Toronto council to look at lifting Grenadier Pond skating ban
The $50,000 program would see an “ice engineer’ test Grenadier Pond daily and post coloured flags to signal the safety.

TheStar.com
David Rider
Nov. 23, 2015

Despite warnings from city lawyers, councillors are gliding forward with a plan to legalize skating on part of Grenadier Pond.

On Monday the Parks committee unanimously endorsed a $50,000 ice-monitoring program championed by Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park Councillor Sarah Doucette. If approved by council, it would start in the winter of 2016-17 after a city staff member is trained to be an “ice engineer.”

They would do daily tests in a designated area. If the ice is unsafe, a red flag would go up warning people to stay off. If the ice is deemed safe, a yellow “skate at your own risk” flag would fly.

The vote follows warnings from the city solicitor about liability if a skater goes through the ice. Grenadier is a storm retention pond, with moving, salty water that freezes unevenly.

Doucette said she understands the liability concerns. However, skaters ignore warning signs that went up in 2001 and have been gliding and playing shinny on the High Park pond for more than a century.

“Fashions in skates have changed, but people’s will to be out there on that cold day and to cross this pond — it’s what they want to do ... There’s nothing like skating across a natural pond,” Doucette said.

“We can put up as many signs as we like saying ‘Thin ice — stay off,’ and they’re ignoring them because they don’t believe them — because they’re not always true.”

City staff originally said, if council wants to abandon widely ignored signs saying it’s illegal to skate on the pond, there should be a rigorous monitoring and safety program costing $192,000 to start and $123,000 a year to operate.

Staff heeded Doucette’s request to come back with a cheaper, limited program, which was approved Monday.

Councillor Maria Augimeri told the committee she expected to vote against Doucette’s motion, based on the legal warnings that were not made public. However, arguments from Doucette and neighbouring councillor, Gord Perks, persuaded her that the monitoring program should be given a chance.

The committee also approved a Perks motion that, should council approve the program, the city solicitor’s advice be made public.

The issue bubbled up last winter as record cold saw many people on the ice despite warning signs and bylaw officers playing cat-and-mouse with them trying to hand out $125 tickets.

Doucette said it was time to revisit the ban, imposed in 2001 amid legal concerns.