By Matthew McCully – The bulk of North Hatley’s council meeting on Monday evening involved a lengthy discussion about access to the municipal beach.
Citizens are upset that, after years of unfettered access to the beach during the summer, the town, which has undertaken management of the public beach for the first time in over 50 years, is locking the gate outside of supervised hours.
In recent council meetings, the town explained to citizens that the decision to lock the gate was an effort to ensure the safety and security of beach users.
When citizens balked at the town’s safety defense, North Hatley went the extra step of obtaining a legal opinion regarding liability exposure relative to the management of the beach. See full story in the Wednesday, July 11 edition of The Record.