Twenty-two people will make deputations about the beach at Wilkins Park to Barrie city council on Monday night.
Council will be considering a motion to temporarily close the popular south-end shoreline and creek area for remediation this year, de-list it as a public beach and fence off the creek.
Shelley Brooks will speak against that action Monday.
“I wish to express to council my opposition to the proposed closure and de-listing of Wilkins Beach and request that staff be directed to revise plans in order to rehabilitate the beach without permanently changing its ability to be used as a beach for local residents,” she said in her deputation request.
“The plan to shut down Wilkins Beach, which includes replacing the sandy beach with cobble, boulders and bushes, is wrong and destroys a unique local and beautiful, restful outdoor place for being with nature,” said Gary Ray.
Jill Richmond is dismayed by the action council is considering, after moving to Barrie from Whitby with husband Roberto and children Rachel (12) and Andrew (8).
“I’m in disbelief. I am beyond disappointed,” she said. “Both environmental concerns and tourist overuse have been cited as the reasons (to close the beach). I had heard from many people that by the end of summer 2020, the tourist overuse situation was pretty much resolved.
“I am heartbroken and cannot even fathom how I am going to tell my children that there is no beach this summer,” Richmond said in her deputation request. “This cannot be good for anyone’s mental health, or physical well-being. Please don’t close the beach and especially during a pandemic when we need it most.”
Amy Mitchell says Wilkins Beach was misused and overcrowded in 2020.
“I don’t dispute that if there are threats to the protected ecosystem, this needs to be addressed,” she said. “I would like to better understand why this can’t be done without still having a sandy beach, and how removing Wilkins Beach doesn’t further contribute to overcrowding at other Barrie beaches.”
Mitchell instead suggested implementing environmental restoration and protective measures, but keeping Wilkins Beach open this summer.
Lindsay Knight wants measures to discourage heavy beach use there by non-Barrie residents, while preserving the ecosystem.
“Until 2020, Wilkins Beach was a hidden gem,” she said in her deputation request. “Barrie residents came to the beach for an hour or two max, and for the most part treated it with respect.
“The 2020 season changed everything. Out-of-towners came in record numbers and abused the beach. There’s no question that damage was done,” Knight said.
Dave Friary, the city’s director of operations, has said a closure will not affect the trail or Wilkins Park and gazebo on the top of the hill, but access to the water would be closed, as it would be a construction site in 2021 to allow for the shoreline remediation.
Permanent fences would be installed along Hewitt’s Creek at vulnerable access points, and from the bridge over the creek to the pump station, Friary said. Waterfront fencing would be temporary, but there would also be signs to keep people away.
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 the Wilkins Beach shoreline will only intensify, according to city staff.
Wilkins Park and its beach are located within the regulated limit of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Area and zoned environmental protection.
