If you thought the garbage and mess at Sunset Point left behind after the Canada Day long weekend was worse than usual, you’d be right.
According to Dean Collver, director of parks, recreation and culture for Collingwood, this was one of the busiest weekends (June 30 to July 2) the beachfront park has ever seen.
Collver said the town received several complaints about overflowing garbage cans and trash covering the park.
The town does schedule staff crews on weekends to take care of the town parks, from maintenance to garbage clean up, but this weekend, the usual efforts couldn’t keep up.
“The volume was overwhelming,” said Collver. “We definitely have to respond to what we saw.”
That means changing the strategy for keeping Collingwood parks clean during weekends and special events.
Collver said his department is already making plans to hire a contractor in the next couple weeks to take care of garbage and park clean up on weekends.
Sunset Point has a dedicated town staffer five days a week to stay on top of clean-up and maintenance. Collver said there are double the number of garbage cans at Sunset Point than at any other park in town, and there are also garbage removal facilities on site to deal with the excess trash.
Currently, the town will schedule staff to work weekends to keep up with the demand at the town’s parks, but that requires moving those staff from weekday to weekend shifts.
“It’s really just moving efforts around,” said Collver. “At this point, it’s not enough.”
Collver said the town will have a contractor in place at least by the August long weekend, if not sooner. This short-term strategy will “put pressure” on the parks, recreation and culture budget, said Collver.
“There’s not a lot of latitude in the budget,” said Collver, adding it will require tough decisions to stay within the annual budget allocated to the parks department.
Any longer-term solution for keeping Sunset Point clean during crowded long weekends will have to come from council’s budget discussions.
Collver said there are other conversations ongoing about the public use of Sunset Point.
“The volume presents new issues,” said Collver. “We’re seeing large groups at the park, bringing meals and cooking apparatuses.”
Collver is working with the Collingwood Fire Department to come up with ways of keeping the park safe for visitors and allowing as many uses as possible for the groups who come to spend the day at the park.
