Meeting papers

All beach accesses have been in place for at least thirty years, although many have been
upgraded at some point during that time.


Condition and functionality
Most beach accesses are in good condition for most of their length. However, many are now not
long enough - the dunes are rebuilding after the 2017 storms, and the ocean end of many now
extend well past the ends of the modified surfaces and fences. Changes to beach accesses,
especially at the seaward end, can happen quickly too, after storms and floods requiring designs
that provide for dune building and accretion.

Council’s Infrastructure Services Department has detailed data about beach access and
associated community infrastructure, including their location, construction and condition. Council is
also The Environmental Services branch is starting to collect information about how they sit in the
landscape and work with the environment. Further information from our community as part of the
community consultation for this EBFMPEBFRMP will also be beneficial including information on
about howincluded how beach accesses are used, what people like about them, and any concerns
they have.
Location
The current locations of most of the Eastern Beaches access points have been almost incidental to
other processes. For instance, stormwater easements and parks are often gazetted at the lowest
points as the area is developed to allow for drainage and stormwater discharge into nearby creeks
and natural areas. Beach accesses have later been constructed here as they are where roads are
connected to foreshore reserves. Beach accesses usually avoid permanently wet areas such as
wetlands. This has meant that many beach accesses are in low lying areas where stormwater and
standing water present design challenges.

The location and distance between beach accesses varies widely – in some areas the accesses
are often only 50 metres apart, in others, where access is restricted by David Low Way, coastal
creeks and other complications and gated communities, the accesses are very widely separated.
Some residential areas, particularly new developments, and some tourist hotspots may not be
served well by current pedestrian accessible beach accesses. Some have been placed where the
construction of David Low Way or other community infrastructure best allowed. Other accesses
have been built where people were already informally accessing the beach – including at a popular
surf break, or where a beautiful view attracted visitors.

Some beach access locations cause problems - for instance a highly constructed beach access at
Marcus Beach is regularly cut off from the beach by the natural movement of a coastal creek. At
Burgess Creek where beach accesses are widely located to avoid a moving creek mouth and
steep slopes, residents are walking down a steep slope near the mouth of the creek and crossing
the creek to the beach. This foot traffic down a steep slope, coupled with high peak outflows from
the creek, is causing creekbank erosion and needs careful planning and design of nature-based
erosion management solutions including dune restoration and fencing.

Only a few beach accesses benefit from being readily observable or directly accessible from main
roads, which may mean these beach accesses also have pressures from heavy visitor and tourist
usage.




Signs


Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan 2023                                      Page 53


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