Alternative solutions to the current look and condition of large boulders channelling storm water through Seymour Bay Park are a necessity, say members of the municipal Parks, Trails and Greenways Advisory Committee. Members of council, however, made a point of stating their disagreement with this perspective by voting down the Committee’s recommendation this week.
“This committee has spent too much time, altogether, on this one issue,” said councillor Tim Rhodes when the issue came up at council. “If you go out there on a day like we had a few days ago you will know that what we have works.”
The fact that the rip rap channel is working as it is supposed to was confirmed by the municipal Public Works Superintendent, Bob Robinson.
Acting mayor Andrew Stone added that the committee is less concerned about the engineering, and more concerned about the fact that the rip rap is a potential safety hazard for children.
In an interview, Claudia Schaefer, Vice-Chair of the Parks, Trails and Greenways Committee, said that the main concerns are that the rip rap is a potential safety hazard and an eyesore.
“The rip rap channel is a giant scar that goes right through the middle of what is supposed to be a small park,” says Schaefer. “It exists because the upland development created a drainage problem. This was solved using solely an engineer’s perspective. The fact that this land is considered to be a park was not taken into account. Now it looks like we’re stuck with it, but as a Committee we believe there are still things to be done to reduce the safety hazard and provide a more appealing look.”
Schaefer says that when the Parks, Trails and Greenways Advisory Committee was created, the land zoned passive park between the golf course parking lot and shoreline were stated by Council to be a priority.
“The upland development was relatively new, and there was a lot of angry public feedback about what happened at the park,” says Schaefer.
She says that one of the committee’s first tasks was to survey the site and create a plan about what could be done to improve the land as a park.
“We had a series of recommendations that included addressing the rip rap issue as a priority, creating stairs close to the shore for beach access, using native tree and shrub species when replanting, picnic table locations, and so on, and we recommended that a park planner or landscape architect be hired to draw it up,” says Schaefer. “We had hoped to have a hand in the hiring of that person, but we didn’t. And the plan that the hired landscape architect presented avoided the main concern altogether.”
Committee member DG Blair says she was shocked by the failure to address the concern about the rip rap.
“My response was - do you have rose coloured glasses? The architect told me that the ‘stream’ was to be a feature of the landscape.”
Blair says in a later meeting, the municipality’s new planner, Cari St. Pierre, mentioned there are ways to deal with the storm water by looking at the park in a broader context that includes the upstream development.
“She did not offer specifics, but that led us to make the recommendation to look into alternatives,” says Blair. Committee members also suggested there are ways to plant within the rip rap to soften its look and create a barrier for children who might climb on the sharp rocks.
During the discussion on this topic in council this week, councillor Andrew Stone recommended leaving the issue for the incoming council to deal with.
“The issue has become a political issue,” said Stone. “Ethically, this should be passed on to the next council to deal with. It’s an open issue that’s not going to be dealt with in five minutes.”
Councillor Tim Rhodes, however, disagreed with this approach.
“I’d like to make the motion and defeat it, just to make a point,” he said. “I don’t know how much money’s involved here but it’s considerable, its time to move on.”
In closing, Councillors Rhodes, Lucas and Morse opposed a motion to look into an alternative to the rip rap stormwater channel that cuts through Seymour Bay Park.
Schaefer says that from her perspective, the time spent on this project has resulted from the fact that the problem has never been corrected, and is as relevant today as it was when the committee was created.
“People are still approaching committee members and stating their disgust and anger about the state of things at Seymour Bay,” says Schaefer.
