City to explore the possibility of multiple beaches
Feasibility study will consider facilities throughout river valley
Edmonton’s accidental beaches could multiply.
City councillors voted Wednesday to further explore the feasibility of encouraging multiple beaches for public use all through the river valley, replicating last year’s Accidental Beach in Cloverdale.
But that’s going to require Edmonton beachgoers to clean up their act, said Mayor Don Iveson.
“For me, quite frankly, the beach is a little bit on probation ... But if we can make this thing work, why wouldn’t we do a few of these up and down the river?” said Iveson, before voting to get a sense of the costs involved in an engineering study and a public consultation plan by August.
Accidental Beach in Cloverdale emerged again this year, although water levels are still high and water quality low.
At council’s executive committee meeting Wednesday, Cloverdale residents told councillors last year’s experience was marred by late-night parties, parking congestion, speeding, litter and people defecating in the bushes and in people’s front yards.
“There were cases where people just couldn’t wait to get home,” said community league president Reg Kontz. “It wasn’t just fouryear-olds. It was 24-year-olds.”
The city installed a portable toilet, but that got tipped over weekly, said resident Kristin Zabos.
Plus, the increased foot traffic around the beach had a major impact on the environment. It’s eroding the bank and scaring away wildlife.
“The birds, the waterfowl especially, but even on the trails where I ride my mountain bike, they ’ve all disappeared,” Zabos said.
City officials said enforcement was difficult last year because it was unclear if peace officers had jurisdiction on the beach itself, which is Crown land. That’s now been sorted out.
This year, peace officers will enforce bans on drinking and fires; they’ll also enforce the 11 p.m. curfew. The city is also looking at a parking control program, increased parking on 98 Avenue, and speed reductions throughout the neighbourhood.
SIX DIFFERENT LOCATIONS
A gravel bar along the river in Cloverdale grew into a long, sandy beach last year due to construction of a new LRT bridge just upstream. Large rocks placed in the river changed the current and deposited sand.
Many residents have asked city officials to keep the beach, perhaps by simply leaving some of the rocks in place after bridge construction is complete in 2020. The city report estimates permission for that could take four to six years.
A feasibility study looked at six different locations for beaches in Edmonton, all along existing sandbars, and concluded the Cloverdale option is the best in terms of slope stability and access to shore. Other beach-like sandbars of various sizes are located at Big Island, the Fort Edmonton Park footbridge, Capilano and Rundle parks.
Iveson suggested having multiple beaches could ease the impact on any one community. That might be as simple as supplying garbage cans and washrooms and publicizing the location of existing sandbars. It could also involve more rocks to change the flow of the river, if the engineering study is funded and suggests that’s a good idea.