‘We need to share the waterway’: DiMarco
Fishing and swimming: that’s what people want to see on the Welland Recreational Canal, says John Chiocchio.
During discussion Wednesday night on a Go Quiet bylaw report, the Ward 3 councillor said every other activity that takes place on the 11-kilometre-long waterway, the former Welland Canal, can be left the way it is.
The report was to be received for information, with staff following direction given at the committee meeting.
Chiocchio wanted city staff to find a way to expedite a report and come back with information on fishing and swimming, instead of the five or six themes contained in the nearly 400page report on the bylaw.
The themes were discussed as items staff should look at during a committee meeting last week and come from a number of surveys, emails and public meetings held over the past several months.
“These are two key ideas … down the road we may be doing something else,” said Chiocchio, who would like to see a beach established in the area of the Lincoln Street docks.
He wanted staff to hone in on those two ideas in a report.
Mayor Frank Campion said fishing and swimming may be where staff lands with its report, but they weren’t the top two items on the list during public meetings.
Campion said the two ideas have generated a lot of interest though.
“We want to make sure we do the right thing here. Just because we think something is the right thing, doesn’t make it so. We have to make wise decisions,” he said, cautioning council to not rush things and make decisions that could end up being costly down the road.
Ward 4 Coun. Tony DiMarco, who made a motion to review the Go Quiet bylaw in May 2016, feels council was spinning its wheels when it came to the waterway.
“All is well and good for the current users, but people want to see growth on the canal,” said DiMarco, whose main issue is allowing anglers on the waterway.
He wanted to know when staff might bring back a report.
“When can we get a report on other activities that we could possibly have on our canal?” he asked.
City treasurer Steve Zorbas said the themes raised by the public could be in a report that would fall under the city’s recreation/culture master plan.
“We can determine the priorities in that plan … but it’s subject to council’s discretion whether they want things to be part of that plan,” said Zorbas, adding something could be before council in early 2018.
DiMarco wanted to see something quickly and said many times he’s gone to the Woodlawn Road bridge over the waterway and seen one person in a kayak only or an empty waterway.
“That is unacceptable, that person has a stranglehold on the whole waterway, which I think is unfair. We need to share the waterway,” he said.
Ward 2 Coun. David McLeod said the key issue is that one user group can’t be picked over another.
“We have to focus on the harmonious use of the canal. How much use can you have on it and keep things working,” said McLeod, who again raised the idea of using electric boats for anglers on the waterway as a possible solution.