ERIE SHORELINE NIGHTMARE
Wheatley-area property owner says lake creeps closer to home with every storm
Steve Withers knew WHEATLEY to expect some erosion when he purchased a retirement property along the north shore of Lake Erie near this West Kent community. But he never expected the kind of damage that has occurred this year.
“I’m going to lose my house,” Withers said as he looked at a large section of his land that has already collapsed, leaving a small shed just centimetres away from sliding down the steep embankment into Lake Erie.
“Sure, you’re on the lake, you expect some erosion,” he said. But Withers, who purchased the property on Hiawatha Beach Road in April 2017, figures he’s lost about 60 feet of land within the past year. His property abuts the eastern edge of Wheatley Provincial Park. Standing on his property, facing west, provides Withers a bird’s-eye view of the erosion that has taken place along the shoreline of the provincial park for hundreds of metres.
Several trees have fallen into the lake and it’s only a matter of time before other trees meet the same fate.
Withers said a section of his property is experiencing a high rate of erosion because nothing is being done to protect the long shoreline of Wheatley Provincial Park. He said he’s made his concerns known to officials with the provincial park and with the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority.
“Everybody I talked to doesn’t want to hear about it,” he said. If he wants the problem addressed, Withers said he was told, “I would have to get a coastal engineer on my own money to get them to look at this.”
He added the advice he received from park staff was to move his shed.
But Withers is worried about the possibility of having to move his house, which he said he has put his life savings into after moving here from Peterborough to be closer to family.
“Ontario Parks continually works to protect our provincial parks and significant park elements including habitats, landscapes and species,” an Ontario Parks official said in an email response to Postmedia News. “We consider the need for provincial park protection on a caseby-case basis,” the email stated. “If park facilities are threatened by erosion we will consider taking the necessary protective steps based on assessments of environmental, esthetic, recreational and economic factors.” Ontario Parks also noted: “Erosion is generally caused by natural processes — such as fluctuating lake water levels — and can affect park facilities. We are continually monitoring shoreline erosion in provincial parks, including Wheatley.”
Jason Wintermute, Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority water specialist, said when it comes to paying for shoreline protection, “generally, it’s been left up to the property owners.” There is also an issue of liability. Wintermute said there are some cases where landowners have successfully sued over the impact a nearby shoreline protection had in creating a flanking situation, where erosion cuts back in on an unprotected property.
He said installing shoreline protection works for publicly owned properties is typically avoided. “That limits their liability from somebody coming along afterwards and saying, ‘You put that in there and now you have damaged my property,’” Wintermute said. From an engineering perspective, he said if you want to properly address the erosion, it does need to be a large, unified engineering works. He added this can be engineered to minimize impacts on downstream properties. However, Wintermute said an issue that can arise is public money being spent on something that is benefiting some private landowners.
High water levels and windy conditions have also taken a toll on a section of Withers’ shoreline he figured was protected by large cement blocks.
Not only have the cement blocks toppled, a wooden staircase is on the verge of collapse.
“I had a 10 (foot) by 20 (foot) deck down there, which turned into a raft and ... floated away,” he said, of a bad storm that hit in early May.
“The waves we’re hitting above the rocks, spray was coming 30 feet above the bluff and that was for almost two days,” he added. Wintermute said, “The last couple of years with the high water levels, it’s been able to cause more erosion than in the past.”
In fact, the conservation authority has issued several safety bulletins this year warning of strong winds creating wave action that could damage shoreline protection works and cause shoreline erosion.
Everybody I talked to doesn’t want to hear about it.