The town of the Blue Mountains (TBM) will be further closing public amenities along the Beaver River in an effort to keep non-residents coming to town to fish.
“We are receiving a lot of complaints and concern that there will be a significant number of people coming to the area to participate in the fishing season this coming weekend,” said Ryan Gibbons, director of community services for the TBM during a virtual town council meeting held earlier this morning. “Through the Parks and Facility bylaw, the director does have the ability to close parkland, so we are going to be closing the properties until May 5, which will get us through the two significant fishing weekends.”
TBM will be working with the conservation districts and the OPP to communicate and enforce the closure of the town-owned parkland and parking lots adjacent to the Beaver River.
“The OPP will have an enhanced presence this weekend, beginning on Friday night and through the weekend,” said Gibbons. “We are hoping that if we start to communicate this message today, we will be able to minimize the amount of people that come to the area if they realize that they formally used to access the river through town properties or conservations properties, they will hopefully stay home and deem this as non-essential travel.”
TBM staff are also working to determine what happens if individuals are physically in the river, as opposed to along the shoreline.
“I still believe that if there is a group of five or more or physical distancing is not taking place, that the OPP can address it but that is something we are working out the fine details with the enforcement staff,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons added that signage will be posted at the sites and town staff will also be patrolling the area to help inform residents.
“We are hopeful that people will respect the closures and private property. But, we are also going to identify that there is going to be a significant amount of enforcement and staff in the area,” he said.
TBM will also be working with the local anglers associations to help communicate the closures to those who may be planning to come to the area to fish.
“This is not a decision Ryan [Gibbons] and the staff have taken lightly but understanding that if you only have a few properties exposed, you will still get the masses and they are going to congregate in those areas,” said Shawn Everitt, CAO of the TBM. “The goal in this is to get the message out early and eliminate those people from coming up.”
“I think closing off some of those areas will be a big deterrent for people coming up, but only if they know about it. The communications piece is important,” added Mayor Alar Soever.
