Visitors to London’s nearest provincial park will have to pay to stay, starting next week, but some visitors say they’d rather go elsewhere.

Hourly and daily rates at Komoka Provincial Park, a 200-hectare oasis at the westernmost edge of London, will range from $5.25 to $14.50 beginning Aug. 1.

Small laminated signs went up last week to announce the fees that are part of a package of changes that include closing its busiest parking lot.

The impending change isn’t going over well with everyone.

“If we have to pay charges, I will never come here,” said KY Kim who, with his wife OK Kim walk through the park as often as four times a week.

They love the park because its pretty paths are “not hard and not easy,” OK Kim said. Now, though, they will walk in Springbank Park.

The Glendon Drive entrance will be closed and No Parking signs will be erected along that roadway, where traffic has increased dramatically in recent years.

As many as 100,000 people visit the day-use park each year, most of them arriving by car. There’s no bus route or designated bike lane to the park.

New parking lots with pay-and-display kiosks have already been built at Gideon Drive and Komoka Road. Toilets have been built there.

Also sour on the idea of paying for a park with so few amenities are Brenda and David Lipton, who run or hike there several times a week. “I think it’s exorbitant myself,” said Brenda, who wondered what park improvements that might generate.

Two hours of use cost $5.25, while a full day is a $14.50 charge. Park-goers also have the option of paying an annual fee of $175.

That’s in line with day-use fees at other parks, where fees range from $11.50 to $20. The new rules will be enforced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and provincial police.

A ministry spokesperson said fees will be used to improve the park, including lot lighting, updated garbage containers and graded parking areas.

But not everyone is balking.

“It’s a beautiful place to walk and if we want these parks, we have to pay for them,” said Elaine Aerts, a regular visitor who said she will be undeterred by the new fees.

But she also had suggestions for improvements: maps along the paths, more diligent trail maintenance and maybe canoe or kayak launch areas.

Janet Lee, who walks her dog daily at the park, called the fees “ridiculous.” Fees are appropriate at the Pinery and other places with beaches, picnic areas and other amenities that this park lacks, Lee said. “I don’t think you should have to pay to come to the park.”

dvanbrenk@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/DebatLFPress

Komoka Provincial Park