Belleville boaters taking action against city council

By Kristen Oelschlagel

Belleville city council could be heading into some rough waters if local boaters take legal action.

“It will cost both of us money at the start but if, as we expect, we are successful, we’ll get back a certain amount of that money and it’s going to cost the city more money,” said Larry Kurkoski, member of Meyers Pier marina.

Kurkoski and fellow boat owner Mike Twiggs addressed Belleville city council at their meeting on June 12. They were speaking on behalf of boaters at Meyers Pier who want to see security arms reactivated.

The security gates are positioned at the entrance to the boaters’ parking lot and the one-way road meant to be used only by boat owners so they can drive close to the docks. The arms of the gates were taken down to allow better access to the waterfront for the public, but some boat owners are saying it’s a breech of their contract.

In his speech to council, Kurkoski said there are two options. They can put the security arms back up and if they don’t want the arms, do it in the next year’s contract or else the boaters say they will go to the Ontario Municipal Board and file a class action lawsuit for a breech of contract.

“It constitutes an integral part of our contract,” Twiggs told council.

“We have to pay for passes to get through the 100-meter section of road and to have our own parking area, it’s in our contract.”

Twiggs later said in an interview that it is not written in the contract that boaters’ have specific parking.

“The city asked us to attend a meeting to plan out requirements, which included a parking area. But the contract doesn’t go into specific details,” Twiggs said.

The fee for the security pass is $25 per card. Twiggs told council that the fee was collected at the beginning of the season and the boaters were told the security gates would be in operation.

Twiggs said more than 100 boaters signed a petition to get the arms reactivated. He claims the petition has 100 per cent representation of boaters.

Mayor Neil Ellis said that he has calls from boaters who don’t support the petition.

“They said 100 per cent approval but I know there were people who didn’t sign the petition,” Ellis said.

Ellis said the city will not be taking any steps at the moment.

“Council’s hands are tied. When someone threatens legal action it’s basically an in-camera (closed session) issue and we’ll contact our lawyers,” said Ellis.

Mark Fluhrer, director of recreation, culture and community services, said they have not come to a final decision on the gates.

“When saying they (the boaters) are paying for something they’re not using, you’re assuming the gates will never go back up, and that’s not the case,” Fluhrer said.

Fluhrer said the main purpose of the gates were for when it got busy during major events so they could control traffic and guarantee parking for not only boaters but users of the site.

He said the main purpose of the gates were to control traffic and parking during major events at the waterfront. He said the gates would allow them to make sure vehicles aren’t parked everywhere.