WARRNAMBOOL City Council will apply for funding to complete boat ramp upgrades at Lady Bay.
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The decision to back an officer’s recommendation, with a 4-3 vote, came after Councillor Brian Kelson made a last ditch attempt to have a fully enclosed harbour developed.
He moved an amended motion, calling for details of the enclosed harbour option to be included in a master plan as stage two.
He also called for immediate steps to establish a funding model and a timeline for an enclosed harbour.
“I’m asking councillors to vote to investigate,” Cr Kelson said.
Cr Jacinta Ermacora opposed the amendment, saying there were too many unknowns associated with an enclosed harbour.
“As an example, the breakwater would need to be upgraded for an enclosed harbour. There are too many unknowns to jump to that commitment,” she said.
“It’s time to get on and do what needs to be done for an enclosed harbour anyway.”
Cr Michael Neoh said boat ramp upgrades could be funded wholly by government and wouldn’t cost ratepayers a cent.
“It’s time to get on and see what impacts these works have, then we can look at other upgrades if need be,” he said.
Cr Peter Sycopoulis said he took the view Cr Kelson’s amendment was trying harder to get to a fully enclosed harbour.
“If we back the boat ramp upgrade, we could become content and we are back to square one,” Cr Sycopoulis said.
The amendment was lost in a 3-4 vote, with Crs Peter Hulin and Sycopoulis backing Cr Kelson’s push.
The original recommendation was then debated, with Cr Kelson saying council was once again not listening to what people want.
“We had consultation and we had nearly 700 responses to a survey, the majority in favour of an enclosed harbour,” Cr Kelson said.
Cr Hulin said it was “like a sketch from Fawlty Towers”.
“I’m sitting here listening to debate, but have no idea of the design, construction or materials that would be used to upgrade the ramp,” he said.
“I sat here years ago, the last time we were told boat ramp upgrades would fix the problem, but guess what, they didn’t.”
Mayor Kylie Gaston said it made sense to monitor the impact of boat ramp upgrades for two years.
EARLIER: WARRNAMBOOL City Council has backed upgrading the Lady Bay boat ramp over other, expensive harbour upgrade options.
Cr Brian Kelson attempted to move an amendment to the motion, to proceed with the boat ramp upgrades as stage one and develop a timeline for the implementation of option C, an enclosed harbour, as stage two.
His amendment was defeated 3-4 after length debate, with Crs Gaston, Neoh, Ermacora and Askew against.
Councillors then voted 4-3, with Crs Hulin, Sycopoulis and Kelson voting against, to proceed with a funding application for upgrades, prepare a master plan for the harbour that details the ramp upgrades and monitor the effectiveness of the work over two years.