Demolition work is underway at the old amusement park in Sauble Beach.
The privately owned property has been vacant since 2012. Since then, the abandoned property that had been a popular attraction from the 1960s to the 2010s has been bemoaned as an eyesore by many residents.
Demolition machines are now on site and the massive slide has been taken down.
Mayor Janice Jackson says for some years, she had been trying to help attract interest in either reviving the site and getting the park going again, or finding a developer who would put something else on it. She says some GoKart park owners has even flown in to look at the site but decided it would be too costly to rehabilitate the site to today’s standards.
In 2019, Sussex Development CEO John Cathrae announced the property would become a retirement community.
Now that some required soil tests are complete and other site preparation regulations are coming along, the remaining structures at the park are being taken down.
Last year, there was a fire in a small abandoned building on the site leaving a pile of rubble in its place that has sat there ever since.
On a recent Open Line Show (Nov 3rd) on AM 560 CFOS, Jackson said plans for the new development show colourful buildings that fit with Sauble Beach’s official primary colour scheme. The project involes the construction of a 42 unit townhouse section plus a large a 100 suite lodge. Jackson figures the project will create about 50 jobs.
She says, “A lot of people want to stay in Sauble, but there’s no facility for them to go to and so we’re losing our people to Tara and Chesley, places that have seniors developments where they have the little townhouse pods. We didn’t want to lose our people anymore so now they’re going to be able to stay in Sauble and they’ll be putting their homes on the market which will open up the real estate and hopefully we’ll get some younger families coming up that can look after this lodge.”
“I think it’s going to be great all around for our entire town,” says Jackson.
She says the name of the proposed development is ‘Sauble Sunset’ and adds, the developer plans ot have a shuttle bus every night that would take residents down to see the world-class sunset over Lake Huron.
Jackson adds, the property also has some wetland areas that can’t be built upon, so the site will also have creeks and walking paths in garden areas that preserve natural features that are deemed provincially significant wetlands.
