City reviews lake access

With a long awaited report now in the hands of city council members, North Bay is bringing local public lake access points back into focus.

City staff have completed a series of site visits to the Lake Nipissing access points and collected data related to the size, location, buried services, zoning and adjacent uses. An updated inventory of pubic accesses have been completed, identifying 43 city owned access points.

The next phase of the project is to begin a series of public consultations. Four informal consultation sessions are planned, three neighborhoods specific and one general meeting. The first session will allow for general discussion regarding all access points and presentations from the broader community. The remaining three will reflect the distinct areas of Lake Access points.

Due to the large number of access points and the geographical distance between the south end of West Ferris and the North end of Gorman Street at Kinsmen Beach, Staff has divided the access points into three areas.

The South end area would be all access points between Champlain Park and Silver Beach (Matthew Street). The informal public consultation would be held at the West Ferris Arena Auditorium.

In addition, the Central area would be all access points between Eva Wardlaw Conservation Area (Parks Creek) and the Waterfront Park on Memorial Drive. The informal consultation would be held at the West Ferris Arena Auditorium.

Finally, the North end area would be all access points along Gorman Street including Kinsmen Beach. The informal public consultation would be held at City Hall.

North Bay City Mayor Al Macdonald says that it is important to hold the separate area consultations as the use and issues with each access varies widely depending on the neighborhood.

In fact, MacDonald says that there have been instances where in some parts of the city, public access signs have disappeared soon after being posted up.

When asked who is taking the signs down, Macdonald says that he doesn't want to point fingers at anyone or speculate anything.

“What I know is that it's not the city who is removing the signs,” he says.

Based on the feedback already received from stakeholders in the community, Macdonald and staff are expecting high levels of participation from community members.

“Public meetings with regards to this issue are, if anything, well overdue,” he says.

Upon completion of the informal public consultation process, Staff will collect all feedback and comments from residents and compile a final report providing an analysis of each access points with recommendations for future actions. The final report will be provided to Council by fall of 2012.