Foreshore development delayed

By Barb Brouwer MARKET NEWS Staff Aug 17 2007 http://www.saobserver.net/

A provincial moratorium on foreshore development on Shuswap and Mara lakes, has sparked elation among environmentalists. An Aug. 9 release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land explained that the Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) – the agency that handles foreshore applications – has joined other government ministries and agencies in the Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP), expected to be completed by next spring.‑
Applications that have already been submitted as of the date of the bulletin will continue to be worked on, but no final decisions will be made until the results of the Shuswap Lake Planning process are available and can be incorporated into the decision. Several environmental groups that form the Shuswap Watershed Alliance consider the moratorium a win, following their letter-writing campaign directed at the Premier. “The government has made the appropriate decision here, anything else would be just plain stupidity,” said an elated Jim Cooperman, Shuswap Environmental Action Society president. “You cannot allow developers to carry on without adequate controls.”

Salmon Arm Mayor Marty Bootsma is a member of SLIPP’s steering committee and board chair of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. While he thinks the moratorium is a good idea in terms of looking at the bigger planning picture, Bootsma has concerns. “I would have liked them to get information from all the groups, not just the biased ones,” he said of the alliance’s intensive lobbying efforts for a foreshore development moratorium. “It would have been nice if local government could have been advised beforehand.” Bootsma also noted that it is important that local governments be involved in the planning process. “My role as a politician is to ensure that it doesn’t conflict with the goals and objectives of the CSRD, which is to see liquid waste management planning, which is to see zoning, which is to see OCPs move forward.” Ted Bacigalupo, CSRD South Shuswap director, credits environmental groups that created public and political awareness of foreshore issues and Ian McGregor, regional manager of the Ministry of Environment’s Fish and Wildlife branch in Kamloops for putting the Shuswap Lake Integrated Plan process in gear.

“It’s good news to know that senior government through SLIPP saw fit to call a time-out, which is what it is in my opinion, a time-out to let various provincial ministries, agencies and local governments deal with the fast-paced applications for commercialization of the Shuswap-Mara Lake system,” he said. “I guess, probably, local government appreciates senior government has found a vehicle to provide a co-ordinated approach to dealing with the commercial development pressures.” Jay Simons, CSRD manager of development services, says the moratorium highlights the recognition by senior government that there is a need to gain control of all development that may have an impact on the lakes. “And that’s what we’ve been endeavouring to do over the past year,” he says. “CSRD has engaged a planning consultant to create official community plans for the south shore and north shore.”