Back to the beach
Cleanup of popular waterfront near power cable site in Borden-Carleton almost complete
Residents of Borden-Carleton are expressing relief at the recent removal of tonnes of white armour stone placed on a popular local beach by Maritime Electric.
The land in question is owned by Maritime Electric, but locals have used it to access the beach there for years.
The stones were placed along the waterfront during the installation of the P.E.I.’s new power cables from the mainland. The cables come ashore there and connect to a facility further up the bank.
In July, a number of townspeople expressed frustration that, even though the cable construction was announced as completed, the stones were still covering the beach.
But the armour rock has since been removed and replaced with a wall of large chunks of red sandstone. A small picnic area has also been added and trees are being planted and grass re-sown.
“(Maritime Electric) really got on board and did what they promised to do. We’re happy about that,” said Borden-Carleton Mayor Dean Sexton.
It’s a vast improvement, added Laurel Palmer Thompson, one of residents who originally expressed concern to the Journal Pioneer.
“It looks a lot better than it did. I’m glad they stuck with their commitment and remediated the beach,” said Palmer Thompson.
“The area they created overlooking the beach is quite nice. It will give us an area to place chairs and picnic tables if we want to put something down there.”
Kim Griffin, spokeswoman for Maritime Electric, said Monday that the company originally placed the armour stone last winter to protect the shore from severe ice scouring.
“It is our property, but one of the things when we build the cable project was that we did tell the community that they would still have access to our beach and that we would restore it as best we possible could,” said Griffin.
The company, too, is pleased with how the remediation work went, she added, and it still intends to plant many trees in the small field above the shore.
Palmer Thompson did, however, say that that prior to the armour stones being installed there was a patch of dry beach at the site, even at high tide. That is no longer the case. The sandstone wall now extends over where that was, and water comes right up to the stone.
Also, the fire pit the company placed is also below the high tide mark.
But these are minor quibbles. Overall, the community is pleased to have the beach back, she said.
Now they just have to count down the days until next summer when they can take advantage of it again.