A report was presented to the November council meeting outlining the steps that are already in play to modify the triggers for lake dredging.

Deputy mayor Lisa Intemann and Cr Geoff Hawkins urged caution in creating unrealistic community expectations about how and when council can manage issues in the lake when the waterbody is 'owned' by the State Government.

A modification for the approval to dredge the lake is currently under assessment.

Councillors met for the last time on the issue before council went into caretaker mode ahead of the December 4 local government elections.

Cr Rob Turner said with an election coming up, "it boils down to who loves Lake Cathie the most".

Mayor Peta Pinson called a point of order on Cr Turner's allegation the issue was being used as an election campaign platform.

Cr Pinson said the lake has 'plagued' her in her role as mayor for the last four years.

Cr Turner said the community must have a more informed understanding of council's role and obligations in the lake's management.

Cr Peter Alley said some members of the community believed the lake will be opened or dredged based on what council was discussing at the November meeting. He said if council follows due process, the lake realistically won't be dredged until mid-2022.

"I do struggle with why there was an extraordinary council meeting called (about the lake dredging) because it fundamentally won't make any difference to whether we start in June or July next year because there are other considerations that have to be right before dredging can occur," he said.

Cr Pinson said she called the extraordinary meeting off the back of community requests the lake be dredged before the Christmas holiday period.

"We may not own the lagoon but we manage it," Cr Pinson said.

"We need to do more than consider dredging. We need to dredge our lake. Because the lake is closed, it is shrinking into a puddle.

"It's a fair distance from our foreshore now and over the summer months it will contract even further.

"We have been talking about this for the last four years but prior to that it's been going on for 30 years with reports, discussions and stakeholder meetings.

"We need to come together and we need to have a true plan of management for this lake. For the environmental aspects of it, for the coastal erosion side of it, for the flooding of it and we need to have a plan of management that's going to incorporate the recreational value to it.

"This is what the community not just in Lake Cathie want, this is what our community in our region wants. For those who don't live in the lake area, they enjoy the lake area."

Cr Intemann said the community must understand that council was already in the process of getting modified dredging approval and that will follow the normal processes through the State government for assessment.

"It made the community anticipate that there was something immediate council could do," she said.

"We cannot simply open the lake on a whim. We all know what we need is this plan of management which will come forward from the Catchment Management Plan."

A report was submitted to the November ordinary meeting by Community, Planning and Environment director Melissa Watkins.

Council manages the ongoing dredging of Lake Cathie lagoon. Existing approvals allow for dredging for recreational purposes every 5-10 years and requires a NSW Crown licence.

Council has recognised the limitation in the existing approval and commissioned a study to develop an additional trigger based, Ms Watkins said.

An application to modify the existing approval to include this trigger is under assessment.

Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams called on council to consider dredging Lake Cathie under the terms of its extended Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) which is now valid until December 2023.

The report to council outlined the dredging activity, the approvals held and the process undertaken to amend the approval for the purposes of coastal hazard management. It also highlighted some of the key barriers faced by council in the timely delivery and implementation of projects requiring Crown licences and Coastal Management Program grant funding.

Council has for a number of years dredged the Lake Cathie lagoon for recreational amenity purposes.

The original parameters for dredging were determined by council's Dredging Strategy (2007), with Cathie identified as having a dredging frequency of 5-10 years. When the dredging began, the sand was deposited north of the lake entrance on Lighthouse Beach.

In 2013 consent was granted so that sand could be used immediately in front of Illaroo Road which allowed for beach nourishment to reduce dune erosion.

This consent, which still applies, allows for approximately 30,000m2 or up to 20,000m3 of sand to be taken from east of the Ocean Drive bridge, to be used for beach nourishment of around 350m of Lighthouse Beach south of the lake entrance.

"In 2020 the discussion of the Illaroo Road revetment wall and coastal hazard management along this particular stretch of coastline was a priority," Ms Watkins said.

"This discussion triggered council to re-evaluate management along Illaroo Road. One mitigation measure that has been identified and that can be achieved in the immediate future was to establish a hazard trigger based on sand loss and erosion."

In May, a review by coastal specialists proposed a methodology for assessing the beach volume and the degree of protection against erosion events it provided the dune system in front of Illaroo Road.

The hazard trigger developed from this review is proposes that once there is insufficient sand present in front of the dune to protect the dune, road and dwellings from potential erosion events, council is able to dredge the lake for nourishment.

Council has also installed CoastSnap beach monitoring stations to harness community interest and citizen science in coastal processes. The two station at Lake Cathie will be used to monitor the beach sand volume.

"This approach is intended to supplement the ongoing Coastal Management Program process and provide residents with assurance that short term hazard management is being undertaken while the long term management plan is developed," Ms Watkins said.

"The ongoing nourishment from dredging will also be supported by the Illaroo Road stormwater project, as beach-side stormwater outfalls will no longer contribute to erosion of the dune and nourished sand."

Based on council's current project works schedule the current lead time for a dredge of the lagoon is approximately 6-8 months. This is based on the approximate cost of the dredging activity being in excess of $350,000 and the costs of the last activity in 2018.

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