Building more river valley beaches could cost millions, city report says

The city will likely have to pay millions of dollars to find out whether it’s possible to build more new beaches in Edmonton’s river valley.

Earlier this year, the city found six locations along the North Saskatchewan River that could be developed into more formal beaches following the popularity of Accidental Beach near Cloverdale.

But a city report says the assessment and design involved in finding a site could cost up to $4.8 million.

The six potential beaches are at Rundle Park, Capilano Bridge upstream from Wayne Gretzky Drive, upstream from the Fort Edmonton footbridge, Terwillegar Park, Accidental Beach (also called Cloverdale Beach) and Big Island.

The costs would include consulting with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Alberta Environment and Parks, looking for historical features and determining whether developing the sites would contaminate soil or create health risks.

The work would take two to four years, said the report, which will be reviewed by city council’s community and public services committee Wednesday.

Ward 5 Coun. Sarah Hamilton says it’s important to conduct thorough reviews of possible beaches.

“I really, truly love the idea of having riverfront access in the river valley — I really love it,” said Hamilton, who also serves as the city council representative to the River Valley Alliance.

“But what we saw in the first season of the Accidental Beach is that there were unintended consequences, not just to residents but to … conservation efforts as well.”

New beaches will likely destroy fish habitat within the North Saskatchewan River, requiring the city to construct habitat elsewhere, says the report, which doesn’t indicate how much this would cost.

Initial analyses will cost $150,000 to $200,000 per location, or up to a total of $1.2 million. The goal of the assessments would be to narrow the six possible beaches down to one or two.

Assessments and design work for these final couple of choices could cost between $1.4 million and $1.8 million at each location, not including fish habitat construction and contamination control.

ACCIDENTAL BEACH ATTENDANCE LOW THIS YEAR

The city provided new trash cans, security and parking restrictions this year to serve the expected crowds at Accidental Beach.

But as of July 17, there was only one day this summer when beach attendance surpassed 50 people.

Ward 8 Coun. Ben Henderson thought this may be because of the smoky summer or less fluffy sand.

He added it is important to understand whether good beach conditions could be expected yearto-year.

He believed more information should be available about the beaches before any costly assessments go forward.