Wainfleet wants Region, NPCA to purchase Easter Seals camp
Wainfleet politicians are calling on Niagara Region or Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority to purchase the former Easter Seals summer camp on the shore of Lake Erie, where a condominium project is planned, to turn the cherished property into a public beach for generations to come.
At Wednesday’s township council meeting, politicians agreed to a call from resident Terry Maxner to take up Regional Chair Alan Caslin on what Maxner said was an offer to have the township approach the Region with the idea of purchasing the 14-hectare site through the Region’s waterfront enhancement strategy.
Some 12 years in the making, the condo project known as Lakewood Beach has galvanized opposition from many residents of Wainfleet who see it as the beachhead that could eventually bring a wave of big-city developments and threaten the township’s small-town, rural nature.
But township politicians say there’s little they can do to stop the project due to previous approvals by past township councils. They’ve imposed 61 conditions on the project before it can get final approval for the planned 41 condominium units.
The Region’s waterfront strategy’s genesis dates back more than a decade in the wake of prized lakefront properties including the Easter Seals camp being snapped up by private developers. Regional politicians at the time said they needed a pot of money to be ready to be able to move quickly to purchase lakefront properties when they went up for sale to preserve beachfront for the public.
The Region’s lakefront strategy, launched in 2014 with $1 million in funding per year available over a decade for projects that developers and local municipalities would cost share in, was designed to, among other things, enhance public access to waterfronts on lakes Erie and Ontario.
It was eventually expanded to include inland waterways, and more recently, its mandate was modified to stress projects that have the best economic impact potential.
Maxner said the Lakewood
property shouldn’t be allowed to be turned into condos.
“It’s a beach property,” he said. “We don’t have any more beach property around. Condos would be there permanently.
“The proposed Lakewood beach condominiums do not fit our character.”
At a community forum held in Wainfleet in April, Maxner said Caslin was told residents are opposed to the project.
Caslin suggested township council approach the Region to suggest purchasing the property to turn it into a public beach and said the region has money for that if it’s in the best interest of the environment and the larger community, Maxner said.
“He clearly stated that because of the majority opinion of residents has been against this particular development, this would be a good reason for the Region to seriously consider and designate regional funds to purchase this property for community use,” Maxner said.
Caslin also suggested NPCA could buy it, he said.
“Chair Caslin indicated that this property should be a benefit to all people in Niagara,” said Maxner. “This is a beautiful piece of property that could provide rare beach access to everyone in the region, as so many of our beaches have been closed due to privatization.”
The township worked with NPCA in 2014 to have six hectares of the old Easter Seals camp property acquired by NPCA and turned into the Lakewood Conservation Area, said Adam Cross, Wainfleet’s treasurer and corporate services manager.
Ald. Ted Hessels said the cost to purchase the 14 hectares could be hefty, and warned turning it into a public beach could have its own perils.
“You’re worried about 40 condos and the amount of people that will bring in,” he said. “If you have this Lakewood property turned into a park you’re going to have thousands of people come to this park and I’m not sure if the residents want that, either.”
The motion approved by township politicians noted the property is one of the last pieces of undeveloped shoreline on Lake Erie and said purchasing it would improve quality of life and recreational amenities while improving public access to Lake Erie for generations to come.
At the same meeting, some residents called on the township to do a better job of enforcing the conditions imposed on the property before final approval can go ahead.
Township chief administrative officer William Kolasa said staff will finalize a report for the first township council meeting in June. That report will be an “allencompassing, this-is-the-wayforward” document, he said.
Before that can be complete, township staff will be having meetings with the developer and consultants and working with external agencies, said Kolasa.