Blue Flag status a washout for ‘dynamic’ Tiny beaches
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Nov 06, 2024
There is no doubt that the beaches of Tiny Township are a major attraction for North Simcoe, but a consideration that they receive a Blue Flag designation was deemed too difficult at a recent council meeting.
However, council did choose to have the parks and recreation advisory committee (PRAC) take a look at some of the 33 criterion within the global initiative to see what could be drawn as per best practices, as well as having an accessibility advisory committee (AAC) member sit in for those talks.
In 1985, Blue Flag started in France and later expanded globally. Currently the Foundation for Environmental Education runs the operation aimed at beaches, marinas and tourism boats. A Blue Flag designation would promote high standards in water quality, environmental management, environmental education, and safety.
At the recent committee of the whole meeting, a request from the AAC aimed to pass along the Blue Flag consideration to the PRAC, as Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins explained why it would be better dealt with there. “There’s many criteria that we would just never be able to make… things like our dynamic beach; water comes up, water goes down,” said Miskimins. “Very hard for us to meet those criteria.”
Tiny Township is host to roughly 70 kilometres of shoreline along Georgian Bay, and Miskimins added that the geographic nature of the township would also not meet some criteria. Public works director Tim Leitch added active transit as another reason for unmet criteria. “(A Blue Flag designation is) something that’s reviewed on an annual basis,” said Leitch, “so it’s not something that you get it once and then you fly the flag forever; you have to be audited – it goes everything from water quality to washroom cleanliness. “From an accessibility standpoint, it says ‘at least one Blue Flag beach in each municipality must have access and facilities provided for the physically disabled’; that’s a fairly broad statement,” Leitch added.
Deferring to recently hired recreation and special events director Josh Pallas, the former Wasaga Beach employee stated the town had dropped their Blue Flag designation in recent years.
“There are a lot of environmental considerations that go into receiving a Blue Flag designation, and I’m not sure if the recognition from a tourism perspective is quite there to make these criteria really relevant as far as staff time and committee time,” said Pallas.
According to tourism marketing organization Destination Ontario, over half of Canada’s designations for Blue Flag beaches were located in Ontario this year with eight in the Greater Toronto Area, three in Northern Ontario, and four in Southwestern Ontario.
The accessibility advisory committee resolution regarding Blue Flag beach criteria can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.