Large rocks staying on beach — for at least a year
The caplin were rolling in Chapel’s Cove this week. However, rocks in a controversial wall on the beach there haven’t rolled anywhere.
The town has decided to “let it go for a year to see if it will stop the wave action,” Coun. Ray Hawco explained Friday.
As The Telegram reported in May, 222 people signed a petition this past spring protesting the rock wall put in place to protect a road from the debris and force from waves.
The residents thought the large boulders ruined the look of the beach’s barrasway, and that the jagged edges posed a safety problem.
Hawco says council met the group behind the petition and explained the rocks were staying to see if the wall did what it was supposed to.
“That’s basically what we told them,” he says. “We’re exploring other avenues now to see if I can get some of the other dangerous parts of the beach addressed.”
Now all the residents are satisfied with that.
Patrick Whelan, who was involved with circulating the petition, says he definitely wants the rocks removed.
“We’re still pushing ahead for it to happen,” he said Friday.
In the next week or so, Whelan intends to provide “another update to the people of Chapel’s Cove about what’s going on.”
He notes that all members of council don’t agree with keeping the rocks there either.
“I think the feeling over there among council is mixed,” he says.
Chapel’s Cove is a community within the Conception Bay town of Harbour Main-Chapel’s Cove-Lakeview.
The town received just over $50,000 in provincial funding to put a “double row of large armour stones” along the beach as a protective wall, as recommended by a consultant.
Whelan believes council’s inaction stems from that money.
“I think what they are afraid of is, if they reverse that decision and take them off the beach, that they won’t get anymore funding from Municipal Affairs,” he said.