Town buys former marina for lakefront parkette

[Spiel]

Town buys former marina for lakefront parkette

 

Feb 21, 2008

John Slykhuis / yorkregion.com

 

 

Georgina council inked a deal last week for the purchase of the former Keffer’s Marina on Lake Drive at Rayners Road in Keswick.

 

That means an additional 130 feet of lake frontage in addition to a smaller piece of property across the road, Mayor Rob Grossi said.

 

The lakefront land, under power of sale, was purchased for $98,500.

 

“We’ve been hearing from our constituents that it should be cleaned up. It’s a mess.

 

“I started some discussion with the real estage agent and brought it to council and we decided to buy it,” Mr. Grossi said.

 

The deal was negotiated by town engineering director Bob Magloughlen.

 

There will be discussions with the Ministry of Natural Resources for the removal of a number of decaying boat slips in the water, Mayor Grossi said.

 

“We’re (hoping) the MNR comes up with some money to help us rehabilitate the whole area,” he said.

 

“Depending on what staff recommends, we may want to create a little parkette down there. We also want to keep the boat ramp.”

 

The mayor estimated the cleanup cost to be about $100,000 and said the town will investigate if federal funds of $18 million announced last week can be used.

 

“It’s a great little piece of property,” he said.

 

“We’ve made a request to MNR to clean up the docks and they’re trying to get funding,” Mr. Magloughlen said.

 

“The docks are on crown land.”