Hundreds of frustrated cottage owners packed a Winnipeg church Wednesday night to discuss strategies to combat shoreline erosion.
A massive storm last fall caused thousands of dollars in damage at Victoria Beach. Strong winds and heavy rain destroyed most of the shoreline, and damaged a lot of property.
Cottage owners Mark Tooley and Gregg Hanson have come up with a rip-rap design to prevent erosion — a slanted rock wall that they say is the best solution to the problem.
But many other cottage-owners who attended the meeting Wednesday are not sold on the idea. They want to see an alternate plan to save the sandy beach or, at the very least, they want more information.
"If you go ahead with it, aren't you going to wreck the six other cabin properties with even further erosion?" asked one cabin owner at the meeting.
"We kept coming back to the rip-rap approach because it is so natural and environmentally friendly but by all means if people have a better idea I'd like to see it," says Gregg Hanson.
With many opinions at play, and many questions still unanswered, another meeting has been promised. It's not yet known when that meeting will be held.
In order to move forward, the rip-rap plan needs support from 17 lakefront property owners as well as the Rural Municipality.
-with a report from CTV's Nancy Carlson
