Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster said the municipality is in a land purchase deal that may host a new Bowmanville Boat Launch.
The existing launch has been closed all of this summer and will be for part of next summer for repairs, leading to a chorus of complaints from disgruntled recreational boat owners.
“Council made the decision to delay the boat launch. I didn’t agree with that. It was 6-1 vote, and I was on the wrong side,” Mayor Foster told Durham Post.
“The boat launch was unfortunately delayed by council because we thought we would have an opportunity to build a better boat launch in a far better location. The current location for the boat launch is not optimal – when lake levels are low it’s virtually impossible to launch. We’ve had several years where there were literally inches of water,” said the mayor.
“So we opted not to spend the money when we thought we could build a new far better one. I won’t say where because the old one is still a possibility, and in part, it was a land purchase which is confidential. We thought we were moving forward, but the budget came in far higher,” explained Mayor Foster.
He said Clarington has spent huge amounts of money – as we should – on hockey, soccer, the pools. “And folks that are into recreational boating and anglers tend to be an afterthought. We need to be fair with them as well. As much as it’s a lot of money, maintenance is not a big deal, and it’s not something that we do every year. I think if you looked at the cost amortized over, it is a worthwhile project”.
Please don’t let Kaitlin Homes take over the waterfront and make it a private club! It’s terribly sad that we lost such a beautiful spot when they purchased Bobby C’s.
Truly hope this confidential land purchase is in no way a benefit to Kaitlin.