Oshawa pier may close to public
Officials are reviewing the 1986 agreement that made the pier open to the public. Owners wanted to cut off access after 2017 mishap
Liability issues on the Oshawa pier adjacent to Lakeview Park may result in the pier’s closure to the public.
The pier is owned by the Oshawa Port Authority. The port and the City of Oshawa has a promenade agreement dating back to 1986 allowing for public use of the pier, which sits on the west side of the Oshawa harbour.
After local fishers complained about being fined for using the pier in the winter when it is closed by the city, the port authority and city began discussing the agreement. However, on March 26 the port authority notified the city via a confidential letter that the port’s insurance broker had recommended that public access to the pier be eliminated due to an incident that oc- curred in 2017 involving a tugboat.
Oshawa is part of the Durham Municipal Insurance Pool and has been advised by the pool supervisor of risk not to accept liability for activity on the pier.
At the most recent Community Services Committee meeting, councillors recommended the city work with the port authority to revise the promenade agreement and to investigate options for public access to the pier.
Oshawa resident and waterfront advocate Larry Ladd said he was at the lake when the incident occurred last summer.
At the time, a tugboat was bringing a ship into the harbour when the ship was forced to release the line between the ship and the tugboat as the tug was too close to the pier. When that happened the rope hit the pier railing, damaging it.
“The rope got caught in the piping and ripped it off the very end of the dock,” said Ladd, who added that there were people walking on the pier when the incident occurred.
Ladd said he believes the pier should remain open to the public and said a solution would be to keep port operations on the east side of the harbour.
He pointed out that local fishers complained about access to the pier in the winter and said he believes the port authority is looking to keep the public off the pier altogether.
“As I read the document here, they just want it closed, period,” he said of the Oshawa staff report on the issue.
Donna Taylor, CEO and president of the Oshawa Port Authority, said via email that the port authority will be seeking input from its insurers on best practices for vessels manoeuvring in the entrance channel.
She said the incident with the tugboat was a very unusual event that nevertheless had to be examined from a risk-management context.