Sailors fight Royal Motor Yacht Club expansion plans in Cronulla
A yacht club operating from Gunnamatta Bay at Cronulla proposed to increase its mooring capacity for private users but public outcry swayed a planning authority.
St George Shire Standard
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An expansion of yacht moorings in a hugely popular Cronulla bay has been rejected in favour of public recreation water users.
Royal Motor Yacht Club, which leases its current site at Gunnamatta Bay, proposed to expand its mooring facilities to accommodate more of its private boat owners.
The development application sought approval to modify the existing marina to create eight new berths, and relocate the fuel berth; which would include installing diesel fuel services, a pipeline and tank.
Sutherland Council staff recommended the application be approved but Sutherland Shire Planning Panel rejected the proposal following public submissions at a meeting last week.
Most concerns cited safety issues for other public users in the bay, added congestion, the proposal was not in the public interest but rather prioritised private usage, issues with relocation of the fuel bowser and the associated noise and environmental impacts.
Gunnamatta Bay resident and director of the Cronulla Sailing Club Craig Smith said the proposal to move the berths east would reduce the width of Gunnamatta Bay, meaning there would be reduced space for recreational activities such as sailing, paddle boarding, kayaking, jet skiing and more.
Mr Smith said sailors also had to dodge ferry traffic.
“For sailing craft, narrowing the bay decreases the safety because it means … more passes across oncoming traffic,” he said.
“This proposed marina expansion benefits only eight selected members of the club.
“It jeopardises the safety and endangers the entire boating and aquatic community visiting the marina.”
Another member of the Cronulla Sailing Club, Marty Jones noted the introduction of fuel pumps would increase the number of vessel movements which would further inhibit the ability to navigate the channel.
He said as a not-for-profit community club, their priority was the safety of sailors and if the proposal was approved it would limit the opportunity to introduce people, especially young people, to the sport of sailing.
Maritime structure expert, local resident and yachtsman Peter Fielder said the assertion the increase in berths would have no impact to public users was “not accurate”.
He said even though the berths would be within the club’s lease boundary, vessels would overhang into the public waterway.
Mr Fielder said the result of extending the structure would be a 20 per cent reduction in available recreational use in the bay.
Kristy Hodgkinson, speaking on behalf of the Royal Motor Yacht Club, said the proposed development was within the club‘s leased area and there was no proposal to extend the lease area.
She said, if approved, there would be a requirement for signage stipulating mooring was not permitted on the outside of the extended berths.
“The suggestion the proposal is further going to extend further into the waterway beyond the existing lease line is not correct because the proposal will sit within the confines of the existing lease,” she said.
Ms Hodgkinson said there was “not an insufficient” distance for navigation through the waterway if the berths were approved and she noted Transport for NSW determined the navigational impacts of the expansion were acceptable.
The panel refused the application because of the “unacceptable impact on the public waterway from private marina operations” and noted “the impact on public recreational use of Burraneer Bay was not adequately justified”.
“The panel was heavily swayed by community concerns regarding public access to the waterway and the balance of public versus private interests,” a report said.
“Analysis of the current use of Burraneer Bay shows the existing marina already has the most substantial presence in the bay.”
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