SOUTH DUNDAS – About 30 people attended last week’s Iroquois Waterfront Committee meeting, wanting to share ideas about what can be done to improve the overall experience for beach-goers.
The popular beach is often crowded on weekends with both visitors and locals which exacerbates issues that may arise.
“This is not just a South Dundas problem, this is happening everywhere,” said David Jansen, Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities for the Municipality of South Dundas.
While the committee was not prepared to receive such a large delegation during this meeting, as this was intended to be a regular committee meeting rather than a public information session, in the end they did welcome feedback from those in attendance.
What they heard from the audience were problems that they had seen along with suggested solutions.
Improper, and even dangerous parking, off-leash dogs, smoking and vaping, fires, overflowing garbage cans, lack of lifeguards and general supervision were all mentioned.
“We need to have some sort of supervision to maintain the rules of the beach,” said Liane Charland, adding that she wants to preserve the beautiful attraction as a clean, orderly beach.
While the beach has a long list of rules posted, that people oftentimes are not reading and following, Diane Orlicky suggested that more specific signs would be beneficial her suggestions being: No smoking/vaping and no fires. She suggested that regulating shelters and having a designated picnic area could alleviate some of the safety issues, especially that of shelters blocking sight lines to the swimmers in the water.
Having seen vehicles parked dangerously near the airstrip, many said that parking needs enforcement during busy times.
Many worry about safety during those busy days, especially because there are no lifeguards at the beach on weekends.
“That’s when we need them, that’s when people are at risk,” said Marion Thompson. She pointed out that historically, when lifeguards were at the beach, there were a lot more rules followed by beach-goers because the lifeguards would point out the rules in a non-confrontational manner.
Randy Mullin said that the Iroquois beach area doesn’t have enough garbage cans. While the dockside area of the Morrisburg waterfront has about a dozen garbage cans available, far fewer are available at the Iroquois beach area.
Morning Mullin who walks the Iroquois beach area regularly said that most people are picking up their garbage, but when the available cans are full, they are leaving the bags beside the cans. “More cleanup is needed over the weekend,” she said.
“We have a beautiful beach and town and it’s about respecting it,” said Margaret Lee. “The suggestions here are very good and I think they will help restore the respect.”
“All in all I thought the open session after the meeting was beneficial,” South Dundas Deputy Mayor Marc St. Pierre told The Leader after the meeting.
At the meeting Jansen told the audience that municipal staff are working at drafting a park use bylaw to meet the regulatory needs of South Dundas’ parks including the waterfront areas. He expects that bylaw along with an enforcement plan will address many ongoing concerns.
The first draft of that bylaw should be presented to council for their feedback in September.
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