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Tay's boat launch restricted to residents next year

Council wants to restrict the launch and parking to residents only and look into the cost of employing a towing company for handling infractions
2020-10-29-Boat-Launch-Warnock
Coun. Mary Warnock, who brought residents' concerns around boat launch parking to staff, moved to restrict the launch to Tay residents only. Mehreen Shahid/MidlandToday

Tay residents can now lay full claim to their boat launch.

A  committee of council gave staff the go-ahead to restrict the boat launch and parking around it to township residents in response to all the complaints that had been brought forward to elected officials over the years. 

"The biggest change that needs to happen is making it Tay-only," said Coun. Mary Warnock, who had recently brought the issue to council's attention. "Our residents are asking for access to the water. Going Tay-only will reduce the amount of traffic there."

Other council members were also on board with this decision.

"I think we just need to move forward," said Coun. Paul Raymond. "The one decision in my mind would be if it's Tay-only or not. I support Tay-only. Once we commit to that some of the other pieces will fall into place automatically."

Coun. Sandy Talbot agreed: "We're not in the marina business. We have ample marinas around our township that people can utilize to put their boats in. My thinking is our residents pay taxes in this township, if we have a boat launch, it should be for their use, not for every Tom, Dick, and Harry."

As for staff's recommendation of using a tag or sticker system, Warnock said she thought either could work and wouldn't require additional staff time.

"People aren't there just for an hour, they're there for a day. So when you're doing your checks, you can check for the sticker."

Coun. Jeff Bumstead was on the same page.

"I use Midland as an example; it's a tag and tow," he said. "I'm not seeing the need for additional staffing."

Rob Kennedy, municipal law enforcement officer, said a policy would be the answer to that.

"We would have to create some kind of policy for tag and tow for out-of-town users," he said, adding the parking bylaw will have to be amended to cover all of these changes. "It can be as simple as if you don't have a sticker, and you're in one of the designated spots, we can do a tag and tow or start with a ticket."

All of that, said Warnock, could be handled with proper signage, which could indicate anything from parking spots, boat sizes, and the fines for infractions.

Council did not support spending $17,000 for adding parking spots to the area, however, they asked staff to create an accessible parking spot on Veterans Lane.

"I don't support any additional parking at all; it doesn't sit well with me," said Coun. Barry Norris. "I don't see this expenditure being worthwhile."

Aside from going ahead with what staff had recommended, he said, the only other approach he could see would be a bit extreme.

"The only solution to this is to stop and close up the boat launch," said Norris. "You can block it off. We aren't in the marina business. We've gone through this for the umpteenth time."

Talbot said things may not get to that point.

"I think we could move ahead by trying this new system for a year and see how it develops," she said. "If it becomes problematic, then I would say the solution would then be to close it up. We need to try to work with our residents and then assess it again after the fall season."