An abandoned dock is creating a massive headache for sailors and paddlers down at Cherry Beach, causing grief for local boaters.
Shona Chornekni sits on the board of the Water Rats Sailing Club and says they have sent out a series of notices to the City about the hazardous structure, but they’ve been left waiting for something to be done.
“It’s quite troublesome because it’s drifting in closer and closer,” she says.
“We are a sailing and paddling club, so we are dependent on the current and the wind, and we can’t necessarily always go around it.”
CityNews first reached out to PortsToronto about this issue in February. The federal agency says the dock has been on their radar for quite some time, noting it was placed on City of Toronto property last fall “without the required permissions.”
“PortsToronto made efforts to pull the dock off the beach, but the structure was firmly aground at the time. We have repeatedly engaged with the dock owner however, there has been no resolution to date,” they said at the time.
PortsToronto said they would continue to work with the City and pressure the dock’s owner to get it taken care of by the 2025 boating season, but they did not say if the owner will face any fines or other penalties.
“Their failure to do so will result in PortsToronto removing the structure as soon as operationally feasible,” PortsToronto said in a statement to CityNews on May 30.
“People are getting frustrated,” said Chronekni. “I know there’s a lot of stuff happening right now, but this is just going to get more difficult to remove, and and the summer is just a short little season.”
