Residents of Greensville and Dundas are tired of disrespectful visitors to some of the areas’ most popular waterfalls.
Hamilton’s General Issues Committee has voted to investigate the “negative impacts” on those communities, resulting from a surge of visitors to Webster’s and Tews Falls, as well as the Dundas Peak.
Flamborough Councillor Judi Partridge says during a recent public meeting she was “amazed” by stories of residents coming out of their homes to find people “sitting in their backyards on their patio furniture having lunch.”
Partridge says others have had dirty diapers left on their porch, adding that “this is not the stuff that we need to tolerate.”
She identifies public safety as another concern, with visitors parking on side streets at the base of the escarpment, “clamouring up over the CN tracks and then climbing up the face of the Dundas Peak.”
A multi-disciplinary working group will be created to investigate the situation, with input from Hamilton Police and EMS, the city’s by-law division, CN Rail and the Hamilton Conservation Authority.
In 2016, Hamilton firefighters carried out a record 25 rope rescues. Tews and Webster’s Falls were among the most common locations, along with Albion Falls, Felker’s Falls and the Devil’s Punch Bowl.