St Catharines locals not happy with beach restrictions

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Published June 17, 2021 at 5:03 pm

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News that St. Catharines was placing limits of beach capacity this Summer did not sit well with local residents.

When the City posted the notice on their Facebook page, residents complained that the potential of out-of-towners crowding the beach could make it tougher for locals to enjoy their sandy oasis on the lake.

Although the City has three beaches – Sunset Beach, Lakeside Park Beach and Jones Beach – the first two will now have security monitoring the capacity and denying entrance should the crowd numbers get too high.

One poster fumed, “This makes no sense whatsoever! So in the evening when I’m walking my dog, I’m not allowed to go to the beach with her as I always have done because out-of-towners have overcrowded it by noon! This is our own neighbourhood and we’re not going to be able to access it! Ridiculous.”

Another harkened back to the summer of 2020, saying that last year by the month of July, the City did eventually have to step in and make the beaches “locals only.”

She noted, “All the same things happened last summer and by July, (the City) had to go ‘locals only’ because locals were rightfully upset they couldn’t access their local beach.”

Another confused the parking pass as an automatic pass to the beach.

“What happened to only with local beach passes? My daughter is there with a pass but why aren’t others required to do that?

The city quickly corrected her.

“The passes are specifically for parking only, providing residents the opportunity to park free of charge. Beach access remains completely free to anyone who wishes to visit.”

However, another poster pointed out that St Catharines’ residents enjoy out-of-town amenities as well and perhaps it was hypocritical to take that approach.

“It’s alright to say locals only and I agree with the majority 100 per cent but when you want to visit that nice cottage in Muskoka, Haliburton or wherever, then it’s okay I guess?”

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