A letter from council has left the Pointon family feeling frustrated and confused at how they can keep the much-loved sheds at the Pambula River mouth safe from erosion.
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On March 12, members of the Sapphire Coast community rallied together to fill and stack more than 750 sandbags in front of the iconic huts to prevent them from being washed away in expected king tides.
Dawn Pointon, who grew up in one of the sheds and now owns the land, said they had no choice but to act.
“We know that if we didn’t put the sand bags there, the sheds probably wouldn’t be here today,” Dawn said.
Now, two weeks later, Dawn and her family have received a letter from council telling them they need to put in a Development Application for the sandbag wall.
“There are no exemptions for coastal protection works (even temporary works) therefore you will need to lodge a Development Application to council for consideration,” the letter said.
It is something that is especially frustrating for the Pointon family as they contacted council in February to explain their fears.
They met with council representatives onsite on March 2 to work out the best approach and were assured they would receive a prompt response, but despite numerous follow-up attempts by the Pointons no decision was made when the king tides came.
While the letter hasn’t specified that they need to remove the bags, Dawn said she is worried about what council will do when they don’t lodge a DA.
“It would cost thousands of dollars to follow council’s demands and we just don’t have the money,” Dawn said.
The Pointons were told the application would need to be accompanied by design plans, prepared by a suitably qualified engineer (preferably experienced on coastal process), and have a statement of environmental affects.
Dawn’s daughter Debbie Parker said she can’t understand the need for a DA.
“It’s crazy to think that sandbagging to prevent storm damage is illegal. Why would you need to put in a DA for storm damage prevention on your own property?” Ms Parker said.
Dawn said not only did the sandbags save the sheds, she has noticed sand building up around the bags.
“There is more sand there now which is great but even if we were told to move the bags, we couldn’t do it. It would take a bulldozer to get them out now,” she said.
