Prompted by fears that Okanagan Lake could one day be the reserved playground of lakefront property owners, city council voted Monday to oppose the closure of a lake access site.Vancouver realtors Gary and Donna Strother and Arizona businesswoman Violet Ann Doherty, the owners of a property on Delcliffe Road, have made a petition to have the neighbouring public access combined with their own land. A
t Monday’s council meeting Jeffrey Frame, the lawyer for the property owners, told council that the city had failed to follow the proper procedure to convert the road into a park.“If you want to use it for something else you have to notify the property owners in that area,” he said. “You can’t use it as a park – it’s a road.”Frame said that clearly the site couldn’t be considered with picnic tables on it. He said if the footings for a picnic table were being poured the city couldn’t lie about it to residents.“If a passerby asks ‘excuse me sir, what are you doing?’ is he going to answer I’m building a road?” Frame said.Coun. Pat Cochrane said that the legal maneuvering gives fuel to the notion non-residents are working to prevent local residents from accessing portions of the lake.“You’re probably well aware that this creates a perception in the community that these are wealthy out of town residents trying to take away lake access,” he said.In a later interview, Cochrane said that while seasonal residents are a valued part of the community, the city needs to keep in mind the interests of all citizens. He said the public should be concerned about what is happening to their ability to use the lake.“By buying a road right of way . . . many local people will not be able to use that access,” he said. “The concern is that if we lose this particular case it could mean every single lake access could go through the same process.”Council began the Community Lake Access Program last summer and identified 25 sites where existing roads could be upgraded for public access to the lake. In 2005, $230,000 was used to improve four of the sites including the one on Delcliffe that the property owners are trying to acquire.City administrator Leon Gous said he’s confident that the city has a strong legal argument. He said many things meet the definition of a road right of way including paths to allow people to hike or take their canoe down to the lake.“I think it’s absolutely being used as a road right of way,” Gous said. “We’re arguing that he’s dead wrong.”Gous said if the property owners were able to take control of the lake access it would be unlikely that anyone in the area would be able to access the lake. The next nearest access is roughly one kilometre away.“It’s private property at that point,” he said. “I doubt it would be open to the public.”The next step is a hearing at the Land Titles Office where the registrar will decide whether or not the property owners are legally entitled to acquire the city property.
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