Paterson Park

WATERFRONT ACCESSIBILITY DOWNGRADE according to a moronic report to Council last Tuesday night.

Get this:

Other City owned locations used by the public for swimming but not designated for swimming includes [sic]: Esplanade Park, Everitt Park, Patterson Park and Confederation Park. .... In non-designated swimming areas the signs will indicate that swimming is not permitted. Both designated and non-designated swimming areas will restrict certain activities, such as diving, due the potential. [sic]

Swimming flat-out prohibited at Esplanade Park, Everitt Park, and Patterson Park. Can you imagine?

City Hall in the Harvey Rosen era is led by idiots!

THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT REPORT for the Wolfe Island Wind Project is now online.

It looks like the cable will land in Sand Bay on the Kingston side, and won't be going through Paterson Park Shoal as many had feared.

Paterson Park Shoal is one of our prime windsurfing wave sailing spots.

TWO TAKEAWAYS FROM THE WIND PROJECT OPEN HOUSE:

Firstly, for swimmers and windsurfers, it looks like they will be drilling at an angle from the shore outwards, and not trenching through the shoal at Paterson Park. That's good.

Secondly, those wind turbines are huge!. The rotors sweep a circle 93m in diameter, and the highest rotor point is 123m minimum, which of course will be visible from some distance.

REMINDER: THE PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE for The Wolfe Island Wind Project is this Wednesday, March 28, 2007 between 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Ambassador Conference Resort, 1550 Princess Street, Kingston.

In short, current plans lay the 237 kV cable right through one of Kingston's best lakefront swimming holes. Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.

Patterson Park, shelf and shoals

Photo: KMAPS

Yesterday The Whig Standard published this Notice of Application and Hearing for the underwater cable (see diagrams) that will link the Wolfe Island wind project with the mainland. People have until March 16th to make presentations of concerns on the matter, and until April 5th to send letters.

A notable point of contention is the plan to pass a 230 kV power cable through one of the best swimming spots on the Kingston side, on the mostly smooth flat rock off Paterson Park.

Could this please be done in a sensible and respectful manner, to minimize the possibility of flaking and erosion of the layered limestone bottom, both short and long term? Can we please pick the best place and best way to come ashore, one which might be just a few dozen metres one way or another, in recognition that people of all ages should be swimming barefoot there, say, for the next few centuries of summers?

Everyone concerned about this popular swimming/windsurfing area off the point near Paterson Park should send their comments to the Ontario Energy Board before April 5. You can send an email outlining why you think cable routing should absolutely respect people's continued long term bare-footed recreational use of the smooth flat-rock reef to boardsec@oeb.gov.on.ca. Be sure to include the file reference number EB-2007-0034 in the subject of your email.

Also City Councillor: Dorothy Hector
E-mail: dhector@cityofkingston.ca
Home Phone: 613-634-1732

Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.

Paterson Park, shelf and shoals

Photo: KMAPS

More generally, see an interactive map of Kingston's waterfront parks.

THERE'S INCREASING CONCERN FOR PATERSON PARK SHOAL, one of the best spots for swimming along the Kingston waterfront, and an exquisite sailboarding wave break.

The Wolfe Island Wind Project currently proposes to run its ~230kV cable in a trench through there.

Considering the underwater portion of the cable is already 7,500m long, surely doing a Smart Thing is possible.

Click here for diagrams and links to background materials.

Big waves off Paterson Park

Photo: Dave Mody

Paterson Park, shelf and shoals

Photo: KMAPS