June 23, 2016
1691
To the Editor:
I have received a lot of positive response from my two previous letters to the editor, concerning the proposed stone wall at Macpherson (Tiny Tot) Park beach, and I hope a lot of people expressed their opinion to Kincardine council at clerk@kincardine.net.
I was reminded of the consequences of a decision with regard to Station Beach when council decided to remove all of the poplar trees that had been there for decades and acted as a barrier to the blowing sand. The trees allowed dunes to form on the shoreline to hold the sand on the beach and keep it out of the harbour. After they were removed, the sand blew into the boats, into the harbour, onto the lower roadway and parking lot.
Then, for years, the town had to have the sand excavated back to the beach, the harbour had to be dredged and a wall was built on the west side of the harbour to protect the boats and keep some of the sand from blowing into the harbour. It took years for the dunes to reform after a lot of volunteer work on the gardens, tree replacement and maintenance by the Kincardine public works crews. And it changed the shoreline landscape.
Decisions, like the one above, may solve the problem of today, but cause different ones tomorrow.
What will the future hold if this plan to place irregularly-shaped boulders along the shoreline is to take place? Where spaces and crevices will absolutely fill with sand and trees and weeds, and create a potentially dangerous area that kids will want to play in.?
If you want real proof of what the future of the Lake Huron view will look like in five, 10, or 15 years, take a drive to the bottom of Durham Street, between the Water Treatment Plant and the Pavilion. You don't even have to get out of your car. Those rocks are below the site line. You can hardly see anything of the lake. That used to be a place to watch the thunder storms. No more.
Has this plan been thoroughly thought out from a long-term prospective with due diligence in regard to safety, accessibly, sustainability, economics, tourism, stakeholder approval and just good old common sense?
Council, please preserve this area - it's important to us.
Shirley Wright
Kincardine
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