After three years of campaigning, Davistown residents are in celebration mode after Administrator Rik Hart gave the Pippi Point off-leash dog area a reprieve at the July 23 Central Coast Council meeting.
Hart decided against a staff recommendation and removed Pippi Point from the list of 22 sites set to undergo a Review of Environmental Factors under the Dogs in Open Spaces Action Plan.
He also removed Memorial Park, Davistown, which had been mooted as a replacement for Pippi Point, from the list.
Prior to the meeting, members of the Save Pippi Point group rallied outside chambers, filing into the gallery as the meeting got underway and cheering loudly when the decision was announced.
Spokesperson Johny Row credited people power for the win.
“There are a lot of very happy people at Davistown this morning,” he said on Wednesday.
“It was very welcome news indeed.
“For three years we have been rallying, putting out posters and encouraging submissions, supported by some very knowledgeable people.”
The suggestion to decommission Pippi Point as an off-leash area has been contentious since it was mooted in the first draft of the Dogs in Open Spaces Action Plan.
Save Pippi Point has been a vocal group ever since, disputing the validity of Council’s reasons for proposing the Illoura Reserve site be discontinued for off-leash activity and outlining resultant disadvantages to the community.
Especially contentious was the claim that the continued use of the off-leash area poses a significant risk to the Bush Stone-curlew.
The group recently commissioned an independent report from Principal Consultant for Keystone Ecological Elizabeth Ashby, who found that “the presence of dogs off leash at Pippi Point have not had a demonstrable adverse impact on Bush Stone-curlew”.
Ashby’s report also discounted suggestions of a threat to Posidonia seagrass meadows.
“The biggest threats to these meadows are posed by dredging and boating,” her report said.
Of 34km of Posidonia meadows along the foreshore in Brisbane Water, only 73m fronted Pippi Point, she said.
Ashby discounted a threat to mangroves, saying there was just one mangrove tree in the area, and said that claims the area was a key fish habitat were not true.
Ashby ‘s report said she had undertaken Tests of Significances for Bush Stone-curlew, Pied Oystercatcher, Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Grey-headed Flying-fox and determined that “no significant adverse impact is likely”.
“In my opinion the evidence collected and presented by Council does not support the premise that the proposed changes to Pippi Point are prompted by considerations of impacts to important biodiversity,” her report said.
Hart said his decision followed visits to Illoura Reserve, meetings with residents and reading all the reports, particularly environmental reports.
He said his own observations were that Memorial Park was not a suitable alternative option to Pippi Point.
Row said the group “had an inkling” Hart might go against the staff recommendation and take Pippi Point off the list.
“He has been down to the park and had an informed idea of what was going on down there,” he said.
Residents opposing the inclusion of The Haven on the list were not so happy, with Hart deciding to keep the Terrigal off-leash area on the list for a Review of Environmental Factors (REF).
Hart said his observations were that the current status (no fencing) at The Haven presented a risk to off-leash dogs, and often owners.
An outcome of the REF and concept design for the proposed fenced area is to be presented back to the elected Council, following the election in September.
Terry Collins