District of Port Edward mayor and council are fed up with North Coast residents dumping their garbage at Kloiya Bay.
Speaking before the Dec. 8 council meeting last week, Port Edward Mayor Dave MacDonald sounded off on the problem that’s been plaguing the recreation spot that’s often used by residents for picnics, kayaking, swimming and more.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to close the gates out at Kloiya Bay because of the mess that’s been left by people who don’t go to the dump. One of the reasons that this has become a problem is that some people don’t appreciate the 45 per cent [hike for out of town residents using Prince Rupert’s Ridley Island landfill site],” said MacDonald.
“It’s unfortunate for residents who want to use that area that we’ve had to do this and if people would just stop [leaving their garbage] we’d re-open it.”
The mayor went on to explain that the District frequently cleans it up whenever they’re notified that garbage has been dumped there and Port Edward Coun. Christine Mackenzie said it’s costing the taxpayers time and money every time the District has to take over.
“It’s costing our workers to go out and get paid to clean it up. It took them half a day to go out and clean it up last time and then we paid [to dispose of it] on top of that,” she added.
“The gate’s been there for years and we’ve only closed it a few years in a row because of ice on the hill. We’re worried about people having accidents going down it, but it’s an area people like to use all year-round and the bigger problem is because of industry, we’re losing a lot of areas for people to get down to the water and this is another setback,” said MacDonald.
The mayor said that Skeena Kayaking employees have always helped clean the area in the summer, as well as some Port Ed citizens.
“The [garbage] rate is the rate and we have to live with that. What I’m more disgusted with is that people are actually dumping and its costing us more to bring it back,” said the mayor.