The Owen Sound Sun Times e-edition

Petition calls on conservation authority to reopen Varney Pond

SCOTT DUNN

Varney's beloved swimming hole will not be filled with water this year due mainly to safety concerns and will remain closed until further notice, the general manager of the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority said Wednesday.

That's not sitting well with some people who have been signing a petition to reopen the popular swimming area.

The pond in Varney Conservation Area has been filled annually for generations, May to September, by diverting water from Camp Creek, then returning it to the creek at the end of the summer.

“There has been a growing public awareness and understanding of the inherent risks associated with all bodies of water,” Jennifer Stephens, SVCA'S general manager, said in an interview about the closure.

Safety is a concern, she said, in light of two deaths at the pond -- in 1955 and 1981 -- and that people still use the pond to swim. The unrestricted access to the unstaffed pond, with a structure put there from which to jump into “water that is of unknown depth,” are also concerns, Stephens said.

“We understand that this swimming pond has been a beloved part of our community, serving as a place of joy and recreation for generations,” Stephens said in a news release announcing the closure.

“The decision to close the pond was not made lightly. SVCA has decided to prioritize public safety and environmental protection.”

Art Eckhardt, who swam in the pond as a boy 70 years ago, said he collected three pages of signatures on a petition to keep it open in just eight hours. The person who dropped off the petition at his gas station left copies at other businesses too. “It sure isn't hard to get people to sign it,” he said by phone from his station near Durham, north of Varney. “Pretty much everyone who comes in has swam in that thing, including myself.”

West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles said he learned to swim in Varney Pond in the mid-1960s. “When I was a kid it was always great to go there . . . You could go swim in there on a Saturday afternoon when you had all your chores done on the farm.” He said it's a safe place to swim because it's not very deep “and so for young children and whatnot basically learn how to swim in basically open water it was perfect. Enjoyed by the community for years and years.”

He understands the pond was developed in 1951 by a private landowner who dug it out. The conservation authority says it purchased 11.6-acre park in the 1960s.

Last summer when Eccles went by, more than 75 people were there, “just sitting in the sunshine, a number of small children splashing and carrying on and it just looked like I remembered it a number of years ago.”

“I am going to try and do what I can to find ways to keep it open for the community because it's one of those things that you don't really recognize it until all of a sudden it's not there,” he said. “Certainly it's been a shock to the community.”

He sits on the conservation authority board and said the decision to close it wasn't unanimous. He understands the property committee found “there was thought to be some liability issues with it” and so it recommended the board close it for 2023. Closing until further notice allows for gathering more facts to determine “what it's going to take to make it less liable or something from our insurance provider to give us an update whether what is the liabilities of the park,” Eccles said. The environmental concerns stem from the practice of filling the pond, which Stephens, the general manager, called “unsustainable.”

“We're taking the water away from Camp Creek and we want to make sure that we're making use of that cold water stream appropriately. So we do not want to take water away from that watercourse,” Stephens said. She said she's aware of no concern about the water quality or about adverse effects of releasing the water back into the creek, though she also said not putting the water back would allow the stream to remain cool. The closure is precautionary, she said. Asked if legal concerns are behind the board's decision to close the pond, Stephens said “No, we are just basically being appropriate stewards of the environment and taking into account the appropriate safety of the residents that might use the pond.”

Board chair Barbara Dobreen said “There hasn't been an incident since 1981” with the pond, referring to the date of the latest death there. The pond is not subject to any legal action, she confirmed. What's changed is “perhaps just the way we look at various structures and the fact that there is no lifeguard on duty,” Dobreen said. The pond will be closed “until further notice,” she said.

She anticipates an evaluation of the pond to be done this year. “We are wanting to evaluate the health and safety and risk management of our properties in general,” she said.

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2023-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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