Starting late next week, boaters who launch their vessels into Lake Ontario in Mississauga must pay to do so at the city’s marinas.

Effective May 1, the City of Mississauga is introducing marina launch ramp fees in an effort to recover annual costs. The city says it pays more than $70,000 a year to operate its three municipal boat launch ramps — two at Lakefront Promenade Park, the third located at Marina Park.

Prior to approving the new fees earlier this month, Mississauga was one of the few municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area to not charge people to put their watercraft into the lake,

The city said on Wednesday that in order to give people a chance to get used to the launch fee program, the new rules won’t be enforced until June “to allow people the opportunity to plan for the changes.”

Mississauga Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko also asked that large signs explaining the rollout of the new program be placed by the launch ramps as soon as possible.

“People champ at the bit …” to get out on the water this time of year, he said, adding the city should do all it can to tell them “what the rollout is going to look like.”

Staff said the signs have already been prepared and will be up at the launch ramp sites by Friday.

The new plan includes single-day launch fees of $10 for Mississauga residents and $15 for non-residents.

An earlier report from city staff noted the three ramps “experience high volumes of use, particularly during weekends and peak summer months, resulting in increased operational pressures including staffing and security requirements.”

Staff therefore recommended the launch fees be implemented “to align with surrounding municipalities and partially alleviate financial pressures associated with managing high-use waterfront assets.”

The report from Mississauga’s community services commissioner Raj Sheth pointed out the city’s three boat launches are used around 8,000 times a year, mostly on summer weekends.

“While the city celebrates use of waterfront assets, this high-frequency usage increases the operational requirements associated with managing the launch ramp including additional staffing and, at times, security on site to ensure orderly conduct and organized use of the launch ramps,” the report stated. “This has increased the operational costs associated with managing the launch ramps to over $70,000 annually for operations from May to Labour Day weekend in September.”

In his report, Sheth estimated the introduction of a fee system this year will generate around $65,000.

The report concluded that “introducing watercraft launch fees will align Mississauga with surrounding municipalities, support sustainable waterfront operations and establish a consistent user-pay model.”

In addition to the single-day launch fees ($10 for residents, $15 for non-residents), other new charges include:

$40 for Mississauga residents (seven-day charge).
$120 for Mississauga residents (seasonal charge).
$60 for non-residents (seven-day charge).
$180 for non-residents (seasonal charge).


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