme Road North to Sea Glades, and St Francis Drive from Assissi to a point 0,5km past Harbour Road (towards the Port). They have also resurfaced the full length of Tarragona, and two streets in Sea Vista. They also repaired the dip in the road between Lyme Road North and the Fire Station. The SFPO upgraded the storm water pipe in the dip near the United Church, and the dip itself was levelled. The Roads project in the SRA business plan is now complete with the exception of some road furniture (i.e. pedestrian paths and pedestrian shelters) which will be completed after the beach has been restored.
Car Parks
The George Road Car Park was paved with the assistance of donations from two property owners some time ago. A road was demarcated for access to the beach for repairing revetments. It is on the southern side of the car park. Bollards were installed.
Anne Avenue Car Park was renovated some time ago.
CCTV Cameras
The CCTV cameras contractor continues to meet their performance targets. The cameras have been very effective in fighting crime in St Francis Bay. Several streets have purchased additional cameras. We have 9 streets/areas also wanting to install more cameras, but we have no choice but to delay these requests until we are certain of the future collection of the SRA levy to continue funding the CCTV infrastructure and monitoring service.
Figure 2 Typical CCTV pole
The Pathway
The Pathway is complete, and 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, imbedded 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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