BREAKING - Frenchmans Bay has been sold to the City of Pickering, conditionally

My proposal - A Blue Economy for Frenchman's Bay

With the City of Pickering now positioned to become the owner of Frenchman's Bay, the real question shifts from “who will develop it” to “what should we do with it.” This plan proposes a self-sustaining, revenue-generating waterfront built around boating tourism, not housing, that puts Frenchman's Bay to work for Pickering residents and local businesses without selling off an inch of public shoreline.

Why This Matters Now

The City has an Agreement of Purchase and Sale in place for Frenchman's Bay, structured as a tri-party funding arrangement (City, Province, and Federal government) targeting roughly $30 million, with a due diligence period already underway. Once the deal closes, the Bay becomes a public asset, and with it comes a public responsibility: this land and water need to pay for their own upkeep, and ideally generate a surplus for the wider community, rather than becoming a pure cost centre on the City's books.

The choice in front of Pickering isn't limited to “develop it for housing” or “leave it exactly as is.” There's a third option: turn the Bay into a destination that draws visitors, spending, and pride to Pickering's waterfront, while keeping it fully public and fully protected.

Why Housing Development Doesn't Belong on This Waterfront

Before turning to what this plan proposes, it's worth being direct about what it replaces: housing density at the foot of Liverpool Road is not a safe or workable option for this site, for reasons that have nothing to do with politics and everything to do with basic planning realities.

Liverpool Road dead-ends at the water. It does not connect through to another route, meaning it is the sole road in and out of this entire waterfront node, for residents, visitors, and emergency vehicles alike.
That road is already congested in peak season. Adding hundreds of new residential units, on top of the 91-unit proposal already working its way through the system a few blocks away at Annland and Wharf, compounds a traffic and emergency-access problem that a single road cannot absorb.
Much of this land sits at or near the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station's exclusion zone, a boundary that exists specifically to limit permanent dwellings in the interest of public safety.
The Bay itself is a sensitive wetland and marsh environment. Concentrated construction and the added stormwater, traffic, and shoreline pressure that come with high-density housing work against the environmental stewardship this land needs.

Put simply: a dead-end road, a nuclear exclusion zone, and a protected wetland are three separate, serious reasons this waterfront was never the right place for towers or high-density housing. The marina and boater destination plan below works precisely because it avoids all three problems while still putting the land to productive use.

A Better Place for Growth: The Highway 401 Corridor

Pickering still needs new housing, and this plan does not argue against growth, only against putting it in the wrong place. The City's Highway 401 corridor offers a far more suitable location for the residential density currently being proposed for the waterfront:

Direct highway access means new residents add to regional traffic capacity built for exactly that purpose, rather than funnelling onto a single dead-end waterfront road.
Elevated buildings along the corridor can still offer many residents a view toward the lake, without placing homes inside a nuclear exclusion zone or a protected wetland.
Full access to existing city amenities and services, transit, retail, schools, and municipal infrastructure, already sized for growth in that part of the City.
The same tax revenue and housing-supply benefits the City is seeking from waterfront development can be achieved along the 401 corridor, without the safety and environmental trade-offs.

As Mayor, I will direct planning staff to prioritize the Highway 401 corridor for new residential density in Pickering's growth strategy, and to treat the waterfront at Frenchman's Bay as what it should be: a protected public asset, not a housing site.

The Vision: A Boater Destination, Not a Housing Development

Frenchman's Bay is a rare, protected, deep natural harbour minutes from Lake Ontario's open water and within a day's cruise of Toronto, Oshawa, and the Trent-Severn system. Very few municipalities on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario can offer a sheltered bay of this size in public hands. That scarcity is the opportunity: a well-run transient marina and boater destination can draw overnight and multi-day visitors who spend money on shore, all season long.

The Plan

1. A Transient Dock System

Build or expand dockage specifically for transient (visiting) boaters, not just permanent seasonal slips, with a mix of overnight, weekend, and weekly stays.
Tiered docking fees (nightly, weekly, seasonal) to capture both the passer-through boater and the boater looking for a home base for a week or more.

2. Shore-Side Amenities

Washroom and shower facilities built to a standard that competes with premier marina destinations on the Great Lakes.
Laundry facilities, secure waste pump-out, Wi-Fi, and covered gathering space for boaters waiting out weather.

3. A Fuel (Gas) Dock

A fuel dock is a practical, achievable addition given the Bay's existing marina infrastructure, and is often the single feature that determines whether boaters choose one harbour over another.
Fuel sales are also a direct, ongoing revenue stream for the City or its operating partner, on top of docking fees.

4. Connecting the Bay to Liverpool Road and Beyond

Clear pedestrian wayfinding from the docks up Liverpool Road into the Nautical Village and further into downtown Pickering, so visitor spending doesn't stop at the shoreline.
Encourage lakefront stores, bars, and restaurants to treat the marina as their customer base during the boating season, with coordinated events, dockside markets, and extended summer hours.

5. A Fully Functional Public Boat Launch

A well-maintained, fully functional public boat launch, whether sited within the marina itself or elsewhere along the waterfront, is not optional for a lakefront community. It should be treated as core infrastructure, not an afterthought.
Pickering residents have raised this gap publicly for years. In 2017, the City locked the West Shore spit, an area residents had used for over 80 years to launch small boats, with a steel gate, citing environmental and safety concerns. In the community pushback that followed, I personally started a petition, signed by more than 2,400 residents, documenting that the City had promised a formal public boat launch to replace that lost access. That promise was never kept: when the Rotary Frenchman's Bay West Park rebuild was completed in 2023, it delivered an accessible canoe and kayak launch, not the motorized boat launch residents were told to expect.
A proper launch serves trailered boaters, anglers, and paddlers who are shut out of a marina-only or kayak-only model, and it broadens who actually gets to use the waterfront the City is working to bring into public hands.
As Mayor, I will direct that a public boat launch be built into the Bay's redevelopment plan from day one, funded and maintained on the same basis as the rest of this plan's marina infrastructure, not left to languish as a lower priority once other work is underway.

Source note: the 2017 gate closure and the community's account of the promised boat launch are documented in a Change.org petition (2,443 signatures, closed) started by Shaun Rickard in November 2019. The petition refers to “the City” and “the Mayor” without naming an individual; in 2017–2019 that was then-Mayor Dave Ryan, not Kevin Ashe, who became Mayor in November 2022. The Rotary Frenchman's Bay West Park rebuild, which delivered a canoe/kayak launch rather than a motorized launch, was completed in 2023, under the current Council's watch.

Economic Impact: Illustrative, Not Guesswork

Exact revenue figures depend on final slip counts, fee structure, and the operating model chosen, and any numbers used publicly should be grounded in a proper feasibility study rather than assumptions. Directionally, the case for this model rests on a simple, well-established pattern in Great Lakes boating tourism: visiting boaters spend money on fuel, dockage, dining, provisions, and retail at every port they stay in, and that spending is concentrated in the warm-weather months when Pickering's waterfront businesses most need the traffic.

As Mayor, I will commission an independent feasibility and revenue study, similar in spirit to the KPMG valuation work already done on the Bay's purchase price, before finalizing fee structures or capital commitments, so that residents see real numbers, not political promises.

Implementation Phases

Phase 1: Independent feasibility study covering slip capacity, capital costs, permitting (including TRCA and Ministry of Natural Resources requirements for shoreline and in-water work), and realistic revenue projections.
Phase 2: Capital planning and funding strategy, including provincial and federal marina/tourism infrastructure grant programs, before committing municipal tax dollars.
Phase 3: Phased construction, starting with the transient dock expansion and washroom/shower facilities, followed by the fuel dock once permitting and supplier arrangements are in place.
Phase 4: Marketing Frenchman's Bay as a boating destination to marine tourism networks, boating associations, and Great Lakes cruising publications ahead of a full-season launch.

Funding and Financing Options

Docking fees, fuel sales, and seasonal slip rentals as ongoing, self-sustaining revenue once operational.
Provincial and federal tourism and marine infrastructure grant programs, the same category of funding already being pursued for the Bay's acquisition itself.
A clearly scoped, competitively tendered operating agreement for day-to-day marina management, with the City retaining ownership of the land and water, so no private entity gains the kind of long-term control this campaign has already raised concerns about elsewhere on this waterfront.

Environmental and Community Safeguards

Any dock expansion or fuel dock proposal must go through proper environmental review, including TRCA and provincial approvals, given the Bay's sensitive wetland and marsh areas.
Public access to the shoreline, trails, and beaches must be preserved and enhanced, not restricted, as part of any marina expansion.
Local residents, not just boaters, should see direct benefit: expanded public dock walks, seasonal events, and support for existing lakefront businesses rather than competition against them.

Governance

I will propose that the Bay's commercial operations, docking, fuel, and amenities, be run either directly by the City's parks and facilities division or through a clearly accountable, City-owned operating structure, with public reporting on revenue and expenses each year. This avoids repeating the pattern this campaign has documented elsewhere: public land quietly folded into a private operator's plans with limited public visibility.

The Bottom Line

Pickering doesn't have to choose between towers on the waterfront and a bay that costs taxpayers money to maintain. A well-run, publicly owned boater destination, with real docks, real amenities, and a real fuel dock, can turn Frenchman's Bay into an engine for Liverpool Road's businesses and the wider local economy, while keeping the water, the shoreline, and the decision-making in public hands.

For full source documents, the news release, and ongoing updates on Frenchman's Bay, visit shaunrickardformayor.ca/news

Shaun Rickard

Candidate running for Mayor of Pickering