By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
An unprecedented 1,350 responses to the survey on the future of Cobourg’s beach shows how important this issue is, Councillor Emily Chorley said at this week’s council meeting.
“It’s getting a tremendous amount of constructive comment,” Chorley said, the night before the survey was to close at 4 p.m. the following day.
Council decided to look into this question last spring, when it was deciding how – and whether – to open the beach during a pandemic, since the beach has long been a big draw for people from other communities. Though council went with the closure, much of the input from members of the community expressed resentment at the crowds who were seen to flock to town, fail to support local businesses and leave their garbage behind.
The input on the beach survey will be a major part of the next Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting, to be held March 2 at 1 p.m. From this discussion, Chorley said, “the committee can begin to form their recommendations. These will be provided to council as soon as possible.”
Chorley reminded everyone who is interested that members of the public are welcome to listen in on the virtual meeting, or even to arrange to appear as a delegation. For more information on this option, she said, contact Manager of Legislative Services Brent Lawson.