July 20, 2018
South Sauble Cottager’s Association Inc.
To Chief Lester Anoquot
And Council and Staff of Saugeen First Nation.
6493 Highway 21, Southampton, Ontario N0H 2L0
By way of background South Sauble Cottager’s Association Inc. represents the cottage area which is a portion of “Block A “area and starts at the beachfront at the Town of Sauble’s main gate and ends at the French Bay road entrance. Approximately 425 lessees are in this area and South Sauble cottagers are a founding member of Saugeen Cottagers Organization Inc.
We are writing to request your kind consideration of a number of issues raised by our South Sauble Cottage Association members. Our cottagers care deeply about the stewardship and health of the beautiful beach and it is with this in mind that we share the concerns they have brought to us.
- Many daily visitors do not seem to respect the cottagers or the beach itself, as evidenced by their use of the sand dunes and even cottage properties as toilets.
- There are numerous large groups of 20 or more which are often characterized by drunkenness, lewd behaviour and brazenness, with a sense of entitlement of use after paying the nominal $20.00 fee vs. our annual fee.
- Garbage and broken glass has to be cleaned up regularly in the morning, as well as used toilet papers. (the garbage crews do not usually check into the sand dunes) There are now many bottle caps, cigarette butts and other debris
embedded in the sand. - Access to the beach by cottagers is being obstructed by the many large groups of 20 or more, who back in, open their trunks, set up tents and block off areas and paths. Some have even “borrowed” cottager chairs.
- There have been “overnight campers”, especially on the long weekend, and they often party almost all night, as there is no visible enforcement of the beach curfew. We seldom see Security cars patrolling even during the day.
- Crowd control, especially on the long July weekend, is clearly an issue, as when the beach was (necessarily) closed at noon one day, visitors used private driveways and parked alongside roads and Second Avenue, which was an emergency access concern in many areas.
- With the narrowing of the beach, about one-third of it is now blocked off to cars, crowding the visitors into an even smaller area, which is clearly unfair to those cottagers who must now accommodate them.
- We are concerned that the regular scraping of the beach to create a berm, has created a wetter beach, compared to the dry sand previously, and this appears to have encouraged growth of beach grasses in this area, worsening the problem.
We do feel that the garbage crews are doing a good job overall in trying to keep the beach clean of garbage. It was very much appreciated that they did a pick up run around 11 pm on the long July weekend as many of the visitors just left bags along the
beachfront and the seagulls would have certainly made a mess of them.
Access to the beach and enjoyment of its beauty for all of our cottagers is being negatively impacted by these concerns and we would appreciate the opportunity to discuss them with you and, if you wish, work together on potential solutions.
Chris J Ball
President , South Sauble Cottager’s Association Inc.
19 Edgemore Drive Toronto
My email is: cball@corpfinance.ca|
or Email Sharon Collie: sharonmcollie@gmail.com