Help to save the Bay Beach Properties from falling into private ownership!

At the present time the Town of Fort Erie is entertaining the idea of selling off the adjacent parcels of Bay Beach which are presently used for public parking.  We believe it is a terrible mistake to sell public property that is now and always has been an important recreational site for the general public to private developers.  The Town says they want a return on their initial investment.  Our question to them is why has that never been the case for their investment in the Friendship Trail, the Sugar Bowl Park, the River Walk, the landscaped median on Garrison Rd., etc?  The Bay Beach property gets more use than any other recreational venue in the Town of Fort Erie.  By the Town's own commissioned Parking Study they have been told that on a warm sunny day the beach has approx. 1000 people on it.  On a warm sunny weekend day it will have 2000 people on it.  We have also been assured there will be public access to the beach.  Our answer to that is just look at our Town's history of upholding public access.  What was once a public access point at Lakewood Ave. which was used by cottagers and visitors to the beach for decades was sold off a few years ago to private ownership.  The public access to our lighthouse at the end of Pt. Abino was also sold away to private ownership.  It is quite clear that public access is never assured.  The other point the Town likes to use as its rationale for selling off the public land, is that this private development will revitalize and create a synergy that will be a catalyst for bringing back Crystal Beach.  Our response to this is that a much larger development was established in Crystal Beach approximately a decade ago and we now have one business left on Derby Rd., restaurants have changed hands 2 and 3 times and more vacant store fronts have appeared.   If development is going to be the catalyst there are presently 2 new developments being advertised in our community.  There are large areas like the one on Ridgeway Rd. that will eventually be developed.  The simple fact of the matter is people are attracted to this area because of the wonderful "gem" we have in Bay Beach.  We do not see the logic in lessening their opportunity to use it. 

• You can help us to let the Town know we are against selling off any of the public lands to a private developer by doing any or all of the following things:
• Add your name to one of our petitions that can be found in area businesses.
• E-mail the council and mayor and tell them of your position on this issue.  The names and addresses can be found below.
• Join us at the Monday July 21st Council Meeting when this issue will be discussed and presentations made.
• Write and editorial to one of our three local papers stating your opposition to the sale of any of the Bay Beach property.

These are your elected public officials, they need to hear loud and clear their constituency's feelings on this issue!

This is a copy of a portion of an email I sent to Mayor Martin regarding the sale of ANY of the Bay Beach property.

Mayor Martin,

It has been a very busy weekend as my email box has been filled and my phone ringing off the hook.  But I understand as this is a very important issue to this community.  We believe the recent action by the council is "shortsighted" and will ultimately hurt this community for generations.  Obviously you have seen our reference to the Pt. Abino Rd. situation regarding access to the lighthouse.  We see this latest Bay Beach situation as the second coming of a decision similar to that.  You know how that decision still "haunts" this community to this day.  The lure of a quick monetary return must be weighed against the long term value of holding on to the property so that the beach can be maximally used by our Greater Fort Erie community as well as the Niagara Regional community and those that come to us as tourists.  We do not come to you as adversaries, we come as active and concerned members of this community who know the dynamics of this situation better than most.  We sat on the Neighborhood Planning Committee, know the inaccuracies of the Watson study which we presented to the last council and mayor, we know the results of the town generated parking study, as well as the quality of life study done right after the Neighborhood Planning Committee ended.  There is a great deal of factual data that this council or yourself as the new mayor have not been introduced to.  Our position is not against development if done wisely.  We have plenty of room in this community for that to happen.  If this is to revive Crystal Beach as some people believe, there are plenty of places for that to happen while not removing/reducing access to a key property that brings more people to it than any other recreational venue in the community. There are two areas already designated for development now; one on Schooley Rd. and one on Erie Rd. past the Bay Beach Club.  The vast expanse of land on Ridgeway Rd. across from the CBTYC sits waiting to be developed. The strip of land that now serves as a private parking lot for the beach is another spot waiting to be developed.  Which by the way will then remove another 200+ parking spaces now being used by the beach goers.  We also live with the costly errors to our community made by "developers" of the past.  We sit with a barren weed strewed "development" on Smalls Rd. where the shells of 2 or 3 homes sit vacant for a third year.  We drive by 6 town houses that sit in various states of completion behind the public parking lot on Erie Rd. near Derby Rd. with no sign of any work being done on them.  We see mounds of dirt and weed filled expanse on Ridge Rd. and Thunder Bay Rd. and can only shake our heads.  This may give you an understanding of why some people become less than passionate about their public land falling into the hands of another developer.  I welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Paul Lewis

President

Friends of Crystal Beach

Bay Beach Properties in Jeopardy Again!

On Monday June 9th the Fort Erie Council along with our Mayor voted to revisit the issue of selling off the Bay Beach properties to a private developer.  This was discussed and voted on by the previous council which decided that the Town would keep the Bay Beach property on both the North and South sides of Erie Rd.  This decision was made after listening to Town Staff's proposal and then hearing our communities rationale for keeping the property in public hands.  We were not given any notice of this latest move and only found out about it from reading the local papers.  On Monday June 16th a delegation representing our FOCB organization went before Council and requested the opportunity for our community to provide the necessary data and input regarding the reasons why the entire Bay Beach property should remain in public hands to this new council and mayor.  There are many points to be made and we will be prepared to do that at the following council meeting.  The council responded by allowing us sufficient time at the next council meeting on Monday July 21 to present facts and figures that have been gathered over the last few years, along with the reasons we believe the Bay Beach property(not just the beach and access way)should remain in public hands.  We ask that you clear your calendar for that evening and make time to show your support of our community.  You may also call Town Hall and ask to be placed on the agenda if you feel they should hear your position on this issue.  You may do this by calling Carolyn Kett at 905-871-1600 ext. 2211.  

The council voted in this manner on the issue: Mayor Martin, Councillors Martha Lockwood, Rick Shular, Tim Whitfield, Sandy Annunziata voted in favor of exploring selling away the lots on the north side and south side of Erie Rd. while Councillors Ann Marie Noyes and Robert Steckley voted against the idea. We ask that you make your feelings known to your elected Council and Mayor by emailing or calling them at:

Doug Martin - mayor@town.forterie.on.ca      home phone - 905-871-9043   work - 905-894-8905

Martha Lockwood - mlockwood@town.forterie.on.ca    home phone - 905-894-8180

Rick Shular - rshular@town.forterie.on.ca    home phone - 905-871-5579

Sandy Annunziata - sannunziata@town.forterie.on.ca      home phone - 905-994-1062    work - 905-356-6709

Tim Whitfield - twhitfied@town.forterie.on.ca     home phone - 905-894-8904     work - 905-894-9327

Ann Marie Noyes - anoyes@town.forterie.on.ca     home phone - 905-382-2352    work - 905-382-7827

Bob Steckley - bsteckley@town.forterie.on.ca   home phone - 905-871-7531   work - 905-871-7912

We do not want a short sighted decision to negatively effect our community now and for generations to come much like the mistake of selling off the Pt. Abino Rd. to the lighthouse was.

Spring Clean Up Day

On Saturday May 17th "The Friends of Crystal Beach" took a page out of the Postal Departments book "no rain, snow or sleet will prevent the job from getting done".  Twenty-seven members along with other community minded folks came out to "spruce up" our neighborhood.  It was a multi-tasking day as some of us joined forces with Councilor Bob Steckley and the Re Leaf Niagara Project to plant 15 trees in Waterfront Park.  At the same time Sally Graves, Mary Ann Strath, Chris Graves and Bob Strath worked on getting our banners back up along Erie and Ridgeway Rds. The remainder of our work crew spent the morning picking up garbage, debris and litter in Waterfront Park, Queen's Circle, the Ashwood entrance to Crystal Beach, and Erie, Ridgeway and Derby Rds.  Our hats off to: Kathryn Wilson, Garett & Kathy Reid for Chairing this annual event, Lise-Anne, Robert and Carl Weaver, Carrie, Chase and Cole Galvin(Chase & Cole were our youngest members being 4 & 6 yrs. old), Lori & Craig Keith, Terry Unger(our  most senior helper at 86 yrs. young), Paul and Donna Lewis, Winnie Swalm, Ruth Bruyns, Judy LaCroix, Carl Uloth, Lois Wilson, Martha Lockwood, Jonathan Whitton, Garnett McKay and Carol for helping us make the community shine!

We are very pleased to announce that our organization has been selected to receive a $5000.00 environmental grant by the Niagara Community Foundation.  This grant is to be applied to help protect and restore the ecological health and integrity of Bay Beach.

This architectural rendering is for a portion of the Buffalo waterfront.  Wouldn't something like this make the Bay Beach property look so much nicer and truly represent our community in a positive way?

We have this. . . . . .

Why not something more like this. . . . . . . .

We have had to live with this for 7 years. . . . . going on 8!!!  We have to be able to do better than this!

Why not something more like this multi use community building instead?

These are found in places where the muncipality realizes the value of beautifying the parks they own.

What was that about, "If you build it they will come"?

Why is it that those who came before us more than 100 years ago could have created something like this for the community while we look at what is pictured in the photos above?

OUR 2007 YEAR IN REVIEW

This year we added two new projects to our slate of "things to do" in 07.  With the intent of beautifying our community, we set out to assure that decorative banners would be displayed on two of our main thoroughfare roads: Erie and Ridgeway Rds.  By mid summer we had 19 banners welcoming all to Crystal Beach.  Our second project was to environmentally enhance Bay Beach by planting native grasses and shrubs to the fence line along Erie Rd. We hope this will be step one in improving the existing conditions at the Bay Beach property. We kicked off the spring with a neighborhood clean up day.  Volunteers donned gloves and work clothes then invested a bit of "sweat equity" to get the area looking sharp for the summer months to come.  We continued our partnership with the Fort Erie Arts Council in bringing the 3rd Crystal Beach Art Festival to fruition.  We sponsored our 4th Waterfront Park Concert Series which has grown in popularity throughout the entire Niagara Region.  Again our organization helped fund the Crystal Beach Festival.  We held our 2nd 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament for the youth of our area. Members of our organization stepped up to deal with a rash of vandalism in the community by taking a Saturday morning to paint over graffiti that had been put on several of the businesses on Erie Rd. We staged the 2nd Annual End of Summer Celebration and Parade which doubled in size this year.  October saw the coming of our 3rd Crystal Beach 5K Race/Walk which like the parade also grew in number of participants and spectators.  Our partnership with the Crystal Beach Public School continued to grow and flourish.  Our CBIA has graciously provided insurance coverage for all of our major events and we appreciate their continued support.  And finally we were happy to see our membership grow with new individuals/families joining us in trying to make our community shine and be one we can all be proud to call home.

      We have contracted Bill Spear to put in serviceberry, amur shrub maples, sedum and feather reed grass for this year.  We believe It will aesthetically improve the look of Erie Rd. and the beach entrance while also providing a wind break to reduce the sand that blows into the street in the fall and spring.  It is our plan to continue this project each year until it is equal to our beautiful Waterfront Park.

  As Spring brings with it warmer weather we will again begin to put up our community banners.  Last year we had 19 banners purchased/sponsored by various associations, businesses, families and individuals from our community.  We have already had orders for 3  more and it is our hope that others will come forward to help us beautify the main thoroughfares of Crystal Beach.   You can see from the photo above they are very attractive and will brighten up our community.  The cost is $290.00, which includes a two sided banner and all the hardware it will take to hang them effectively.  The GST and PST actually adds another $40.00 to the cost but the Friends of Crystal Beach has been able to pick that up so far for each banner purchased.  Each will have the name of your group on the lower portion of the banner.  The banners will be put up each spring and taken down in the fall and are projected to last a minimum of 3 to 5 years.  Our organization agreed to get things rolling by purchasing 4 of the new banners.  If you are a member of one of the numerous associations in the community, or a business owner, family or street group we ask that you join in the effort to make our community shine.  You may pledge sponsorship by contacting us at: plewis@buffnet.net or sending a cheque made out for $290.00 to Friends of Crystal Beach, P.O. Box 978, Crystal Beach, Ontario L0S 1B0.  Please specify how you want the sponsorship to read on the banner.  Thanks to Sally Graves for spearheading this community project.

 Norman and Barbara Cantor, The Kane Family, Crystal Wines, Burd Family, the Oakwood Ave. Neighbours, The Buffalo Canoe Club, the McCarthy & Panebianco Families, The Bay Beach Association, The Crystal Beach Hill Cottagers Organization, Crystal Beach Candy Co., Crystal Beach Public School, Crystal Artisan Village, Prudential Town Centre Realty Inc., Bob & Mary Ann Strath, The Crystal Beach Tennis and Yacht Club, the Jackson Family and The Friends of Crystal Beach (4).  

In 2006 we hosted the 2nd Annual Crystal Beach Art Festival  in Waterfront Park, held our 3rd Waterfront Concert Series, helped fund the Annual Crystal Beach Festival in which we staged our first "3 on 3" Basketball Tournament  for the kids in our community, held several neighborhood "Clean Up Days", honored some of the unsung residents who quietly work to improve their neighborhood with our "Good Neighbor Awards", provided funding for the beautiful floral arrangements throughout our town, revived the old Crystal Beach tradition of an "End of Summer" celebration, organized the 2nd Annual 5K run/walk in October.  In addition to those events we have formed a partnership with the Crystal Beach Public School in an effort to help with several projects they are taking on to benefit their students (i.e. helping the school purchase some needed kitchen equipment to restart a morning breakfast club for the students, aided in renewing the tradition of having an Easter Egg hunt for all Crystal Beach children on the school grounds this year and purchased a reading rug for the kindergarten). We also repainted the mural at the Ashwood Ave. entrance to the beach this Spring (see photo below).

---

Congratulations to all of our members for the terrific job you did through 2006.  Though there was much work involved there was also and awful lot of fun and satisfaction knowing that we are helping to make this a community people are proud to be associated with.  We look forward to another year of positive growth for both the "Friends of Crystal Beach" and the community as a whole. Come out and help us in 2007.