Our First Official Meeting Minutes

Meeting of the Protect the Shorncliffe Pier Group

24^th October 2012. 7:00pm Seaview Hotel Conference Room, Pier Avenue Shorncliffe

14 People attended the inaugural meeting of the Group

3 Apologies received

Lawrie Breitkreutz welcomed all to the first meeting of the Group.

Various points were discussed at the meeting as follows

·         Queries were raised regarding the BCC seemingly slow response in getting the Pier restored including the way that the Pier is to be restored.

o   Concerns were raised that at some stage the BCC may cut short the repairs of the Pier in a manner that will leave a Pier that is not the same as the current one.

o   Consideration for what was planned in recommendations made to council regarding the Pier eg building a narrow Pier in its stead.

o   The meeting was informed that the Council Project team has been given direction the Pier will be the same length, and on the same alignment that is currently in place, although wording from council is vague in this regard not specifying the current width. This will be brought up with the Project team and the Council at a meeting in the near future.

·         Independent review on the state of the Pier by a qualified engineer

o   Ros Hutchison submitted a proposed letter to the Head of engineering UQ, to obtain an independent evaluation on the condition of the Pier, especially the effect of the marine borers on the strength of the Pier over the next few years till repairs are made. The meeting endorsed sending the request and Ros will send an email requesting assistance on this.

·         Consultation with the Shorncliffe Pier Project team from BCC

o   The meeting was informed that we have a very good relationship with the BCC Project Team and they are quite open in what they have to do to complete the Project in the time line set on the council Budget.

o   Lawrie and Ian will be meeting with the Project Team in the next couple of weeks to discuss increased consultation between us and the BCC team.

·         Effect on Business

o   It is obvious that various businesses have suffered

o   General discussion ensued and one of the points raised was that the Sandgate/Shorncliffe precinct lacks any coordination on promoting the area. It was suggested that we should contact the fellow who runs the Sandgate.com site to discuss getting more people involved in promotion of the area.

·         Termites

o   Ian contacted the council regarding the Termite treatment of the Pier and future monitoring of this particular problem

§  The BCC have just conducted a review of the treatment done in September, they will be retreating the infestation again in the next few weeks.

§  The current infestation has not affected anything above and including the deck and railings, the infestation was restricted the cross members between the deck and the piles.

§  Although inspections are usually completed annually on structures, the Project Team has informed us from now till the end of the project these inspections will be regularly completed to ensure that pest infestations are controlled as they occur.

·         Incorporation

o   It was decided that as a group we need to incorporate and create a legal entity to deal with Council , and look at promoting the Shorncliffe Pier when the project has been completed

o   It will be a not for profit group

o   Lawrie and Ian were confirmed initially to be the Chairman and Secretary respectively of the association for purposes of incorporation.

o   Further details will be provided to all shortly regarding this.

·         More details being available on the Pest control problem

o   A good point was raised that the Pier had two infestation problems one of termites and the other marine borers, the marine borers not able to be treated, and that people were not really aware of the distinctive characteristics between the pair. Further details are going to be provided over the next few days in relation to this.

·         Movie on the Pier

o   Mark Templeton requested that there is a group of movie makers who are interested in making a movie on the plight of the Pier, and requested if we could give assistance in this endeavour.

o   The meeting endorsed this and Mark will inform the movie makes.

The meeting also requested that we meet regularly and it has been endorsed that we shall meeting every 3^rd Wednesday of each month to discuss the progress of our endeavours.

Our next meeting will be again at the Seaview Hotel on the 21^st November 2012 at 7:00 PM