By Ian Holmes

North Nanaimo beach access stairs face uncertain future

Nov 28, 2018 | 12:17 PM

NANAIMO — Future public access to a north Nanaimo beach is in doubt after inclement weather battered a popular set of aging stairs.

Al Britton, the City’s manager of parks operations, said the wooden stairs linking the bottom of Seabold Rd. to the beach below will remain closed indefinitely.

“Either we’ll replace it or take it out permanently,” Britton told NanaimoNewsNOW.

The well-used Seabold Rd. stairs have been closed for a few months, Britton said.

He said the stairs’ supportive pillars have begun to rot from continuous damp conditions and are no longer safe to use.

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Extensive due diligence will be required, he said, including a geotechnical report to determine if replacement stairs are a feasible option.

“We have to be careful 10-years down the road we don’t want to have a slide and somebody gets caught in it or god forbid hurt.”

Britton didn’t immediately have an estimated replacement cost for the stairs available, but said it would be “expensive.”

He said the embankment beneath Seabold Rd. presents numerous physical challenges, noting it’s much steeper and less stable than the nearby Blueback Beach access stairs.

Britton said there are now only two public access stairs to the beaches of Nanaimo’s north slope (Blueback Rd and Invermere Rd).

He said the Seabold Rd. beach access stairs have roughly 170 steps and were built about 25 years ago.

ian@Nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes