Concept Drawing
Halton Hills is conducting a public consultation survey and are interested in knowing more information regarding the current uses of the Fairy lake dock, and what you would like to see in the future. In response to your feedback from this survey, the Town of Halton Hills will be refining a concept and seek further input from interested residents before finalizing a plan.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact:
Mark Taylor – Senior Landscape Architect
Town of Halton Hills
Recreation & Parks Department
1 Halton Hills Drive
Halton Hills (Georgetown), ON L7G 5G2
Tel: 905-873-2601 ext. 2267
Fax. 905-873-1587
email: marktaylor@haltonhills.ca
Independent Free Press
Susan Jerome and her granddaughter Madison Jerome are pictured at Fairy Lake in Prospect Park in Acton recently, renting a canoe from Naomi McQuade.
Planning is underway to renovate the dock at Fairy Lake in Prospect Park in Acton so that people with wheelchairs or other physical disabilities can access the water safely.
The updated dock comes as a result of an awareness campaign led by Naomi McQuade, the Holy Cow Canoe Company’s general manager of Canoe Rentals.
The Holy Cow Canoe Company offers watercraft rental services at Fairy Lake, and McQuade was made aware of the issue in summer 2015 when a wheelchair-bound patron was unable to participate in canoeing with his family because of the dock’s rundown state.
“That was a turning point for me,” McQuade said. “Everyone needs to enjoy the water. He shouldn’t be left behind.’”
McQuade’s awareness of barriers facing people with physical disabilities is heightened because she is a Lyme disease sufferer, which can leave her needing a cane or wheelchair for mobility.
“Knowing the barriers in front of myself, I can really see and reflect on what other people see,” McQuade said. “If I do end up in a wheelchair, I want to still enjoy working here as a disabled person.”
In summer/fall 2015, McQuade started a social media campaign and wrote a letter to the Town of Halton Hills concerning the declining state of the dock, which attracted the Town’s attention.
“What they’re looking for as well is the ability for people in wheelchairs to be able to get into their canoes or kayaks, and do that either on their own or with minimal aid,” said Mark Taylor, Senior Landscape Architect with the Town of Halton Hills. Taylor is leading the Town’s Fairy Lake’s dock renovation project.
In the past, Fairy Lake’s dock would have been more accessible seeing as, instead of having steps, it features an asphalt ramp leading down to a flat dock at the waterline. Today, however, both the dock and ramp have deteriorated so much that they are becoming unnavigable for people with physical disabilities.
The Town is already planning more than a renovation, however.
In addition to modifying the shoreline and improving access to the dock via the parking lot, Taylor also talked specifically about building a ‘launching ramp,’ a device that would improve safe access to the lake for people with physical disabilities.
“It’s trying to look at alternative styles to just the traditional dock that you’d see up in cottage country,” said Taylor. “We’re trying to find something that works much better than what’s there right now, and certainly serves to make the area accessible, wheelchair accessible, and then also serves to give the waterfront area there a facelift,” Taylor said.
Some of this research has included looking at examples of other accessible docks, especially the new dock accessible dock/kayak launch in Beaverton, Ont.
Taylor is planning for the new dock with McQuade and Holy Cow Canoe because the company has interests in the project, but the Town is also open to working with other people or organizations and financial partnerships with interested parties.
Taylor says the town could begin construction in spring/summer 2017, but planning is still on-going.
For more info email marktaylor@haltonhills.ca