Group hopes to restore St. Andrews swimming hole
Area residents seek to revive languishing Katy's Cove beach
A non-profit group is planning to restore a popular St. Andrews swimming hole, left to languish in recent years, to its former glory.
Katy's Cove is one of the only places where it's warm enough to swim in St. Andrews, but the beach has fallen into disrepair after the town stopped maintaining it.
The beach was owned by the Algonquin Resort and managed by the town, but when the hotel was sold several years ago the town didn't allocate funding since it expected public access to be restricted.
The beach is open for public use, but has deteriorated over the past few years, said Paul Delaney, vice-president of Katy's Cove Inc.
Delaney spoke about the group to St. Andrews town council last week.
The group has negotiated a long-term lease with the Algonquin hotel and is fundraising to restore the beach, with hopes to eventually expand accessibility.
Still, the group is hoping to partner with the town as well, since it doesn't have the resources to run day-to-day operations.
"The town did this for years so they have the expertise. They have liability insurance, they have a budget every year, where we can only raise money through fundraising," Delaney said.
He said while he didn't grow up in St. Andrews, he's heard lots of support for the project from people who knew Katy's Cove in it's heyday.
Delaney is still waiting to hear what the town plans to do to help, but said he's hopeful and believes his presentation was well received.
"I wasn't booed off the stage."