Beaconsfield tries to make peace with resolution

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

Beaconsfield will examine its contracts with the two private yacht clubs on operating on public land in order to increase access to the lakefront properties for all Beaconsfield residents, city council announced last week.

At its monthly meeting Beaconsfield council voted unanimously to examine its contracts with the private Beaconsfield and Lord Reading yacht clubs and figure out the best way to allow Beaconsfield residents better access to the private clubs, which operate on land owned by the city.

“The whole resolution was (designed) to clarify and confirm council’s position on the yacht clubs,” said Beaconsfield councillor Kate Coulter. “It had always been our intention since we were elected to make them more accessible and this motion merely puts that idea in writing. Over the last few months, we’d been saying that in meetings and to residents and this was the best way to formalize that,” she said.

The city bought the Beaconsfield Yacht Club in 1966 for $175,000 and the Lord Reading land for $150,000 in 2001.

In the last two months, citizens, boaters and council have clashed over the costs of repairs to the aging seawall at Lord Reading, with some residents wondering aloud why Beaconsfield taxpayers were footing the bill for repairs to a club few could use.

Taxes have also been a major issue in Beaconsfield since some residents saw their property-tax bills rise as much as 30 per cent after the city de-merged from Montreal in 2006.

Coulter said she has some ideas on how to increase Beaconsfield residents’ accessibility to the yacht club, but said she would “prefer until I discuss them with council before I make them public.”

Beaconsfield Citizens Association president Karin Essen said funding the yacht clubs and allowing them to remain private robs Beaconsfield residents of their tax dollars and effectively subsidizes the non-Beaconsfield-resident members of the clubs.

“That’s pretty frustrating. A lot of people feel Beaconsfield is in dire financial straits after we got a huge tax hike last year and a lot of those dollars are going to the yacht clubs,” she said.

The city spent $760,000 to repair the roof at the Beaconsfield Yacht Club last year. The lakefront properties and buildings are both worth more than $1.5 million.

Essen suggested a good compromise would be for the clubs to charge Beaconsfield residents a standard fee and slap a surcharge on non-Beaconsfield residents.

“The recreation department can do it. Why can’t the yacht clubs?”

Beaconsfield Yacht Club manager David Speak said his club is open to more dialogue with the city on improving accessibility, but insisted that his club is open to the public as it is.

“We have an excellent relationship with the city of Beaconsfield and we’re certainly open to working with council to see where there are ways to make improvements for Beaconsfield residents. The thing is, we’re basically open to the public as it is now,” he said.

Contrary to perceptions, Beaconsfield’s yacht clubs aren’t all Thurston Howell III types swimming in money.

“We are a non-profit organization and everything do is supported by the membership who pay for everything, as opposed to community pools, where your registration fees are subsidized by the city.”

A junior membership at the club costs $75 - not out of line for kids’ activities and adult members pay a small annual fee and for storage of their boats

“That’s it. We’ve sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into the club, even though the land belongs to the city. If (boating) is what people like to do, this is where they can do it. And it’s cheaper than golf,” he quipped.