Lake Simcoe is a treasure for the people of Innisfil and beyond, but tensions are running hot over who can access it.
The Town of Innisfil and other lakeside municipalities have tried to dissuade day-trippers from outside Simcoe County by limiting parking and water access.
Despite this, over the June 27 weekend, the town turned away 733 non-resident vehicles trying to enter Innisfil Beach Park. Another 130 parking tickets were handed out.
Town-owned boat launches have been restricted to residents only or closed entirely.
Wil Wegman is a Canadian Angler Hall of Fame member and a well-known advocate of Lake Simcoe. He has some concerns about limiting access to the lake.
“It's a publicly owned resource managed by a provincial agency for the people of Ontario,” he said. “In my view, local municipalities do not have the right to prohibit or severely impact access to the point where you're driving most people away.”
In the time of COVID-19, public health and resident safety are the priority, but Wegman said it’s been a trend before now.
Recently, parking prices increased at Innisfil Beach Park to $10 an hour, up to a maximum of $50. Town-owned lots at Shore Acres Drive, which is heavily used by ice fishers, charge $7 an hour, up to a maximum of $45.
Wegman said the costs are comparable to parking in downtown Toronto.
“Anglers feel like they're being gouged,” he said. “We look at boat launches as the free carrot to get us into local communities."
He feels that "not-in-my-backyard" (NIMBY) voices, rather than the benefits of tourism, have caught the ear of local decision makers.
“It’s still a tourist destination, and the local residents, I think, have a hard time coming to grasp with that,” Wegman said. “They believe it's their lake …(but) it's for the benefit of all to use.”
Mayor Lynn Dollin said the current situation is not about penalizing visitors.
“It's a struggle because we want to be able to keep our amenities open for people,” she said. “But, at the same time, we want to keep everybody safe.”
People were more understanding at the start of the pandemic, but, as months pass and nice weather returns, pandemic fatigue has set in.
“We're not good at the middle ground,” she said.
Dollin noted the town is losing money due to the loss of parking revenue at Innisfil Beach Park and needing more staff to manage the situation there.
“To have this conversation pre-COVID and post-COVID, it would be a totally different story,” she said. “We've always welcomed tourists into Innisfil Beach Park.”
Asked if she thinks the current approach to visitors will affect tourism in the long term, she said this time will leave a lasting effect in many ways.
“It'll be a long time before we all convert back to ... what we were before COVID.”
Shane MacDonald, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Barrie Advance
