The jersey barriers at Sauble Beach have been removed and South Bruce Peninsula Council has given approval to the Friends of Sauble Beach to put up more posts and ropes along the dunes.
Instead of the concrete jersey barriers that had been in place for the past two summers, there will be flexible delineators (white posts with reflectors on them) and “No Parking, No Stopping, No Standing” signs.
Back on December 6th, council received a delegation from the Friends of Sauble Beach, who told council they have submitted a grant application to Lake Huron Forever with the aim of completing a rope and post project on the beach.
The friends of Sauble Beach told council they would also pay $5,000 for sand fencing, with the aim of keeping the sand on the beach.
Council gave approval to the group for the rope and post project and directed staff to report back to council with regard to the installation of sand fence that the group is proposing.
Years ago, the group installed wooden posts and ropes along the east side of the dunes, between the beach and the parking spaces. Since then, in the area between the Crowd Inn and roughly Chesley Lane, the sand has shifted into the parking spaces, beyond the ropes and posts.
Over the past few years, the previous council had been looking to cut several feet into the dunes to regain those parking spaces, citing pedestrian safety concerns on the busy beach front road. They also wanted to build a retaining wall in the hopes of keeping the sand from leaving the beach. That plan was met with some public resistance, which included a protest in December of 2020.
Now, staff are also working, at this new council’s direction, to see if the sand that is removed from the parking area can be placed back on the beach. Part of that process is to figure out what makes sand considered to be ‘contaminated’ by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF). If it’s deemed to be contaminated, it would have to be trucked away.