Fences will come down on the Beachway - beach will be open to the public.

News 100 yellowBy Staff

June 5th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Those fences along the Beachway didn’t last all that long – they certainly raised the hackles on the back of a lot of necks.

Some felt the city was a little heavy handed – but the rules were were pretty clear – Beaches were closed.

At a Special Meeting of Council on Wednesday, Council approved interim modifications to the City’s parks operations service, including the removal of the fencing currently in place at Beachway Park.

Beachway Chld-Fest-2013-Family-sand-castle-1024x733

If the people in the center are all from the same family this would be legal. The rules are in place for a very good reason – they prevent the transmission of the virus.

The changes to the parks service also allow for temporary washroom facilities to be installed at Spencer Smith Park, Beachway Park and Burloak Park with enhanced service.

The fencing at Beachway Park will be taken down next week and the portable toilets and handwashing stations will be installed at Beachway Park, dependent on availability.

When walking along the beach, residents are reminded to continue to be vigilant about public health practices and provincial directives to reduce the spread of COVID-19, including:

• Maintaining 2 metre physical distance from anyone you don’t live with
• Gathering in groups of 5 or fewer
• Staying home if you feel sick
• Washing and sanitizing hands before and after visiting the area.

Beachway washrooms

The washroom facilities in the Pavilion on the Beachway are in terrible shape. They have been in need of an upgrade for some time – that work is not scheduled to start until September.

Access to washrooms
The washrooms in the pavilion at Beachway Park will remain closed as a result of pre-existing structural issues which are scheduled to be corrected with construction in September 2020. In their place, portable bathrooms and hand washing stations will be made available and cleaned by City parks staff on a regular basis.

The temporary washroom facilities at Spencer Smith Park, Beachway Park and Burloak Park will be installed once available from the supplier, approximately the end of June. The re-opening of other city park washrooms, with enhanced cleaning, will be phased in.
Beach maintenance and safety

City Council approved the hiring of students and temporary staff to assist with this important service and general parks maintenance. City parks staff will provide reduced beach maintenance, including grooming the beach and enhanced cleaning of washrooms. Please place waste in receptacles or take it home with you for disposal to help keep the beach safe for everyone.

Halton Region monitors public beaches to help ensure safe water quality for swimmers. Water quality testing at Beachway Park by Halton Region Public Health is currently not taking place. For updates and more information, please dial 311.

The resumption of City services and spaces is something everyone is looking forward to, but caution that it is vital to continue to do it slowly and carefully with the right precautions.

The city is asking for your patience and understanding as the City works to ensure it has resources and policies in place that align with Provincial regulations and the latest guidance from Halton Region public health to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

City pools and splash pads are still closed until the province loosens up the rules.

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4 comments to Fences will come down on the Beachway – beach will be open to the public.

  • Steve W

    They should never have been erected in the first place. Beaches may have been closed or not but there was no need for the nanny state to put up barriers. Inform people with signage, fine people if necessary and mitigate liability to the city was all that was needed. A waste of time and money putting up fences. The workers are probably cursing as they remove them.

  • Tim Cummings

    Well ‘Tom the fence’ sure looks silly now. He can’t even criticize the politicians for changing their minds after lashing out at so many on here for questioning their judgement on the fence issue. Poor Tom sure talked his way into a corner.

    Perhaps Tom could start his own community group? Call it ‘Fence off our Waterfront’. See how that works out.

    Good on the Politicians for admitting they were wrong. Can ‘Tom the fence’ do the same?

  • Helen Skinner

    How much did the fencing cost tax payers?

    The topic of yesterday’s protest that started at City Hall is not the debate…but the erection of undemocratic fencing is a perfect example of this City’s lack of standardization. It remains disjointed and heavy handed.

  • Don Fletcher

    We’re truly living in the Land of Confusion (coincidentally one of my favourite Genesis’ songs). The City tells us that the province has mandated Ontario.s beaches stay closed through its’ Emergency Orders during the pandemic, all the while Toronto, the epicenter for Ontario’s coronavirus outbreak declared on May 27th that “Toronto beaches are open in the same way green spaces in parks have been open. Beaches are not closed under Province of Ontario’s Emergency Management & Civil Protection Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic”. The City can still penalize the miscreants but I am glad that that obnoxious fence is coming down, for the rest of us. The summer is short!