Webster Falls neighbours fed up
Family living near park says increased access has made life almost unbearable
Living on the edge is an apt phrase to describe — figuratively and literally — how one family is coping with an onslaught of unruly visitors to the popular natural wonder next to their property.
“It’s beyond a nightmare,” Luc Lalonde says.
Lalonde, his partner and their three young children live at the end of Fallsview Road, where their land backs onto Spencer Gorge/ Webster Falls Conservation Area in Greensville.
After six years, they’re tired of the headache that has come with allowing public access to their land so that hikers can make the 20-minute journey between Webster and Tews Falls.
There’s a litany of grievances: nude photo sessions in their backyard; sex in the roundabout at the end of Fallsview Road; cars blocking their driveway; scofflaws cutting through their land; an intruder whom police had to remove.
The security of their twin boys and daughter, all 7 years old, is a big concern, Lalonde says.
There’s also the spectre of a lawsuit if someone is injured while venturing off the trail and onto their land, where they would be held liable, he adds.
“We just can’t take that risk … I mean, everybody’s off the trail. We just can’t control it.”
The Bruce Trail Conservancy is their partner in a “handshake agreement” for the roughly 100metre stretch of path.
The conservancy has no moral or legal grounds to hold any landowner to such an arrangement, CAO Beth Gilhespy says.
“If they wish to withdraw that permission, they can do that, and we respect that,” said Gilhespy, who heard about the property owners’ decision Monday.
Temporary fencing already blocks access to the 1-km trail, the bulk of which is made up of Hamilton Conservation Authority parcels.
Lalonde and his family aren’t alone in their frustration.
Other area residents have also complained about more traffic congestion, parking headaches, noise and litter.
The Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) itself, which wasn’t a party to the trail agreement but is steward of the natural area, is trying to discourage visitors to Webster Falls.
It’s concerned the influx is causing environmental degradation to the sensitive wilderness attraction. The HCA estimated Webster Falls hosted 140,000 people in 2015, up from roughly 80,000 two years earlier.
“Tourism is working,” CAO Chris Firth-Eagland said Tuesday. But the infrastructure — such as adequate roads — isn’t there to support it, he adds.
The HCA has tried to curb visits to Webster Falls by hiking parking/entrance fees and by trying to keep the park low key by not advertising.
Firth-Eagland attributes the falls’ increased popularity to social media, and, in part, the “selfie” culture it has proliferated. He says more than 80 per cent of visitors come from the GTA.
Those who want to park and experience Webster, Tews and the Dundas Peak in one shot can still do so by taking the roadway.
“Less scenic and a little longer,” Firth-Eagland said.
In 2013-14, the HCA spent about $80,000 to replace a set of old wooden stairs with new steel ones on the now-closed section.
Firth-Eagland suggests the structure could be redeployed at some point.
Coun. Robert Pasuta, chair of the HCA board, said agreements for that leg of trail have worked before.
But he understands why the current residents are reaching their breaking points with the spike in visitors.