Residents at Macmasters Beach have been given a month to remove the kayaks they have stored on the foreshore at Lakeside Drive Reserve for 15 years or so with no problem.
Jennie Tapping said she and other kayak owners were stunned to find stickers placed by Central Coast Council on their craft on February 16 saying the kayaks must be removed or a date for removal negotiated by March 16.
She said owners are asking Council to be open to the installation of a facility to tie the kayaks to, such as those already provided at other sites including Saratoga and Hardy’s Bay.
“There seems to be a large need for the residents around here who use the waterways,” she said.
“There are 15 or so kayaks regularly stored on that waterfront – surely that is a sufficient amount to justify some sort of tie-up device.
“There’s no way these kayaks are doing any damage by just sitting there.
“We are all older women exercising and enjoying our environment and nature along with the wildlife.”
Tapping said residents would be happy to pay a small fee if required for permission to leave their kayaks where they are.
Although Council said they had been in touch with all residents in the vicinity, the only notification received was stickers on the kayaks sitting on the waterfront.
Fellow resident Shelley Van Den Hooven has stored her kayak on the waterfront reserve for more than 10 years.
“It seems Council has a bee in its bonnet,” she said.
“There’s no way we could lift our kayaks on and off our cars and we like to explore the lagoon between Macmasters Beach and Copacabana.”
She said a suggestion from Council that residents relocate their craft to the storage bay at Saratoga was impractical.
“Apart from anything else, I’m sure the residents of Saratoga don’t want all our kayaks there,” she said.
Van Den Hooven said she was a keen wildlife photographer and Council often asked permission to use a photograph she had posted on Facebook or Instagram, taken from her kayak.
“Of course I always say yes so this is a slap in the face,” she said.
She said residents had been asking for a storage aid at Macmasters Beach for years and were on the point of reaching an agreement with Council when Councillors were suspended in October 2020.
A Council spokesperson said allowing the kayaks to remain in situ would be in breach of its Water Craft Storage on Public Land Policy (passed by Council in 2020).
“The Policy was passed, in particular, to mitigate any impact to the environment, visual amenity, alternate recreational use and ultimately reduce any potential risk to the public utilising the open space,” the spokesperson said.
“Council staff monitoring compliance have also found that in some instances watercraft, including kayaks, are abandoned or often causing environmental harm to reserve vegetation upon the foreshores areas where they are left.
“Examples of harm is where kayaks or small boats are chained to trees on the foreshore.
“When such an issue is brought to our attention, staff undertake a review of the reserve site, notifying adjoining properties owners, in case they own the watercraft, and also by placing notification stickers, which includes Council contact details, on the water craft that contravene the policy.
“If an owner does contact Council the Policy is explained, and we try to find a resolution within the Policy rules.”
The spokesperson said Council was in the process of identifying additional sites for the purpose of formalising watercraft storage.
“Once such sites are established, funding for this initiative will be sought to construct purpose-built storage facilities similar to what is found at other approved watercraft storage locations,” Council said.
Terry Collins