Council wades in.
Osoyoos residents will soon have more clearly identified public access points to Osoyoos Lake. This will be the first step in returning public lands to the general public.
At the March 6 Osoyoos Town Council meeting, council unanimously passed a resolution to post signs at all town-owned properties identifying public access points to the lake.
This initiative addresses one of the key topics of concern raised by many in the community during the recent municipal election. It was also a major issue of importance identified by the residents' advocacy group Osoyoos Now.
Much of the beach access has been lost in the past two to three years due to encroachment on public lands around Osoyoos Lake. Some of the new condo developments have included signs posted at the beach access points indicating private property. These illegal signs will have to be removed, along with other encroachments such as fences and boat trailers.
Letters will be sent to all adjacent property owners to advise them of the town's project. And as part of council's effort to increase public awareness about the initiative, picnic tables and garbage cans will also be placed on appropriate public land sites. In addition, a study will be initiated soon to determine budget implications and some more complicated encroachment issues.
During the past election, Councillors Allan Carswell and Stu Wells both considered the issue of lake and beach access to be one of the priorities in their platforms.
Identifying the public beach accesses is the first step in reclaiming public lands and access rights. This council is serving notice that public lands are for the use of everybody and no one has the right to fence, block or sign those lands as private. Public lands are indeed for the public, not just for the adjacent property owners, said Carswell.
Wells said the public will have beach accesses returned this year.
It's been a long time coming. All we heard about going into the recent election was [the loss of] beach access. There's been talk of buying land for public beach access and we have many of these sitting here already that people aren't aware of. These are everybody's beaches. In any resort area, beaches are really public property, said Wells.
At the March 6 meeting, Carswell and Wells said the 10 properties identified by town staff would be dealt with immediately, but the longer-term plan would be to reclaim all public lands.
The following 10 accesses will be targeted first:rn1. Bayview (#2) – sign posted
2. Lakeshore Drive between 3804 and 3612 (#1) – sign posted and a table and garbage can placedrn3. Mila del Oro (#12) – sign posted and a table and garbage bin placedrn4. Spartan Drive (near Lacey Point, #11) – sign posted
5. Acacia Court (#13) – signs posted on both endsrn6. Luna Rosa (#6) – sign posted and a table and garbage bin placedrn7. Harbour Key Drive (#4) – sign posted
8. Kingfisher Drive (#8) – sign posted
9. Magnolia Place (#10) – sign posted
10. Desert Surfside Motel (#7) – signs posted at beach and street side.
