Push for marina safety fix

‘We have this fence causing an emergency hazard’

A STOUSH over safety conditions at a popular marina has spilt over, with residents demanding council act to fix a problem that has been years in the making.

Residents who secure their boats at the Magnetic Island Nelly Bay marina have complained about pathways being closed off due to water overflow after an incident in which a resident was injured while walking through the area.

One resident, Diane Kendrick, said that council’s solutions had really “shut the gate long after the horse has bolted”.

“We’ve got water coming down from a retaining wall but they must have known about that when the approvals were bing sought in the first place,” Ms Kendrick said.

“Why are they only doing something about it now?”

The area has been home to a number of developments over the years.

Council erected a fence across the pathway that Ms Kendrick and her family use to access their boat, where they currently reside, and have blocked off amenities as well as posting security and a CCTV camera up.

“As soon as they put it up, people come along and the first chance they get, they take it down. The fence goes back up in the morning. My daughter had to scale it to get to school today.”

Ms Kendrick said that council had already cleared up the water that had caused the first accidents, and that it was ridiculous to keep fences up after the paths had been swept clean.

“Ratepayers are paying for this. It’s just childish. I’m over it,” Ms Kendrick said.

“If there was a fire on one of these boats, you’d lose half the marina before we could even get in or out.

“We have to travel down and along the A-arm because of a water leakage that’s not even there anymore.”

Ms Kendrick said that at one point, the fence was taken down over a weekend at the end of April, with “hundreds” of people using the pathway while it was raining without incident.

“There’s no notice. All over Facebook, Townsville council are posting about road closures, walkway closures, but here we get nothing. We get locked in and we have this fence causing an emergency hazard.” A spokesman for Townsville City Council said the organisation was working to identify a solution “as soon as possible”.

“In response to safety concerns caused by water spilling from nearby irrigation systems, council has placed temporary restrictions on access to a section of the walkway at the Nelly Bay marina,” the spokesman said.

“Access remains for boat owners using the marina via the southern end of the marina walkway.”