A group of 50 City of Bunbury residents who would like to see the Koombana Bay footbridge raised by a minimum of 60 millimetres attended a special meeting of electors on Tuesday night.
Chief petitioner Noel Seymour addressed the room and explained that tall aerials were required on boats to communicate up to 30 kilometres out to sea.
Mr Seymour said a number of boat owners were concerned that if the new Koombana Bay footbridge was built at the same height as the former railway bridge, these pieces of equipment would be damaged.
“At high tide there is not enough clearance under that bridge and with boats getting bigger, these vital pieces of safety equipment are being damaged,” he said.
“It’s a passionate issue for myself and we can’t afford to be trapped at sea, unable to communicate in an emergency.
“Raising the bridge will fix everyone’s issues at high tide.”
Those in attendance voted unanimously in favour of an elector’s motion for the bridge height to be raised.
City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said the electors motion would now return to council for consideration as part of the Local Government Act, but noted the decision of the electors was not binding on council.
On Wednesday, Mr Brennan said the special electors meeting went predictably with a healthy representation of the interested parties.
In June 2016, council voted nine to one in favour of an executive recommendation to leave the Koombana Bay footbridge at its current height.
A report prepared by manager of assets and projects James Shepherd and director of works and services Gavin Harris noted council formed a working party in 2014 to identify community requirements for the upgraded footbridge.
The group recommended the bridge not be raised and noted that if it was raised, it would create potential conflict between a number of the City’s key priority area objectives as outlined in the strategic community plan.
In early August, council voted in favour of considering a fresh appeal to raise the height of the footbridge once it was provided with final designs and exact costings.
It is anticipated that council will be presented with a report detailing logistics, designs, costs and potential funding sources for three options – to maintain the bridge at its current height, to raise the height by 600mm across the full length, or to raise the height 1400mm to that of the traffic bridge – before the next ordinary council meeting on September 19.