Statement Issued by the St Francis Property Owners Association with regard to The Recent Damage To Our Shoreline

by | Oct 23, 2023 | SFPO, St Francis

St Francis Bay © @gumbootcamera

 

Date: 23 October 2023

Over the past few weeks, the extreme coastal conditions have severely damaged our coastline in general and have had a major impact on the St Francis Bay beach and Spit area. This has highlighted the urgency to proceed with the restoration of our beach.

We continue to raise and accumulate funds from donations and the Special Rating Area levy to fund the NPC Business Plan, including the Beach Restoration Project. 

The details of the Beach Restoration Project have been widely communicated by the SFPO as an integral part of the overall Business Plan.

Unfortunately, litigation has stood in the way of fully implementing and progressing the Business Plan. To this end, the Supreme Court of Appeal will hear the case on 13 November 2023. The outcome of this litigation is expected early in 2024.

The SFPO fully understands the urgency of the situation and continues to work towards a positive outcome for all residents of the greater St Francis Bay area. 

For details of the full Business Plan, Project plans, SFPO updates and financial statements, please refer to the St Francis Property Owners Association website here- https://www.stfrancispropertyowners.com/

Please direct all queries to the SFPO office on 

email: info@sfpo.co.za or 

phone: 042 294 0594

Why You Should Join The St Francis Property Owners Association.

Why You Should Join The St Francis Property Owners Association.

by | Sep 26, 2023 | SFPO, St Francis

Here are ten excellent reasons to become members of the St Francis Bay Residents/Ratepayers Association.

Our Association has a competent executive team of local residents elected by ratepayers every two years. Whether a property owner or a resident renting a property, your support is critical to ensure St Francis Bay is all it can be. This will allow everyone residing in our town the best lifestyle they deserve.

Start participating in our future by joining the SFPO. The subscription is just R600 a year (R375 for pensioners).

1. Service Delivery

Water, roads, electricity, sewerage management, refuse collection, and fire control are the most severe service delivery issues. The Association monitors progress and works with the relevant Municipal bodies to improve service delivery. For example, we have assisted the Municipality with rolling out their new wheelie bins for refuse collection. The Association collaborates closely with our Ward Councillor and is represented on the Ward 12 Committee. We have provided our Ward Committee with a comprehensive mapped listing of street names to facilitate the manufacture and erection of signage on every street.

Wheelie Bins For All

2. Land Use and Spatial Development

A particular plan was drawn to ensure that our town provides essential amenities such as schools, churches, parks, and sports facilities and adheres to logical zoning patterns. However, the Association occasionally must step in to ensure inappropriate development does not affect ratepayers’ investments. 

3. Aesthetics and Planning

The look and feel of St Francis Bay are unique. The Association provides administration for the Aesthetics Committee. It works closely with the Municipality Planning Department to maintain our town’s exceptional appearance and adherence to by-laws.

4. Community Policing and Security

The Association works hand in hand with CCTV monitoring service, the local police, neighbourhood watch, and local security companies to curb crime within our community. We recently sponsored solar lights for the street lamps in our Central Business District to ensure the area is well-lit and safe during load-shedding. We sponsored beach patrol officers for Main Beach last Season to ensure the safety of our beachgoers. 

Beach Security

5. Beach Reconstruction

The Association has members involved in the process. We aim to keep the community informed concerning the project. 

6. Riparian and Kromme River Matters

Our Association works hand in hand with the Riparian Home Owners Association and the Kromme Joint River Committee. This work is done to protect these homeowners’ interests and manage our canal and river systems.

7. Critical Matters

The potential erection of the Thyspunt Nuclear Power station was an issue that the Association took up with Eskom. We have recently published a comprehensive document providing advice on Power and Water Security. We continue to monitor the erection of 4G and 5G Cell phone towers and the roll-out of fibre optic cabling. The draft policy for solar energy is also under consideration by the Association.

Nukes No Thanks

8. Provision of Information

The Association has a continuously updated website. In addition, public meetings, newsletters and our Facebook Page are used to keep members informed.

Your Guide To St Francis.

9. Environmental Matters

The Association has strong links with the Kromme Enviro-Trust. The two organisations keep each other informed and work together on issues relating to environmental matters. The Association initiated the provision of the recycling facility, which is now available at the Municipal yard next to the fire station. 

 

10. Disaster Management

The Association works closely with the Disaster Volunteer Group to provide swift and effective reaction and management of local disasters, including fire, flooding, pollution control, and COVID-19 times – food relief for the needy. In addition, the Association has been proactively involved in promoting responsible bush and Erven clearing for fire prevention.

 

SFPO Associations Newsletter September 2023

St Francis Property Owners Association Newsletter September 2023

by | Sep 14, 2023 | SFPO, St Francis

SFPO September 2023 Newsletter

 

Association Membership Renewal is Due

SFPO Association September Newsletter

A strong and proactive Rate Payers Association is essential if we are going to hold our Municipality accountable for the infrastructure and services we rely on as property owners, residents and business owners in St Francis Bay. The strength of our St Francis Property Owners Association (SFPO) depends on the number of members we have, the commitment of our Association’s Committee members (who are volunteers) and the quality, efficiency and friendliness of our Office Administration. 

The Association’s Committee represents the whole of St Francis Bay. Your membership contribution enables us to run a small administration office, monitor service delivery from the Municipality, and invest in essential community projects. 

Membership of the St Francis Property Owners Association is voluntary, and we hope we can rely on your support.

Our membership runs from 1 October to 30 September annually.

The subscription fee for 2023-2024 is R600.00 per annum or R375.00 for pensioners.

Full Newsletter HERE

SFPO Association Power and Water Security Solutions

by | May 7, 2023 | SFPO, St Francis

Every day the headlines scream out that there is going to be less and less electricity available on the grid. We must gear up for stage 8 and 9 load-shedding and the latest rumour that there will be no electricity available whatsoever for daylight hours for the whole of winter. 

As these dire predictions start becoming true, and as we face off against what promises to be a cold and dry winter, we are faced with the dual catastrophe of a massive water shortage/drought for this upcoming winter period to go with the load-shedding.

Doom and gloom, I tell ya, but if you’ve made up your mind to stay in South Africa and not go and live in a place where you might have plenty of electricity and water but can get a spot fine if you walk on the wrong side of the beachside pathway, then you’re going to have to make a plan.

The St Francis Property Owners Association has put together a document on Power and Water Security Solutions in S Francis Bay, and it is well worth a look. There are water security options and power security options. There is a list of reputable local contractors and suppliers as well as an SFPO0-guided option. Apart from water harvesting and solar instals, there is also mention of such options as Power and Water Saving Devices, including electric geyser controllers and water tap restrictors, as well as the LED Lights option. The document also has information on the tax savings options (up to 25% on domestic-use PV panels and up to 125% on industrial set-ups on all equipment, including batteries, panels and inverters.)

If you’re not going to sort out your power and water security, no one else is. 

More details can be found in a previous article here

and on the St Francis Property Owners website.

 

St Francis Property Owners Association Newsletter – February 2023.

by | Feb 14, 2023 | SFPO, St Francis

Hi, and straight into the second SFPO Association Newsletter of 2023.

General Valuation Roll

Please find below the Link to the new General Valuation Roll with the information on the valuation of your property/s.

Please evaluate all relevant information to your property carefully; check the new valuation of your property, how it compared to the value five years ago and the market value now of other surrounding properties.

If you are unhappy with your valuation, you can object before 14 April 2023. The Objection Forms are on the website as part of the link below.

We also remind you of the Information Session by Lientjie Ackerman and the Kouga Business Forum on the General Valuation Roll & Municipal Property Rates. This will occur at 10:00 on Monday, 06 March 2023, at the St. Francis Links Clubhouse. The public is welcome to attend this talk.

https://www.kouga.gov.za/documentlibrary/general-valuation-2023-2027

Data Cleansing Campaign

Kouga Municipality embarked on a data cleansing campaign across all towns in the Kouga region to clean up and update our records of all property and municipal services information. This will ensure that the data used for decision-making is factual and that your billing and account information is accurate, thus reducing unnecessary queries on your account. 

The campaign consists of two options. One is electronic engagements through the municipality’s Customer Care Application (Kouga Cares) at https://customercare.kouga.gov.za/mobLogin.php.

The second is door-to-door engagements – from 06 February 2023 for Jeffreys Bay and Humansdorp and from 07 February 2023 for The Greater St Francis Area and Gamtoos Valley. Field workers will carry identification cards reflecting all their information during door-to-door visits. 

We encourage all residents to complete the questionnaire online (if possible) to ensure they are on the NEW Kouga Cares App that will be launched soon. If not possible, please welcome our fieldworkers that will be visiting you. Finally, we kindly urge all residents to support the campaign.

For more information, contact the Kouga Call Centre at 042 200 2200.

Kouga To Explore ‘Clean’ Energy Sources

Kouga Municipality is set to reduce its reliance on Eskom as a primary energy provider.

Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks, said that given the problems caused by prolonged load shedding at high stages and the impact it has on the local infrastructure and economy, Kouga municipality is aiming to be less dependent on electricity generated by Eskom.

“To achieve this, we will undertake a six-month feasibility study to determine the viability of alternative means of renewable energy and power generation by independent power producers,” he said. “This is a hybrid application, which means we will look at the feasibility of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and wind power and gas, as well as biomass.” 

The study, set to be completed by the end of June 2023, will construct a 20MW plant – supplying a third of the average electricity used.

“A piece of land, strategically located to reach all major towns being fed with electricity under the Kouga distribution license, has already been identified,” said Hendricks.

According to Hendricks, the ultimate goal is to generate 60MW of electricity, making the municipality independent of Eskom.

“A place to live with secure, ‘clean’ energy is surely to impact positively on the lives of all residents,” he said.

In addition, the municipality is also looking at short-term plans – a 1MW energy plant – which will benefit the region’s wastewater treatment plants and water purification plants. 

“The energy plant will supply ‘clean’ electricity, thus, reducing our electricity purchase from Eskom and drastically cutting our diesel and oil procurement for these plants,” said Hendricks. “It will, furthermore, ensure reliable energy with fewer breakdowns and maintenance.”

Santareme Phase One Cameras and Security Patrol Scheme: Update 

A recently raised concern that a short article in our last newsletter on the Santareme CCTV implies that the SFPO is claiming responsibility and credit for successfully implementing these CCTV cameras in Santareme. 

The author, David Harpur, wrote this article on behalf of the Santareme CCTV Committee. The Santareme Committee asked the SFPO Association to kindly include the article in our January newsletter to help drum up further support for the Santareme CCTV system, to which we obliged.

We want to correct such misinterpretation and clarify that the SFPO Association and the SFPO NPC were not involved in setting up and running the Santareme CCTV infrastructure. 

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