Despite lockdown Hamilton waterfalls are swamped, bylaw staff can now ticket visitors

There are so many people breaking the rules at conservation areas in Hamilton, the city says, that it's giving its bylaw staff the authority to ticket people on the grounds.

Councillors raised concern at Wednesday's city council meeting that conservation staff were being swamped by crowds at the various waterfalls and haven't been able to keep up with enforcement. 

The change will allow the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) to contact the city when they need help to lay charges. It applies not just to the waterfalls, but to all of its areas. 

"Things are escalating as the weather improves and the lockdown is not helping it," said Coun. Arlene Vanderbeek (Ward 13), who moved the motion. 

Other than HCA staff, Vanderbeek said the only ones who can legally ticket violators on conservation lands right now are the police, and they "simply do not have the resources" to assist. 

Coun. Llyod Ferguson (Ward 12), chair of the HCA board, agreed that attendance "continues to boom." While a provincial stay-at-home order is in place, conservation areas have been allowed to stay open. 

Superintendents on site have been issuing infractions, he said, but are too busy with their other duties.  

"There's some unsafe situations happening where people come in and go into areas that they shouldn't. And most of the time, we just don't have the resources to handle it with our own enforcement" he said, adding the conservation authority fully supported the motion. 

Councillor says city trying to regulate people's limits 

Council voted 12 to one in favour of expanding city bylaw officers' reach to the conservation areas. Coun. John-Paul Danko (Ward 8) was the lone dissenting vote. 

The councillor said he was concerned that the city was trying to control how people interpret and explore natural areas. An activity that looks dangerous to one person, like slacklining, he said, might seem perfectly safe to another person. 

"There's a scale of risk for each person, and it's really up to you to know your individual limits and to know what you're capable of," he said. 

If city bylaw officers were to find someone climbing a wall, Ken Leendertse, director of licensing and bylaw services, says city staff don't even have the authority to ask them to leave the park. This change would follow Toronto's model, he said. 

Officers will do periodic checks in all of the hot spots, he said.

HCA says attendance is 'overwhelming'

Council approved hiring additional staff as part of the 2021 budget for a pilot project enforcing waterfall areas. But despite city increasing fines and enforcement, and the HCA testing out a reservation system, Vanderbeek said it wasn't enough. 

"It's not just Dundas Peak and Webster's and Tew's that's the problem," she said. "That problem exists at Tiffany, at Sherman, at Devil's Punchbowl. It sometimes occurs at Christie and Valens, and perhaps Confederation Park."

Gord Costie, director of conservation area services with the HCA, said the number of visitors has been "overwhelming" for staff and is unlike anything he's seen in the past 34 years.

Some areas are hitting 25 to 50 per cent more visitors than usual, he said, and places with less acreage and parking are feeling the pressure.  

"Our resources are stretched dramatically, especially with the surge of the pandemic," Costie said. "The people just keep on coming."

He said the HCA is on the cusp of bringing in more casual staff to prepare for the "extreme visitation" expected on summer weekends and holidays. As in 2020, Costie said there will be rotating or temporary closures should the numbers get too high. 

No major special events are planned, Costie said, as the HCA is waiting to see how the pandemic unfolds. 

Working with bylaw officers seemed like a logical step to address visitors that are bypassing safety fencing, flying drones and trespassing the grounds when they're closed, he added.

Signs for 'general knowledge' not needed, city says

Coun. Brad Clark (Ward 9) said he was concerned there wasn't enough signage for people who don't know the rules, and might find themselves with a ticket. 

According to Leendertse, the city's legal department has said signs aren't needed for certain actions like scaling walls because it's "general knowledge." There are so many possible offences, he said, that a lot of signs would be needed to cover them all. 

But Clark said signs would add an element of fairness and that he didn't know how the city could start enforcing the bylaws without them. Many people requiring rescuing are young people who don't understand the rules, he said. 

"We have an awful lot of newcomers, a lot of new people coming to Hamilton from the GTA...they don't see the disconnect between hiking and scaling up the escarpment to get a better picture," he said. "We need to educate them."

Visits to Webster Falls, Tews Falls and Dundas Peak will be by reservation only as of May 1. The HCA booking system will open on April 24.