Should there be a fence around the Dundas Peak? Hamilton's conservation authority will debate it

Hamilton's conservation authority will decide next month whether to put a fence around the city's most dangerous selfie spot.

The Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA) board will vote March 5 on a potential four-foot fence at Dundas Peak.

The fence would be decorative metal and similar to the fences at nearby Webster and Tew Falls. The goal, the authority says, is to prevent people from inching too close to the edge and falling to their deaths.

"I am in favour because it's very dangerous," said Lloyd Ferguson, HCA chair and Ancaster councillor. "It's a significant vertical drop that nobody could survive."

People flock to the peak in such high numbers that HCA has considered charging admission, Ferguson said. When visitors get there, they often creep out to the very edge of the cliff, then sit and dangle their feet.

People have fallen and died there, including a 24-year-old man who died last May. 

Matt Hall, HCA director of capital projects and strategic services, recommended the picket fencing at a Feb. 13 conservation advisory committee meeting. That committee agreed. Now its recommendation goes to the full HCA board.

Fencing would be flexible and low maintenance, Hall said in the report, and will "permit visitors safe views from the peak."

He also recommended using vegetation and fencing to block any side paths that go to the peak's edge. The HCA would also have to remove a nearby stone wall.

Other options included posting more signs, extending the stone wall and installing a lookout platform with railings similar to other platforms in the Spencer Gorge conservation area.

Board member Chad Collins, a Ward 5 (Centennial) councillor, said he'll likely support the fencing. Safety has been an issue at numerous Hamilton gorges and waterfalls. 

"People are putting their safety at risk in terms of trying to get the perfect picture," he said. 

"Even when we've put these preventative measures in place, we've seen people go around them."

That's happened at Albion Falls, where the city installed fencing and has started slapping trespassing fines on people who stray outside the marked areas. People appear to peel back the fence, the city has said, and venture into unsafe areas anyway. 

The city charged three hikers last August, when a firefighter was injured trying to rescue them from a prohibited area. 

In 2017, the city even looked at charging people who need rope rescues at Hamilton waterfalls, but ultimately abandoned that.