An additional dredging of the Beachport recreational boat ramp at a cost of $90,000 will occur in the coming weeks.
The action by interstate contractors should remove the sand build-up and enable the launching and retrieval of boats at the peak holiday time of Easter next month.
The unbudgeted outlay had been recommended by staff and strongly backed by elected members at their monthly meeting in Millicent on Tuesday.
Furthermore, the chamber also endorsed a further staff recommendation to consider two dredgings next summer as part of 2025/26 budget-setting process.
It follows an extraordinary decision by Engineering Services Director Peter Halton to use his discretionary powers and allocated budget last weekend to clear sand with a contracted long-arm excavator as a stop/gap measure.
This came at a cost of $3600 but Mr Halton said the outlay was justified given the high usage of the boat ramp during the Adelaide Cup Day long weekend.
Mr Halton said he was on site from 9am until noon and witnessed around 70/80 boats being launched.
The only voice among the elected members to query the $90,000 outlay came from Councillor Dale Price who wondered how long it would take for the boat ramp to silt up again.
In response, Deputy Mayor Cr Peter Dunnicliff said the Southern Ocean was unpredictable.
“The boat ramp needs to be looked after,” Cr Dunnicliff said.
“It is a great asset for Beachport and the Wattle Range Council.”
Cr Richard Cassidy thanked Mr Halton for dedicating his time last weekend.
“The town loves the boat ramp and it provides economic benefits like the purchase of fuel,” Cr Cassidy said.
“It is a community gathering place with people going there to watch boats coming in and going out.
“We should allow in the annual budget for two dredgings per year if necessary.”
Cr John Drew said council had spent an incredible amount of money at the boat ramp.
“We have to keep on spending or else it will become a white elephant,” he said.
The 2024/25 council budget estimated boat ramp related expenses would be $172,000 and $24,000 would be recouped in boat launching fees.
In his written report, Mr Halton said the council has been consistently monitoring the boat ramp in the past month following feedback from the community the marina has silting, resulting in boats getting stuck.
“During the week of February 17-23, Beachport had several days of very low tides and during this time Wattle Range Council received multiple complaints that boats had been beached due to the shallow water in the marina, requesting that council immediately attend to the issue,” Mr Halton said.
“The feedback was also circulated on social media with many negative comments made about council and the need to attend to the poor decision on the ramp, the need for additional works and a greater dredging campaign.”
