The yellow gates blocking off the North Yards dike to vehicles may be there to stay.
In January, the District of Squamish erected the gates to bar vehicle traffic while crews worked to upgrade the dikes. During that period, municipal staff received letters from neighbouring residents requesting the gates remain in place after the completion of the construction.
After an examination of all 25 kilometres of the district's dikes, municipal staff recommended council direct them to work with property owners along the North Yards dike to restrict motorized access in between the Spit access road and the Whittaker Slough Access Road.
However, the recommendation stopped short of cutting access off permanently. The area is used by sport fisherman, the district's capital projects manager told Committee of the Whole on Tuesday (May 7). To appease user groups, Matt Simmons recommended that during fishing season July to December access be allowed on the dike from the Whittaker Slough north to the CN Rail bridge.
Coun. Doug Race said he wouldn't mind seeing the effort to limit vehicle access to the dike be taken a step further, with gates put in place south to the Spit. He asked whether district staff had considered keeping the gates open during the daytime and closing them at night.
With consultation with wind sports groups, I would be open to a policy to close down the south part at night, he said, noting that seems to be the time period in which illegal dumping and other misuse occurs.
Municipal staff took note of Race's suggestion.
The district has approximately 25 kilometres of dike around the community. Eight dike locations are not gated off to restrict to motorized vehicle access, Simmons noted. However, the municipality does have an off-road bylaw that speaks to dirt bike and quad use on dikes, he said.
