Dear Neighbours,

For as long as anyone in the neighbourhood can remember, The community has accessed the beach via the stream at the end of Haro Road in Cedar by the Sea. However, the new owners of the adjacent property have decided to block off the access with a fence. The landowners are within their rights to do this but, nevertheless, this action has had a significant impact on the local community.

There is now only one access to the beach and that is via the boat ramp. At times, the boat ramp access can be quite dangerous, with boats, trailers, kayaks and other craft competing with pedestrians to get up and down the ramp. The boat ramp is not wide and there is no room for people on foot to avoid the vehicle traffic.  Because of this many community members and their families have often preferred to utilize the Haro Access to avoid having to dodge the boat ramp traffic. This sadly is no longer available to them. Also, because locals have been able to use the Haro Road access for decades, they may be unaware that they can now be cut off from the boat ramp access by the tide with no alternative egress from the beach. This creates another safety hazard. Maintaining a second access and egress at Haro Road, completely alleviates this safety issue.

 The Regional District, in their 2014 Beach Access Inventory designated the end of Haro Road as a potential waterfront access point and there is a public road down to the water. With the loss of beach access via the stream, the access point is now very steep but this should not be an insurmountable issue. Last year the RDN built a set of stairs to allow public access to the beach at Driftwood Road close to Boat Harbour and another access in the same area has been created off Shasta Road.  With a bit of ingenuity there seems no reason why access cannot be developed at the end of Haro Road.

If like us you believe that safe access to the beach should be provided for in the Cedar by the Sea community area away from the dangers of the boat ramp, please sign this petition. With enough signatures I think we can convince the RDN that a safe access at the end of Haro Road would be a considerable benefit to the Cedar Community.