Work is continuing on Wawa's waterfront.
Wawa Municipal Council received an update on the project during last night's Policy Committee meeting, with Brian Lachine - the Acting Director of Community Services and Tourism - noting work has begun on various aspects of the project, with some parts to continue to October, though much of the work is to be done this summer.
Plans include the demolition of the current Dr. Rose's beach house - to be replaced with accessible bathrooms - which Lachine notes will be accompanied by new sand on the beach.
Lachine also says staff are looking at replacing the Lion's Beach stairs, which are currently closed to public use over safety concerns.
Work is also underway on the "swales" along the waterfront - with the boardwalk to go by them and more vegetation to be added to make it look similar to marshland - and Lachine emphasizes the four along Dr. Rose's Beach capture about a quarter of the municipality's "stormwater".
Lachine adds that the outflow at Ganley Street puts out about 75 percent of the municipality's stormwater, so the swale at that spot plays a more important role.
The swales are designed to be cleaned by municipal staff as regular maintenance, though Lachine says the hope is the conversation will prompt people to think about what goes down municipal storm drains and take better care of our drinking water source, Wawa Lake.
When asked about the potential for a boat launch, Lachine emphasized that is not included in the current plans - which he called "phase one" of the Waterfront Project - but noted discussions have been held with the Ministry of Natural Resources about the idea, which could be included in a second phase of the project, though there's no timeline for that and it would likely be subject to outside funding.