A churning waterway popular with whitewater kayakers should be viewed over a fence, not from behind one, a city committee has decided.

On Tuesday, the City of Ottawa planning and environment committee approved a 1.2-metre high decorative fence for the edge of the "tailrace," a discharge channel for the Fleet Street Pumping Station on the edge of LeBreton Flats.

'It's there to let people know you shouldn't pass it, but it doesn't feel like you're in a jail or you're prevented from even seeing.'— Coun. Diane Holmes

The new plan, which must still be approved by council, replaces an earlier city proposal to build a two-metre chain-link safety fence that was opposed by some kayakers, the National Capital Commission and Coun. Diane Holmes (Ward 14, Somerset). They argued that the fence would cut off public access to valuable urban greenspace.

Most adults would be able to see over the fence in the new proposal, which Holmes's staff said in a report would "reflect the heritage design elements of the Fleet Street Pumphouse and the historic Pooley's Bridge" nearby.

"It's there to let people know you shouldn't pass it, but it doesn't feel like you're in a jail or you're prevented from even seeing," Holmes told CBC after the meeting on Tuesday.

No accidents in 15 years: kayaker

Kayakers such as Steve Pomeroy lobbied against the original proposed fence, which they argued would hurt access to an Ottawa park where people can come to watch recreational and champion kayakers balance and weave over the roiling waters.

"The city staff are defining this as an industrial area. They perceive this to be very high risk and very dangerous," said Pomeroy, a director of the Ottawa River Runners club, on Monday. "Our position is that this is very low risk. We've come here for 15 years. There have been no accidents."

Pomeroy, whose club has maintained the area in and around the channel as a white water kayak training centre and competition venue since the early 1980s, said he thinks a smaller fence with a posted warning would be more appropriate.

The tailrace is an outlet that drains the water used by the Fleet Street Pumping Station, which pumps Ottawa's drinking water into the city's distribution system.

According to a report from Holmes's office, the city has spent $4 million in the past three years stabilizing the banks of the tailrace and the park is being landscaped prior to reopening. The area was closed in 2004 when the slopes were deemed in danger of collapse.