North Hatley beach fence dividing the town

The bulk of North Hatley’s council meeting on Monday evening involved a lengthy discussion about access to the municipal beach.

Citizens are upset that, after years of unfettered access to the beach during the summer, the town, which has undertaken management of the public beach for the first time in over 50 years, is locking the gate outside of supervised hours.

In recent council meetings, the town explained to citizens that the decision to lock the gate was an effort to ensure the safety and security of beach users.

When citizens balked at the town’s safety defense, North Hatley went the extra step of obtaining a legal opinion regarding liability exposure relative to the management of the beach.

The opinion, provided by Monty Sylvestre, conseillers juridiques inc. was made public at a special council meeting held on July 4.

Citizens had the week to read the opinion and bring their questions, concerns and suggestions to Monday’s meeting.

In general, the opinion suggested that liability could be an issue if the town were to tolerate or allow access to the beach outside of operating hours.

The town has dug its heels into the sand, insisting that since a fence is in place, they have a legal obligation to use it to prevent unsupervised access and avoid liability if there were ever to be an incident on the property.