The BSRA Board of Directors have major concerns about many aspects of the Consultant’s Report.  Read the submission to ABCA’s board. Click here.

On Thursday Oct. 20th ABCA’s Board meeting was held and received the steering committee’s recommendation to scrap the consultants report. Unfortunately they choose not to accept the recommendation. It soon became apparent that many of the board members had not read the document and were not prepared on how to handle it. Mr. Metzger provided the board with a notice of motion for the next meeting Nov. 24th, to the effect that the board does not endorse the recommendations contained on pages 113 to 117 of the report. So now we wait. But there are still a lot of residents that have not sent in their comments. We now encourage you to copy the individual board members. It would also be helpful to include suggestions on how to improve the shoreline.For political E Mail address click here; smp-2016-political-contacts

Today the Consultants Recommendations that made up the draft document of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority ‘s Shoreline Management Plan update was scrapped by a motion made by BSRA rep Keith Locking and passed by the steering committee. It is expected that the ABCA Board of directors will accept this direction.

If you have been reading our E Bulletins and Newsletters, you will know that we have been advising our members to watch the process for quite some time. As the opportunity came for public comments we encouraged as many submissions as possible and can report that we received many copies of excellent letters. While they were various twists and turns in today’s proceedings, there were 6 presentations provided that drove home the concern and fear festering over these recommendations. I am sure I speak for everyone in applauding the passion and work that has gone into those presentations and also to those who have provided excellent advice and direction, within BSRA but also in the greater area serviced by ABCA. Thank you Keith Locking for representing us, Alex Macdougall for walking the beach collecting opinions, John Gillespie for representing Bluewater and George Irvin who clearly supports us.

The question of course remains as what happens next. The still needs to be an updated SMP.  Our best advice is that submissions to the ABCA moving forward should include suggestions on what should be the next Shoreline Plan. BSRA will be watching to see what happens next.

The Steering Committee have scheduled a meeting on Monday, October 17th at Crediton Community Centre, 38 Victoria Ave., Crediton beginning at 10 AM. This meeting is open to the public to observe. There will 15 minutes at the end of the meeting for questions or delegations who have contacted ABCA in advance.

The following links are for the document we are talking about:
Draft Shoreline Management Plan
as well as the accompanying
Draft Hazard Maps found in Appendix C
First, determine if your property is in Lakeshore Area 1 or Lakeshore Area 2 by identifying your location on one of the 31 Hazard Maps. (A red line denotes the Top of Bluff, purple denotes the eastern limit of Lakeshore Area 1 and yellow determines the 100 year erosion line and the eastern limit of Lakeshore Area 2). The Consultant Recommended Shoreline Development Guidelines found on Pages 113 -117 propose serious restrictions to all Lakeshore property owners within the ABCA watershed – from Tower Line Road in the north of Bayfield south to Kettle Point. BSRA has posted a resource document, BSRA Concerns about the Draft ABCA Document: Shoreline Management Plan 2016-Consultant Recommendation Report 

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