The village of Burns Lake is investing in sand cleaning equipment to ensure a safer outdoor experience for Burns Lake residents.
In a council meeting held on May 25, the village council voted in favour of purchasing sand cleaning equipment for the Radley Beach as well as for the upcoming beach volleyball court.
Burns Lake residents have long been complaining about the lack of cleanliness at the Radley Beach. Of the majority complaints, most revolved around the geese feces that were found on the beach. In 2016, the village even experimented with fencing with ribbon to discourage geese from going onto the beach and force them to find an alternative location. This however didn’t really solve the problem.
Last year, residents once again complained of the geese feces and a local, Danielle Sapach took to Facebook after a beach cleanup she conducted.
“This took us nearly three hours today. We didn’t get it all, but we got most of it!!!! Shame on you Village, and shame on you recreation committee. This is appalling and disgusting!!!!! Our kids play here” read her post.
The village also received a lot of complaints about the lack of cleanliness in their annual level of service survey. The survey result for the Radley Beach indicated that the residents wanted the village to make beach cleanliness a priority.
The village council and staff have been in discussions over the matter of cleanliness and explored several options last year. Director of Recreation Services, Lewis Jones last week then suggested a sand cleaning equipment that would be operated by the recreation staff. This equipment involves a machine such as the Barber Sandman 850.
The village will be utilizing a portion of the COVID-19 Safe Restart Grant for Local Governments to purchase the equipment that would cost roughly $20,000.
During the meeting, Jones showed a video of the equipment in action and assured that the machine’s filter and remove various debris such as animal faeces, weeds, garbage, rocks, sticks and even needles.
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Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar
priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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