The community of Erieau is embracing a new water park proposed for the beach in Erieau, but residents and businesses still have some questions and concerns.
Chair of the Erieau Community Association (ECA) Sharon Pfaff told CK News Today that a residents meeting with the water park owners/operators and the municipality on Wednesday evening was very good and "overall the tone was positive." However, Pfaff said many residents and business owners have questions and concerns about safety, traffic volume, vandalism, permit approvals, and local endangered species.
"There are however still some outstanding questions such as the Ministry of Natural Resources approval process since Erieau has a unique ecosystem with endangered species like the Fowlers toad. There was also concern voiced about after hour vandalism and safety issues on weekends," said Pfaff. "There was concern expressed about their expectations to be ready to be open for business in a few weeks when in fact the federal application process will probably not even be approved at that point in time."
Pfaff said the ECA will be approaching Chatham-Kent police to determine if increased night patrols are needed to monitor the beach, at least initially.
She noted the company has committed a portion of the profits back to Erieau and that's a "positive aspect."
"The Erieau businesses will financially gain from the added visitors and the water park does sound like a 'fun activity' for a wide age range of people to enjoy!" added Pfaff.
One of the project directors and proponents, Michael Fife, also admitted that some permits are still required to move ahead, but insisted the plan is still to hopefully open the water park to the public by the middle or end of next month.
The attendees at the meeting also voiced concern about the ability to recruit lifeguards required to maintain a safe environment, but Fife told CK News Today safety is a top priority with life guards at the park to supervise customers and that was relayed at the meeting.
"We've been at this for eight months now putting together the safety plan and just making sure that the liability has been reduced as much a possible," said Fife. "We wanted to make sure that they were all well informed and that they had a chance to voice their opinions so we could get a better idea of how they think it should work as well."
Pfaff said many residents had concerns about a huge influx of people into the village at any given time, but the explanation of volumes, electronic scheduling in advance and two hour time allotments significantly reduced the concern.
Fife said the daily park capacity shouldn't be a problem with throngs of people invading the small community all at once but parking is an issue still to be resolved.
"We've heard things from the locals like there's going to be another 500 people a year. Well I would hope so, but that's well beyond the capacity for a day for us. It's not going to attract a huge amount of people at one time but over the summer it should," Fife said.
Fife said the plan is to put the proposed water park closer to the pier, in deep enough water, and away from the sediment build up.
He said improving the beach area, including the washrooms, is also something on the to do list and wants to partner with the yacht club or the ECA eventually to set up a ramp to launch kayaks and canoes on the bay side.