The Toronto Humber Yacht Club has three months to prove it can behave
Neighbours have long complained that jet skis and boats threaten the natural habitat
The Toronto Humber Yacht Club just got a little more time to try to save itself.
For years, the organization has been plagued by complaints from neighbours who say an increasing number of jet skis and boats are a threat to the natural habitat, and that some club members speed, litter and generally behave poorly. But a “tense” meeting of the city’s general government committee determined this week that there’s still not enough evidence to justify closing the 70-year-old yacht club.
Related: Doug Ford says Toronto Islands residents are “squatters”
Previously, it had been set to close this summer after the city determined in January that it would not renew the lease. But city staff have now been given a June deadline to provide more specific explanations as to why this action should be taken.
It’s also a chance for the club to put forward ideas as to how it would address community concerns if allowed to continue operating. This may involve a smaller limit on the number of jet skis and boats permitted.
“We’re not going to take for granted the opportunity that we have right now,” Wilson DaSilva, the club’s vice-commodore, told the CBC.
The CBC also spoke to Jason Stills, who started a petition against the club. He said he was displeased that city staff did not seem to grasp the full scope of complaints. “They discounted the bullying, the threats. They discounted the speeding on the water,” he said.
DaSilva insisted things could improve. “Our commitment to that club and that river and the community concerns is paramount and is fundamentally what this club is going to strive to achieve without delay,” he told the CBC.
Related: Why does Doug Ford want to fill in part of Lake Ontario?
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
