Some of Wilkins Park beach has been saved for Barrie residents to enjoy this summer.
City council decided Monday night to keep as much of the beach available as possible for public use between June 15 and Sept. 15 during shoreline remediation, while making it easier to park there for area residents.
“What we do as city councillors is listen to the people who voted us in,” said Coun. Mike McCann. “This is a big deal to residents of Ward 10. I’m just trying to protect the beach, protect the lifestyle of my residents.
“It will leave lots of sand for people to enjoy," he added.
“I’m very happy that the residents reached out and screamed when screaming needed to happen, so that way we end up with an area that everybody can appreciate,” said Coun. Gary Harvey.
Council also approved a waterfront visitors parking pass program, for family and friends, should public health restrictions allow it. The program would apply to Wilkins Park, along with Minet’s Point Park, Johnson's Beach, Tyndale Park, Dock Road Park and Centennial Park. Five passes will be issued per household, although how the program would work remains sketchy.
There will also be no-parking signs in the Wilkins Park area, although vehicles will not be towed but rather ticketed and a written warning issued.
And there will be a program to protect turtles, as Wilkins Park beach is a hatching area.
Council was considering a motion to temporarily close the popular Ward 10 shoreline and creek area for remediation this year, de-list it as a public beach and fence the creek. The de-listing and fencing will still take place, but area residents will retain some of their beach.
More than 20 people registered to make deputations to council on this matter Monday night, most of them from the immediate area.
All argued to keep some of the beach open.
“When we first found out it was to be closed, we all panicked,” said Apryl Munro.
“We were having a freak-out that we were losing our dear, sweet beach that we adore,” said Carolyn Ray.
“It is about our mental health and mental wellness,” said Leslie Zardo. “This is quality of life.”
Lindsay Knight asked that council delay a decision to better look at stormwater ponding, better controlling beach traffic, the social implications of not having a beach there, maintenance and protecting the sand.
“The beach would be a major loss to our neighbourhood and our city,” she said.
Wilkins Park and its beach are located within the regulated limit of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Area and zoned environmental protection (EP).
This is because of the sensitive nature of the area, according to city staff, and zoning compliance is required. The EP zone permits these uses: ecological management measures, environmental conservation, lookout points, naturalized buffer, natural restoration, trails and other similar uses where there are minimal impacts on the environmental features and functions.
The other city beaches are zoned open space, which is not as restrictive as the EP zone and permits active uses as well as playing fields, courts, parks, playgrounds and other structures.
It is the EP zoning that is requiring the city to de-list Wilkins as a beach, staff say, and restore Wilkins Park to allow it to regenerate to its natural state during a period of time.
Staff also say this zoning conformity is not tied to COVID-related overuse in the summer of 2020, however, it did bring the zoning issue to a head.
The Wilkins Park shoreline contains a smaller beach along Kempenfelt Bay, located at the southeast end of Barrie’s waterfront, near the bottom of Crimson Ridge Road. It contains the end of Hewitt’s Creek, a designated cold-water fishery, which empties into the bay.
The shoreline and creek area were environmentally damaged by increased human use in the summer of 2020, as part of a significant increase in the city’s waterfront use due to changes in people’s outdoor activities, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provincial and local health regulations and restrictions.
City staff say approximately 75 to 100 people were observed at Wilkins Park, and the small surrounding area, during at least one period last summer; physical distancing protocols suggest there should be a capacity of less than 50 people.
There have also been concerns that wading and fishing in the creek is impacting the habitat of the cold-water fishery, and that excessive human use has led to the deterioration of the vegetation in the beach and the immediate forested area.
Beach-goers using nearby wooded areas as washrooms is another complaint, along with an increase in parking within residential neighbourhoods adjacent to the waterfront.
There have been regeneration efforts taken previously there by the city, but continued overuse of the shoreline area of Wilkins Park reverses these efforts. As Barrie’s population continues to grow, the environmental degradation of Wilkins shoreline will only intensify, staff say.
