New municipal valuers

by | May 25, 2017 | St Francis

Public meetings to introduce Kouga’s new municipal valuers

With the compilation of Kouga’s new General Valuation Roll set to commence in July 2017, four public meetings have been arranged to explain the process to property owners.

Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen said the meetings have been set for June.

“Property owners will have the opportunity to meet the new valuers and to interact with them regarding the valuation process to be followed,” she said.

Valuators for General Valuators Roll

The two valuators will be wearing identity tags in the interest of security

“The new General Valuation Roll will determine how much property owners will be expected to pay for rates and taxes from the 2018/2019 financial year. We would, therefore, like to encourage them to attend the meetings as the outcomes of the process will affect everyone.”

Van Lingen said the new roll would be finalised and advertised for objections by 31 January 2018.

The public meetings will start at 18:30 and have been scheduled as follows:

* On Monday, 12 June, the first meeting will be held at the Newton Hall in Jeffreys Bay. The meeting will focus on the Jeffreys Bay area, including, Aston Bay, Marina Martinique, Pellsrus, Mandela Bay, Tokyo Sexwale, Ocean View and Paradise Beach.

* The second meeting will be held at the Katrien Felix Hall at Thornhill on Tuesday, 13 June. The focus will be on Thornhill, Loerie, Hankey, Patensie, Gamtoos, Crossways, farms in the Hankey and Patensie areas, as well as those Uitenhage farms that fall under Kouga’s jurisdiction.

* On Wednesday, 14 June, a meeting will be held at the Humansdorp Country Club for Humansdorp town and surrounds, including, Kruisfontein, KwaNomzamo, Vergenoeg, Vaaldam and farms in the Humansdorp area.

* The fourth and final meeting will take place on Thursday, 15 June, at the St Francis Links Clubhouse. The focus areas will be St Francis Bay, the St Francis Links, Kromme River, Sea Vista, Cape St Francis and Oyster Bay.

DDP Valuers has been contracted to conduct the valuations for the new roll. Information about them will be available on the municipal website

Further information about the valuation process is available from the municipality’s Valuations Department. Contact Marinda van der Merwe on 042 200 2157 or valuations@kouga.gov.za;  Regardt van Vuuren on 042 200 2157 or valuations2@kouga.gov.za or Wendy Jonkers on 042 200 8543 or valuations3@kouga.gov.za

This Post sponsored by

Seeff Properties - St Francis Bay

 

Official Opening of Expedition Africa

by | May 12, 2017 | St Francis

The ‘BIG EVENT’ kicks off with Official Opening of Expedition Africa

The opening ceremony at 2:00 pm today is open to all so get yurself over to Cape St Francis and come and meet the teams participating in this exciting but gruelling event.

Expedition Africa logoAll is in place for the start of the biggest event yet hosted in our tiny enclave on the south eastern tip of the African continent. Today sees the official opening of the event here you can get to meet the organisers, the sponsors and of course the TEAMS!

The general public will get their first glimpse of the competitors tomorrow when they unfurl their team flags at the ‘flag ceremony’ before gathering at SANCCOB for the ‘stone laying’. The best vantage point will possibly be to gather at or near the lighthouse but maybe get there early as hopefully most of St Francis will be there to support this wonderful opportunity to promote our region and show our support for the competitors.

The race proper will start at 7:00am Sunday and although at time of publishing this article there was no word as to where the starting line will be, SFT has a sneaky suspicion it will start from the host venue, Cape St Francis Resort, or certainly in close proximity. If you can get your nose out from under the duvet early Sunday morning it could be worthwhile to make your way to the resort to watch and give these fearless adventurers an enthusiastic send off to their journey into the unknown.

Expedition Africa is not the only sporting event taking place in St Francis this weekend and the annual Kromme Descent also is being held this weekend. More’s the pity that there wasn’t a bit more coordination of the events for it really would have better to have held the events on different weekends. But too late for that now and possibly there may be a spectator spin off for again, and we (SFT) has no confirmation of this, we have a feeling the Expedition Africa route on day one may just see competitors kayaking up the Kromme.

If the EA and swimmers do end up on the river at the same time it may result in a little more boat activity on the river than normal at this time of the year and thus it may be an idea that boats either supporting spectating the swimmers respect the kayakers if they do indeed meet on the river.

The weather  is looking good for the weekend with sunshine forecast although the snow on the Southern Drakensberg may cause it to be a little chilly.

If you would like to track your team’s progress over the coming days there is a live tracking facility available at www.expafrica.live

Enjoy the weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there. Let’s hope you are spoiled rotten and the family treats you to lunch as breakfast in bed will be out of the question as you will no doubt be supporting the Expedition Africa or Kromme Descent swimmers.

Kromme River – A busy season

by | Jan 27, 2017 | St Francis

Kromme river enjoyed a busy season

“The season has come and gone, it has been a bumper season in all respects and in particular as far as the Kromme River is concerned taking into account the large number of river permits sold. The river was very busy and well used particularly at high tide. Fortunately there were no serious incidents or injuries reported. The major contributing factors certainly were the very efficient river patrol that was in place, the buoys that were positioned from the river mouth all the way up past River Tides to clearly indicate the navigable channel and also the additional signage that was installed in places from the river mouth to the start of the Ski Zone past River Tides.

Minor problems which occurred were people still skiing and tubing from the river mouth to the bridge on occasion which is no longer a Ski Zone due to the narrow and shallow navigable channel in this section of the river. There were also a few instances where people did not follow the path of the buoys and got stuck on a sand bank. A few complaints were received about jetskis doing freestyling in the river mouth and even going beyond the signs at the mouth which indicate “NO JETSKIS”. Due to the fact that reimbursement of the river permit fees to the KJRC was only received from Kouga Municipality towards the middle of November 2016, there was not sufficient time to do and complete what was planned before the start of the season. These matters were discussed at the recent meeting of the Kromme Joint River Committee (KJRC) and will be attended to. However, the initiatives implemented nevertheless assisted in making the river safer for the boating fraternity.

It is the intention to install additional and more prominent signage in certain places and also to increase the number of buoys indicating the navigable channel in certain areas. Furthermore, an additional patrol officer is to be employed during peak holiday periods to ensure at least a 12 hour a day presence on the river especially when high tide happens to be late in the afternoon.

Lastly the Kromme River Joint Committee wish to express its gratitude and thanks to each and every one that has helped and contributed, the River Tides community in particular, to making it such a successful holiday season for users of the Kromme River.”

 

St Francis Bay Canals

by | Dec 21, 2016 | St Francis

Riparian committee chairman’s feedback on the St Francis Bay Canals

Below is and edited report of an address by Riparian chairman Simon Picton-Turbervill on the St Francis Bay canals presented to the Riparian Home Owners association AGM last week. The full, unedited report can be read on the Riparian website.

Mid way through the year Norman Dyer of the Kromme River committee negotiated an agreement with Kouga to manage the river using funds from the sale of river licences. Through Louis Fouche we continue to work closely with the river committee and wherever possible pool our resources.

The agreement now opens up the possibility of future dredging in the river to clear channels for safer boating.

The river committee together with the assistance from John Robson and James Jooste have realigned many of the buoys in the river and added additional buoys to assist with navigation, however caution must be exercised when on the river as it is very silted up particularly along the lower reaches.

I would also like to point out that there is no skiing or towing allowed on the river between the river mouth and the start of the ski zone above River Tides as shown on the map which was issued with each boat licence.

Jet skis are also not permitted on the river and must be used responsibly when going out through the river mouth.

Our boat fleet consisting of 4 utility boats and a law enforcement boat was upgraded during the year to give a uniform identity.

The Fire boat which is based at the Canal harbour has also been upgraded and will be operated by a volunteer fire crew if and when required.

Under special projects we have

  • upgraded the harbour car park and improved the landscaping around the harbour
  • we have improved the area around the cove and had the ablution block upgraded including a new conservancy tank to prevent spillages
  • we have extended the canal harbour office to provide space for the ever increasing administration functions and, for the convenience of our clients,
  • we now accept credit and debit card payments for licences and moorings.
  • For the improved cleanliness of our beaches and public open spaces we have installed three bag dispensers for collection of dog faeces, so please encourage all dog owners to use them.

At the beginning of the year we embarked on the implementation of Health, Safety and Environmental policies in accordance with the Occupational Health & Safety Act and I am pleased to report that we were fully compliant by the middle of the year with no incidents reported year to date.

Building on the safety aspect we have improved signage around the canals and you will notice that all bridges have signs requesting people not the jump from the bridges as this is an accident waiting to happen.

From a health aspect we have used the University of Port Elizabeth to test the canal water on a regular basis for harmful ecoli and have found that the canals are well within the target water quality range.

In the one or two areas that were out of specification due to spillages we found that the water was clean again after the second high tides.

Unfortunately we have only been allocated one Law enforcement officer this season by Kouga Municipality so to provide adequate coverage we will be using one of our employees to assist with law enforcement.

During the season our other employees will be used around the canals for maintaining the gardens, cleaning the ablutions and control of the harbour boom and car park etc.

Boating Statistics

Some boating statistics and general information

In the 2016 financial year we issued 1,201 canal licences which was 4% up on the previous year and made up from

  • 78% for boats with outboard board motors
  • 7% for jet boats
  • 14% for jet skis

As of the 14th December this year Canal licence issues were 3% up on the same time last year.It is also encouraging to note that annual mooring bookings are up by 13% which means that we are getting a better yield from the harbours.The harbour office is open 7 days a week during the season and any general or law enforcement queries should be routed to the harbour office from where they will be redirected to the relevant authority. The number is 0636964906 or harbour@sfbra.co.za

You will also notice that the Ski canal jetties now have one bay reserved for the drop off and pick up of visitors to the beach by water taxi or cruise boat.

Finally the management of the canals is not just handled in 10 committee meetings a year but by daily hands on involvement from all the directors.

In addition each Monday at 3pm William Lotter is available at the canal harbour office to discuss work in progress with any of the committee members and to resolve issues that may arise.

If anyone is interested or has an issue they would like attended to you are encouraged to attend one of the Monday meetings.

To read the full report go the http://stfrancisbaycanals.com/

 

 

Kromme Joint River Committee announcement

by | Nov 16, 2016 | St Francis

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Kouga Municipality

Finally, the KJRC has in place a signed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Kouga Municipality to assume the delegated responsibility for the management of the Kromme and Geelhout Rivers as of 1 July, 2016.

The arrangement sees the passing of river fees collected, less a small handling fee and VAT, back to the KJRC in order to perform the required controls to assist with safe boating on our rivers.

As we have only just seen the first of the funds for the July and August permits sold flow into the bank account of the KJRC, it has left the committee with very little time to implement what is considered critical to the safety of all river users, particularly over the peak Xmas season.

Of very serious concern is the decreasing depth and width of safe navigable channels, certainly from the mouth of the Kromme River to above the River Tides Estate which is situated on the North bank above the bridge over the Kromme on the R330 to Humansdorp. Unfortunately NO dredging can take place until an EIA is done to the satisfaction of the DEDEAT which is being worked on presently by the St Francis Bay Property Owners Association (SFBPOA) as part of Phase 2 of the beach restoration initiative – it is intended to dredge and pump sand from the Kromme River onto the beach in the vicinity of Main Beach together with other initiatives to retain the sand.

What is intended in the short term however is to :-

  • Mark the navigable channels, to the best of our ability with navigation buoys (red, port and green, starboard)  – NB navigation regulations for right of passage are: when entering an estuary i.e. going upstream the red buoys are kept to your left and when exiting i.e. coming downstream the reversal applies, green are kept to your left.
  • A map illustrating ski/no ski zones, proceed with caution areas, etc. is supplied with each river  permit sold, (copy attached hereto) and boat owners are requested to please acquaint themselves as well as anyone else who may make use of their craft of the extreme dangers that exist resultant of the very shallow and narrow navigable channels.

PLEASE NOTE THE BUOYS AND MAP ARE SUPPLIED MERELY AS A GUIDE, THE ONUS RESTS WITH THE SKIPPER OF THE CRAFT TO TRAVEL AT A SAFE SPEED AT ALL TIMES.

New warning signs are to be erected on the banks of the river as and where appropriate in particular with regard to NO SKIING until above River Tides.

Click to see and download MAP

map-kromme-river-nov-16

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