Richmond Municipal Council will draft a letter about the infrastructure needs at Pondville Beach Provincial Park.
At last night’s meeting in Arichat, council decided to send the correspondence, with input from
the Save Pondville Beach Provincial Park Committee, to Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau and Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton.
Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette said CAO Troy MacCulloch met with the group last week to identify deficiencies at the beach and added that the letter will be a first step.
Mombourquette said the letter can be posed on the municipality’s social media pages.
Residents formed the committee to push for upgrades, regular maintenance, and a long-term plan from the provincial and municipal governments for the Isle Madame beach.
Committee spokesperson Lisa Boudreau said the group is also trying to represent those who are unable to use the park in its current condition because of mobility and accessibility issues. She said washrooms, change rooms, and picnic tables need to be made fully accessible.
Boudreau said the dunes are shifting into the walkway, change rooms, and washrooms, and storm surges flood the current parking lot.
Among other problems, according to Boudreau, is that decking for a walkway was not properly remediated and is leaning over the rocks it was built on.
As for the bridge leading to the park, Boudreau said it is suffering structural fatigue.
Boudreau called the Pondville wharf a “public health and safety concern.”
To provide access without impeding on nature, Boudreau suggested higher walkways and moving the parking lot since it is part of the dune system.
In the short-term, the group is hoping the part of the wharf that is heavily damaged could be removed and replaced.
Along with an online petition available on its Facebook page, the group is preparing a petition which will be posted in locations around Isle Madame and circulated this summer, to be presented during the fall session of the Nova Scotia Legislature by the Richmond MLA.
The group also has plans to survey residents starting in the fall.
Recently, the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables has resurfaced a portion of the parking lot, two new porta-potties have been placed at the beach, and there is new fencing around the damaged portion of the wharf.