Hub Staff

Social Athletics of Saugeen Shores (S.A.S.S) has been permitted to run its 2016 beach volleyball league throughout the summer of 2016 at Port Elgin Main Beach. The approval came during the Committee of a Whole meeting January 11.

From the first week of June until the last week of August the club, which has over 450 athletes, will pay a $2,000 fee for land use and will continue to use nine courts which are available Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Four nets will be taken down following Wednesday evening play, to accommodate beach goers from Thursday until Sunday.

Throughout the 2015 season S.A.S.S as well as the Town of Saugeen Shores received several complaints regarding volleyball nets taking up a large amount of beach space that was limited as a result of high lake levels. S.A.S.S. Representative Richard Harris and Director of Community Services Jayne Jagelewski were proactive in addressing the complaints and looked into new net placements.

During the Committee of a Whole meeting Jagelewski stated that some of the protected dune beach grass was not thriving on Port Elgin Main Beach and after speaking with Huron Costal Conservation the town received approval for removal of some of the weak beach grass near the promenade.

“We were given permission to remove those two dune areas, in doing that we’ve been acquired some additional space for the courts to go which is close to the promenade not so much near the bathing areas of the beach,” Jagelewski said.

Vice Deputy Mayor Diane Huber said that volleyball is a great way to have more activity on the beach but brought up a concern that the fee of $2,000 may not be enough to cover the cost of town staff labour. Huber thought renting the beach space was much lower than renting ice time or field time for soccer. Huber broke down the 12 week summer season to S.A.S.S. paying approximately $150 per week and asked Jagelewski if that was enough.

“We only drag (beach grooming) one day a week, and we have staff down in that area already doing maintenance at the beach,” Jagelewski said in response and stated that S.A.S.S. was a “great group”.

She added, “I think the $2,000 is a good starting point, I hear what you’re saying and that certainly was a considerable amount of our conversation (with S.A.S.S) when we met, and they felt it may be a stretch, but I think they will evaluate their fees as well and work towards a more definite long-term plan with a fee that we feel is better suited,” Jagelewski said.