Despite parking concerns, Penetanguishene town dock project relaunched
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Aug 21, 2025
After years of revisions, the Penetanguishene town dock secondary plan has achieved a project relaunch due to the approval of council wanting to move the process along.
A presentation by David Sajecki, of Sajecki Planning Inc., at a recent committee of the whole meeting refreshed the minds for council and residents on the town dock and its relation to a master plan project, which had been initiated through a Simcoe County grant in 2019.
While a 2021 proposal had been offered for exploration, concern over logistics and creative vision hampered progress, with much of the discussion centred around roughly 200 parking spaces.
Results from a parking study also received criticism in February, primarily from Deputy Mayor Dan La Rose in his defence of users of the boat launch and the vehicles with trailers that would use that space, and the dissonance of having paid parking readily beside free parking.
Within Sajecki’s presentation, the revised master plan proposed changing entry and exit points for different types of vehicles, optimization of the boat ramp, and a suggested four-way intersection at Main and Wolfe streets.
From there, Sajecki proposed a two-phase approach for the revised town dock secondary plan.
“The first phase is identified to last approximately five years,” said Sajecki. “These are still under development, but those are less of the larger, substantial, more costly endeavours. It is identified as including new public washrooms (and) relocation of the tourist information centre.
“The Dock Lunch would remain in the first phase, and then upon completion of the second phase — we’re probably looking at about a 10- to 15-year period — we would see full build-out of all of the items that have been identified in the master plan.”
When asked if anyone had questions regarding the presentation, La Rose jumped ahead of the agenda and took the opportunity to reiterate parking concerns, while noting the proposed entrance change would make access more difficult for cruise ships and boaters using the launch for deliveries and supplies.
“Some of the stuff in the concept, I like, but a majority of it, I do not,” said La Rose. “I’m stuck on the entrances and the parking … Just makes absolutely no sense. I’ve never seen a parking lot in the world where one car can come in and park for free and the next car in has to pay … To me, it just won’t work.”
er in the meeting, an allotted section allowed council to discuss the presentation. Coun. Suzanne Marchand, who sat on the technical advisory committee, admitted she had “learned more about the length of a trailer and pulling a boat in a three-point turn” due to boaters on the committee, but she emphasized parking was not an issue to get stuck on.
“I’ll steal a line from Coun. (Bonita) Desroches: We want to be bold around what we do with this dock space. It’s not just about where we park and launch a boat; it’s about green space. It’s about welcoming, getting people out of their cars, active transportation.”
Coun. George Vadeboncoeur said: “Not everybody (on the committee) is supportive of this plan … but there (are) divergent viewpoints. There (are) some strengths in this plan and there (are) some weaknesses, but overall it was felt that it was in a state where it could move forward for public input.”
La Rose added concerns that an anticipated public meeting on Oct. 8 wouldn’t reach the entire boating community including seasonal boaters. Marchand countered that given the passion of the discussion, “I think that they’ll be the ones that fill the room.”
Upon approval, council directed staff to conduct public consultation, with results due early next year.
The proposed town dock master plan and secondary plan, including presented slides, can be found on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53, or on the Rogers TV website.
Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.