By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
The 2021 tourist season seems to have begun — COVID-style.
Several seasonal restaurants are open, but for patio service only. Blue Heron Cruises are operating, but only as a water-taxi service, dropping people off at Flowerpot Island and picking them up.
Stores are open to sell non-essential goods, but at reduced capacities.
Almost everybody has had their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine; they’re all waiting for the second dose.
Real estate is changing hands like never before.
The Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula is trying to usher in a number of changes to the visitor management setup. Paid parking is being implemented in Lion’s Head (and also at Dyers Bay, Cape Chin North and Cape Chin South). A shuttle service will be operating in Lion’s Head, taking people from the parking lots at BPDS and the arena to a number of locations in and around the village.
The Agenda for MNBP Council’s June 14 Meeting indicates that a new online parking reservation system, called Park Pass, is proposed for the McCurdy Drive parking lot (Bruce Trail access for Lion’s Head Lookout). “This pilot is to test the effectiveness of online bookings for parking spaces at parking areas throughout the Peninsula. … The rationale is to develop a system that enables visitors and residents alike to plan ahead and book ahead, with the ultimate goal to reduce traffic and congestion at some of the busiest tourism sites on the Peninsula.” Parks Canada personnel are actively cooperating with this initiative, offering their experience from implementing a similar system at Head Of Trails parking lot (access to The Grotto).
Parks Canada will be expanding their parking reservation system for 2021; Halfway Log Dump parking lot will now also be “reservation only”.
Municipal Bylaw Enforcement personnel will be trying to enforce new 9:00PM curfews (or maybe they’ll be 10:00PM) at The Gap and Grant Watson Drive in Tobermory, as well as reduced (or eliminated) visitor parking at several locations, including Moore Street in Lion’s Head, Grant Watson Drive, Big Tub Road and Dunks Bay Road in Tobermory.
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The Agenda for MNBP Council’s June 14 Meeting makes excellent reading for anyone interested in municipal governance. It includes an Interim Report from MNBP’s Climate Action Committee, a staff report about the options for the McCurdy Street parking lot, and a 32-page Short-Term Accommodation (STA) report from Will Meneray of Canvas Strategies which summarizes the input from surveys and the two Public (Zoom) Meetings which were held in April.
To get to the Agenda, go to MNBP’s website; scroll down and select “Agendas and Minutes” at the bottom right; then select “Council — June 14, 2021”. The blue text items act as live links to the supporting materials (or you can select “Agenda Package” and download the whole 415 page document).
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Will Meneray’s STA report contains far too much information to summarize but here are a few highlights:
• There were 175 participants in the public meetings and over 700 comments were logged.
• Participants were sorted into categories: STA users/renters; STA owners/operators; and None of the Above (broadly: residents).
• More than half of participants (241 of 435) were STA owners or their customers.
• The largest single demographic group identified among the participants was STA owners from Tobermory (61 out of 435 participants).
• Broadly speaking, STA owners and their customers opposed most of the proposed regulation. Broadly speaking, non-STA owners favoured the regulation.
• The objectives of the proposed bylaw were defined as follows:
1 Ensuring occupants are provided with safe accommodations in terms of fire and building safety;
2 Ensuring STA premises are operated and maintained in sanitary and acceptable levels of interior conditions;
3 Ensuring STA Operators are aware of their responsibilities to comply with Municipality by-laws and other regulations; and,
4 Protecting the character, amenities and quality of existing neighbourhoods in which the STA is located.
The two sides of the debate did not even agree on these objectives. Will Meneray described the split as follows:
• Slight majority of STA users / renters and owners / operators opposed to the objectives of the bylaw
• Feedback generally pointed to concerns regarding the need for the bylaw in the first place (i.e., covered by existing bylaws)
• Many responses pointed to concerns regarding the consultation to-date (i.e., either it was insufficient or taking too long)
• Other feedback highlighted issues pointed to later in the survey (i.e., level of fees, administrative burden)
• Community uninvolved in STAs near unanimous in their support of the bylaw objectives
Next Steps: Staff will work the STA consultant Skelton Brumwell to prepare a report for Council.
