Holiday Beach disc golf course paused in face of opposition

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In the face of opposition, the Essex Region Conservation Authority has paused plans to build a nine-hole disc golf course at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area.  

The plan was initiated after an unnamed donor gave $10,000 donation for the disc golf course. ERCA’s board of directors approved the course in April but an online petition, now with more than 2,000 names, opposed the course on the grounds that it would lead to habitat destruction and disturbance, it would be a threat to an internationally significant bird habitat and it would conflict with pubic activities on the site.  

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About 100 people attended a public meeting Tuesday at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg, most voicing opposition, according to a statement on ERCA’s website. Plans for the disc golf course are on hold and a search for an alternative site will begin. 

“We hosted this open house in order to hear what park users had to say,” said Kevin Money, ERCA’s Director of Conservation Services in a statement. “We’re now going to pause and re-evaluate if disc golf might be compatible in an alternative location, as it is quite clear that the majority of those in attendance at the meeting do not support the proposed location. 

“Ultimately, we want to ensure that Holiday Beach Conservation Area is valued and visited by a wide variety of user groups who want to enjoy the park and its amenities,” Money said. 

The game is similar to golf, but players use frisbee-like discs that they attempt to throw into baskets from designated tee areas. The Ontario Disc Golf Association says there are more than 160,000 players in the province. 

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Original plans approved by ERCA in April included 12 holes to be built on the mowed grass area at Holiday Beach. Most of the course was to be routed through trimmed grass areas that are shaded by mature trees, which ERCA says is underutilized space. 

Building the course would require nine nine baskets and tee-signs through the manicured section of the park that is identified as a recreational area within the management plan and compatible with existing activities, ERCA said.

“It is intended to provide another activity for park users to enjoy and would not restrict other park activities,” ERCA said in a statement announcing the public meeting.

There are three disc golf course in the Essex region — an 18-hole course at Lakewood Park managed by the Town of Tecumseh, a smaller six-hole course at Beaudoin Park in Amherstburg and a privately managed facility at Patillo Orchards Disc Golf Course in Lakeshore. 

ERCA says 18 conservation areas and provincial parks in Ontario host disc golf. 

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Holiday Beach’s 500 acres contain natural and treed habitat, campgrounds and a sandy beach. Activities also include hunting, bird watching and bird banding, educational field trips, a playground and cottage rental. 

Hugh Kent, president of the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory, whose organization conducts annual hawk counts from the observation tower on the property to provide data for scientists to monitor migrating birds, said Holiday Beach is too small for a disc golf course.  

“Holiday Beach, as a whole, is really small …and it’s part of an international, important birding area,” Kent told the Star. “We did a spot count on May 3, and sat right in the middle of the proposed area for disc golf and we got 47 species in an hour.” 

Visitors come for a quieter recreational environment and disc golf, by its nature, is a competitive game that is bound to intrude on the tranquil atmosphere, he said. 

“We just feel that the whole idea of this is just incompatible with the Holiday Beach Conservation Area as a whole. It’s a conservation area, it’s not a recreation area.” 

Kent agrees with ERCA that Holiday Beach must increase revenues to pay for its upkeep, but he says promoting eco-tourism is a better option. 

“There’s lots of potential there that we believe that they’ve just ignored because this seems to be like an easy solution for them.” 

The results of an environmental assessment on the proposed course, along with a review of comments from the public, will be presented at ERCA board of directors meeting in September. 

bmacleod@postmedia.com 

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