Angelo Marignani: Windsor’s Sand Point Beach must be made safer

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The death of a young man at Windsor’s Sand Point Beach last weekend is another grim indication that the popular area needs to be made safer, says Riverside resident Angelo Marignani.

A community advocate and former city council candidate, Marignani said he’s been asking for years for action on the municipally owned beach — where children play very close to the treacherous currents of the Detroit River shipping channel.

“It’s a tragedy,” Marignani said on Tuesday. “You can go there right now and see families there. No one is telling them how dangerous the water can be.

“The current is extremely strong if you go past a certain line. And the barriers that should be protecting people are inadequate.”

The swimmer who went missing on the evening of May 22 — a male in his 20s — is presumed drowned.

Windsor police, Essex County OPP, and RCMP marine units rushed to the waters off the 10000 block of Riverside Drive East around 5 p.m. Saturday in response to a report of a person in distress.

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A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter joined the search — to no avail.

“All the while the boats were searching, people were still on the beach,” Marignani said. “So many people were not even aware what had occurred.”

Marine units continued to scour the shoreline on Tuesday. Police are directing their efforts towards recovery rather than rescue.

Marignani said he has since learned that the swimmer was part of a family who were in a restricted section on the western edge of Sand Point Beach.

The beach faces where the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair meet. The recreational area is almost immediately beside a sudden drop-off in the water that allows freighter vessels to travel the Detroit River.

“That trench has a downward pull. Things can get sucked into it, almost like an underwater waterfall,” Marignani said.

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Normally, the section of shore closest to the drop-off is kept behind a chain-link fence, with a sign warning of the strong current.

But Marignani said he found on Saturday night that the fence and the sign are in a state of disrepair. He doesn’t believe they would deter anyone unaware of the risk.

“It’s a nice little spot on the beach. It’s kind of intimate. There are trees behind you,” Marignani said.

“Every winter, that area is bombarded by ice. Any fencing, any signage gets torn down.”

Marignani said there may have also been a language barrier that prevented the family from reading the broken sign: According to a friend of the deceased, he was a recent immigrant from Sudan.

“Apparently, a ball had gone into the water — and the young man said he would go get it,” Marignani said.

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The City of Windsor has yet to officially open Sand Point Beach for the season. No lifeguard was on duty over the weekend, and all visitors to the area did so at their own risk.

But Marignani believes the city needs to be more pro-active about the beach: He feels the fence should have been repaired and built higher in anticipation of summer use, and there should be stronger and more obvious signage.

“What about an international no-swimming symbol? Something that says ‘danger’ in big letters?” Marignani said. “What about an auxiliary officer at the points of danger?”

“You have to do your due diligence when it comes to water safety. And that was not there.”

“This has happened before,” Marignani added. “That exact spot… Thinking with common sense: People will go there. So you better have some protection.”

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Beyond better fencing, signs, and supervision, Marignani has a more ambitious suggestion: Move the entire recreational section of the beach to the eastern edge of the property, away from the drop-off.

If the public play area was on Sand Point’s East Beach, near the Stop 26 Ice Cream shop, beach-goers would be more than 400 metres away from the current.

But such a plan would require a major restructuring of the property.

“This was part of a recommendation from 2013,” Marignani said.

“It would be a major funding, a major project,” he admitted. “There would be excavation involved, removal of breakwalls. I would seriously like to see a new splash pad.”

“The cost would be significant. But it’s a quality-of-life issue. Is the Celestial Beacon significant?”

Marignani pointed out that the residential neighbourhoods of Riverside have grown, and the area is “full of families.”

“Sand Point Beach should not be neglected as it has been,” he said. “The public deserves better.”

dchen@postmedia.com