St Francis Bay residents respond positively to proposed SRA

St Francis Property Owners Association (SFPO) chairman Wayne Furphy addressed a far larger crowd yesterday afternoon at the second public meeting on the proposed St Francis Bay Special Rates Ares (SRA) and what a positive crowd in proved to be. Question from the floor were mainly very positive with some attendees almost suggesting they would not be averse to a higher rate than the suggested 25% should it be necessary later. To avoid confusion, the rate has been set at 25% for ten years and cannot be increased..

Furphy again stressed that residents in the area south of Harbour road (Santareme et al) were not being excluded from the new SRA as a form of punishment but rather because of the urgency of the beach and spit and that a decision had to be made to get the ball rolling. He once again explained the problem of securing votes, yes or no, in this area because of the large number of vacant plots, many of which seemed to have been abandoned by owners as rates hadn’t been paid on some for years.

The door is certainly not shut for those residents presently excluded from the SRA joining this proposed SRA at a later stage or indeed setting up their own. Obviously infrastructure and services that have become priorities in these areas differ from those on the canals and village.

On the subject of CCTV Furphy also left the window open explaining that excluding the Santareme area only saved around 25% of the cost of installing a CCTV system in the area. If a solution could be found to have these residents included a comprehensive CCTV system would be infinitely more effective (he suggested it would cost the excluded region around R80 a month per home to install a system covering the entire region.

In closing Furphy explained the extremely tight timeline required to have the SRA approved and he appealed to all present to get their vote, yes or no, in as soon a possible to ensure all deadlines were met to process the SRA.

For those who may have missed both these public meetings a third meeting will be held at The Links on Thursday 11^th January at 5:30 pm. All residents who haven’t yet attended one of these meetings really should make every effort to hear what is being planned.

Green icons indicates camera placements with those in shaded area excluded from initial proposal unless funding from greater Santareme area can be secured