Privilege at the Beach: Exclusive boathouse funded by tax dollars

Decades-long waiting list limits access to canoe storage space on prime park real estate.
Beach-lovers feel they’re up the creek without a paddle as a publicly funded boathouse continues to house private canoes on prime park land for next to nothing — but features a waiting list longer than a mainmast.
The city-owned Silver Birch Boathouse, which for $106 a year stores small, motor-less craft on its rental racks 50 metres from Lake Ontario, boasts a 400-person wait list, according to Parks, Forestry and Recreation. That backlog is typical of a given year, the department says.
With just 16 new registrants moving onto the exclusive scroll last year — an unusually high number, thanks to a list purge by the parks department — a would-be boater can expect to wait 25 years to gain access to the elite shed. (The calculation assumes they’re 400th on the list and that 16 new spots open up each year.) There are no minimum use requirements to keep your spot.
The Beaches boathouse has become a flashpoint for anger over publicly funded privilege. A “glorified garage,” according to the local councillor, it remains reserved for a select 136 voyageurs and their kin and kith, effectively off-limits to Toronto’s 2.6 million landlubbers.
Sarah Scott, 59, joined the waiting list two years ago. She walks her dog past the expansive shed each day, but doesn’t expect access any time soon.
“I’ll be 95,” she said. “Why should 150-odd people have el cheapo storage on a prime spot? It’s crazy.”
“I find it outrageous,” said Beaches resident Lisa Fitterman, “and it’s just in perpetuity.” A recent thread on a Beaches Facebook page echoes their anger.
Both residents support canoe rentals at the boathouse with hourly rates, like those at Harbourfront, to get “the people out on that water,” said Scott.
Despite the sign alerting beachgoers that boats are “NOT for rent,” they ask often anyway, said a parks staffer.
Private canoe storage at waterfront spots like the Toronto Island Marina and Buffer’s Park Marina soar above Silver Birch rates, costing about $490 and $730, respectively.
The parks department was not able to provide figures on the operating cost of the facility before press time.
The permit fee multiplied by the number of permit holders adds up to roughly $14,400 in revenue. It wasn’t clear if that covers the cost of staffing, which could roughly match the figure if employees make minimum wage. Mix in the maintenance and utilities costs and the place becomes a drain on tax dollars, which parks staff have acknowledged in past years.
There’s no time limit on a slip rental. Bequeathing a spot to a family member is not allowed, but can happen anyway.
Jon Eddington said he passed on his slip to his son Alex, now 35. Jon, who moved into the Beaches neighbourhood 40 years ago, applied for a spot in the early 1980s. He waited less than a year before nabbing rack space. It hasn’t left the family since.
“My grandson Robin isn’t even 7 months old and he already has a lifejacket,” Jon says, pointing to a sun-kissed baby squashed between a beach hat and life preserver.
Father and son agree that boat activity, permit fees and list turnover all need to go up — “You can’t just put it in and have it gather dust,” Alex says — but other slip stewards beg to differ.
“There’s this perception, ‘We should be let in.’ Well no, wait your turn,” says Burke Lawrence, his 65-year-old canoe at his feet.
Silver Birch’s non-descript digs belie its elite status. The building, though a squat rectangle that blends in with the sand, maintains an historic air. It dates back to 1934 and hangs black-and-white photos to prove it. Couched in the shade of stately maple and oak trees, it hosts everything from feather-light sea kayaks to mid-century, cedar-strip canoes with gunnels chafed in the rapids of Northern Ontario.
Silver Birch is the only city-owned facility that offers slips for rent in Toronto, according to the parks department. But it wasn’t always treated with reverence.
“That darn thing was ready to fall apart,” said local historian Gene Domagala. “A good storm would’ve knocked it down.”
Light renovations — including an extra rack for paddleboards and a smattering of kids’ toys — were the only product of a heated debate over the boathouse’s future three years ago. The parks department now contacts everyone on the list annually to make sure they still want to keep renting their slip.
In 2013, Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon took a stab at expanding the facility’s amenities, looking to open it up to the community. After consulting residents, she came up with suggestions for a wine bar, coffee vendor and rentals of canoes, kayaks and paddleboards, alongside revised rack space for private craft. Parks staff asked all slip permit holders to vacate Silver Birch temporarily.
The egalitarian effort backfired. Angst grew over “turning the beach into Coney Island,” McMahon recalled, and a public hearing on the subject became “more contentious than a condo meeting.”
Recommendations from a residents’ committee yielded conflict over the minimum number of sign-outs needed to maintain a slip.
“It’s not fair. There are lovely families on the waiting list who would actively use it with their kids, and they might never get the chance,” McMahon said. “This is subsidizing what’s already one of the nicest areas in the city.”
She hopes to revive the conversation around minimum sign-outs and, eventually, canoe rentals, meeting with parks staff in the next few weeks.
“Use it or lose it,” she said.
But even that could lead to petty complications, such as whether a two-week sign-out amounts to the same as a two-hour sign-out.
A fee bump beyond the rate of inflation would be even tougher, requiring a council vote to adjust the budget item.
For now, “as long as they… continue to pay the fee, then they continue to have a slip,” said parks spokesperson Matthew Cutler. That despite a sign in the boathouse reading, “Boats stored in this building must not be removed while in arrears of storage.”
“Canoeing is our heritage, a wonderful tradition,” said Jon Eddinton. How to maintain it is the question.