Perhaps we don’t see it or something but the Town has felt it necessary to let everyone know that the Police and By-Law officers are enforcing Town By-Laws on the Beach.  They are educating but also issuing tickets for infractions.  The usual problem of alcohol is the biggest issue but people are also smoking, using BBQs, bringing their dogs onto the Beach and more – see the list below.  They also issue a lot of parking tickets and make the comment that most people are using the Honk-Mobile app and pay out $20 for all-day parking.  So far the beach has not been over-crowded; further, my non-scientific assessment is that the Beach seemed more crowded on some week-days than weekends… Read complete articleBy-laws are being enforced on Cobourg Beach

After two months of being closed on weekends and holidays, Cobourg Council decided on Monday to re-open Victoria Beach seven days a week.  First, James Quelch and Rachael Currie presented a petition from 125 residents asking for the Beach to be fully open and then the DBIA provided a report on what Downtown merchants thought.  But it was not a simple “open or not” discussion – Councillors wondered how staff and enforcement would cope with large crowds or even an emergency shutdown mandated by the Heath Unit or the Province.  Nicole Beatty spearheaded the push to open the beach and she was willing to be flexible to accommodate concerns.  Aaron Burchat wanted to fully re-open with no fence but his… Read complete articleCobourg Beach Now Fully Open

With Victoria Beach closed on Weekends and Holidays and limited to 1200 capacity on weekdays, visitors will be looking for other local beaches.  The West Beach would be a good bet but it’s not groomed and hard for visitors to find.  Another obvious swimming spot is the beach in the Harbour along the West headland.  Locals avoid it because they know that it’s often unsafe because of a high e-coli count caused by water that doesn’t move much and pollution from gulls and ducks.  The main Harbour area on the east side (see picture below) is already a “no-swimming” area because of the danger from boats but Council moved on Monday to also ban swimming in the rest of the… Read complete articleSwimming in West Harbour to be Banned

At tonight’s Committee of the Whole Council meeting, Councillor Nicole Beatty  moved that the beach be opened on weekends as well as weekdays effective June 26.  She was supported by Councillor Burchat but Mayor Henderson wanted any opening delayed past July 1.  However, before there was any debate, Town Clerk Brent Larmer pointed to a procedural problem:  a previous approved motion closed the beach on weekends until September so a new motion cannot proceed without a motion to re-consider.  He suggested ways to overcome this but they required a two-thirds majority vote.  A more moderate approach would be to go through a process which would delay a final vote for a couple of meetings, but it would allow input from… Read complete articleMove on Council to Open Beach on Weekends

In September 2019, citizens made complaints to Council about the Marina.  There were two main concerns: (1) electric power was cut off when water levels were high (as they were in 2017 and 2019) and (2) concerns about visitors abusing fishing privileges – notably to do with the fish cleaning table (see photo below).  The Town was quick to upgrade the Electrical system – that’s now fixed.  And now at the Committee of the Whole Meeting on 21 June, Town staff are recommending removing the fish cleaning table altogether and banning the cleaning of fish on municipal property.  A survey was conducted of other municipalities and it seems others have had the same problem and now ban fish cleaning.  You… Read complete articleFish Cleaning Changes proposed

On May 10, Council approved repaving and modifying the Marina Parking lot and today the Town announced it would open tomorrow, Friday June 11. So on this glorious June day, I thought I would take a look and see if it was ready.  But by mid afternoon – not quite.   The Parking lot was pot-holed and badly needed re-paving.  That’s been done.  In addition the traffic flow needed re-arranging “to improve vehicular traffic in the area” and to allow easy separation of pedestrians who walk along the South edge – see the diagram below.  On Thursday afternoon a “steam-roller” (do they still call them that?) was still working to finish the asphalt – I can’t see it being ready to… Read complete articleMarina Parking Lot Upgraded

In September 2017, Meghan Sheffield and Nicole Beatty (as a citizen) plus Chief Jim Bob Marsden, then Chief of Alderville First Nation, made a delegation to Council to change the official name of the West headland from Langevin Pier to something that does not recall Langevin’s role as a “chief architect of Canada’s residential school system.” (Wally Keeler then suggested that the “pier” be renamed after Susanna Moodie).  The recent discovery of 215 graves has given a renewed impetus to renaming so at Monday’s regular Council meeting, Meghan Sheffield once again asked Council to look at renaming and once again asked that this be done in “partnership and consultation with the local indigenous community”.  After the original delegation, Council referred… Read complete articleRenaming Langevin Pier