Shoreline protection project should be done right the first time, says reader

To the Editor:
RE: "Shoreline protection will not obscure view at Macpherson Park, says Kincardine CAO"

My name is Shirley Wright and I live at 181 Lambton St., Kincardine. I was born in Kincardine in 1951 and have listened to Lake Huron all my life.

I  think the residents  of Kincardine realize the calming effect of the sound that they hear every day from Lake Huron. The roll of the waves can be heard and felt throughout the town. I know this for a fact as I worked in Toronto for several months and when I came home, I felt and heard a roar that shocked me as I drove just past Millarton.

I pulled over to the side of the road; honestly, I thought it was a helicopter and I opened my window and realized it was the roar of Lake Huron. I am listening to the lake as I type this letter. You probably are too as you read it. This public wall (shoreline protection project) will change that.
 

I have seen the proposed plan for the retaining wall at Macpherson Park and have spoken to public works director Adam Weishar and chief administrative officer (CAO) Murray Clarke, but I continue to be skeptical of the plan. 

One of my first concerns, even before they "place" the random-shaped boulders with gentle corners on the beach, where the previous rock was (I don't understand that, except for below the flagpole), is the use of stone as the base. This reminds me of the ill-conceived idea by Huron Township in the 1970s, to put a gravel road and a galvanized steel barrier on Boiler Beach in order to charge $2 per car for admittance to the beach.

The lake made short work of that plan and ruined the beach for generations by drawing the gravel onto the beach and undermining the steel barriers. I think they closed the beach to the public for safety reasons for a time. Only recently, has it regained popularity and now there is no parking or proper access, causing a dangerous situation on Boiler Beach Road.
 

This stone under the wall could be dragged onto the beach and into the lake the next time Lake Huron feels like it, or an unnecessary wall will sit there as our $300,000 eyesore.

The first thing that should be considered is: what is this $300,000 wall protecting? There is no infrastructure from the flag to the pavilion, so what is this $300,000 retaining wall protecting?

The CAO admits that weeds and trees growing among the rocks will cause a problem in the future that he feels can be managed by the municipality as beach maintenance. He also confirmed, in a phone conversation, that in five to 10 years, trees and weeds will naturally appear and change the landscape of the shoreline view, "but in a very natural way." 

What we have now is nature. What is proposed will create an unnatural, man-made curtain over nature. The municipality has no intention of maintaining this approximately 235-metre or 550-foot long wall of overgrowth.
 

If this municipality can spend millions of dollars correcting mistakes at the medical clinic, millions of dollars correcting mistakes in Huron Ridge, millions of dollars on upgrades and additions to the Davidson Centre, and millions of dollars on making the Pizza Hut (municipal administration centre building) not look like a Pizza Hut, why can't it spend millions of dollars protecting our best asset, our beaches and our view?

If you're going to do anything, do it right the first time!
 

It is premature to circulate a petition at his time, asking people for their support to stop the construction of this design of retaining wall and design one with the input of interested citizens that will revitalize the area not turn it into an eyesore or let nature take its course. But such a petition will certainly be available, when needed.

Shirley Wright
Kincardine



P.S. This photo was sent to me by Weishar, stating: "Yes, that photo closely represents what we are hoping to do based on the current plan."

Look at all the cracks and crevices that trees and weeds will grow from. It will eventually be the same as Saugeen St. North, Kincardine. It looks fine in this picture now, but as soon as the sand blows over it, the trees and weeds  and bushes will follow. You can't manage this kind of structure; it gets taken back by nature or in this case, man-made nature.