Some residents of Jasmine Drive are concerned about how a new foreshore zoning bylaw could affect their docks. There is a road allowance, a continuation of Acacia Court, between their properties and the water. (Richard McGuire photo)

Several local residents raised concerns with proposed foreshore and lake zoning bylaw amendments at a public hearing last week.

The amendments originally came to a public hearing exactly a year earlier, but the process stalled and the bylaws never came to council for adoption due to the death of former Director of Planning and Development Alain Cunningham two weeks later.

Bryon Karren, strata president at 7600 Cottonwood Drive, expressed concerns about an amendment that would require boat lifts to be placed within a half metre of a dock.

This matter was raised by the strata at the original hearing on Sept. 17, 2017 and Karren said his strata had not received a satisfactory response to questions about the reason for this change.

“We understand that everybody’s been busy, but we don’t feel that we’ve had that answer specifically why the town feels the boatlift must be within a half a metre of a dock,” said Karren.

His strata is “severely affected,” he said, but others on Osoyoos Lake are also adversely affected, he said.

“If this bylaw is enacted, there’s approximately 50 taxpayers that are going to lose their primary reason for buying in Osoyoos,” Karren said. “Because they won’t be able to have a boat. In addition to that, there’s 185 taxpayers total in our strata who are going to see their property value drop.”

The alternative of constructing a dock, he said, would cost around $400,000.

Responding to the strata’s concerns, Gina MacKay, director of Planning and Development, described it as “a tricky situation” because the province hasn’t provided a policy to justify the requirement. The town’s bylaw amendments aim to bring it into accord with provincial requirements.

“The Crown does not need a policy to justify why it does not permit that specific use, but what they have stated is that any use of the foreshore requires a permit from the province,” MacKay said.

She advised the strata to make a proposal with justification for why they would like continued use of the foreshore.

The province would refer that proposal to the local government, which has an option to say the use has been ongoing and the town recommends that it continue. The town might then grant a variance to the bylaw.

“For us to remove that sentence from the recommendation on the basis that it is a better system for the strata, would be providing a different scenario then elsewhere on the lake,” MacKay said.

The town’s preference is to continue the development permit process to have people put in a dock and a boatlift for their private moorage facilities.

Trying to simplify MacKay’s “lengthy explanation,” Councillor Mike Campol asked: “Is my understanding that the Crown or the province would like to see a proposal from this strata that will then come back to this council for consideration?”

MacKay replied that was “more or less what representatives of the Crown said to me.”

Also appearing at the hearing was Herb Wycherley, who owns property on Jasmine Drive.

Wycherley noted that when he bought the property, there was an old unsightly wooden dock that he was responsible for maintaining. He replaced it with an aluminum one with a boatlift.

Realizing he has no control over the level of the lake, he realized he could be in a situation where prop wash affects the bottom of the lake.

Complicating the matter, there is a road allowance extending from Acacia Drive between his property and the foreshore that would make the town the upshore property owner.

“I would hate to think that there is another governing body that might come along here and tell me to take my dock out,” he said. “I want to make sure that my investment of my docks, my lift, my boat… a $100,000 investment, that I can still use it.”

MacKay told him it isn’t possible for him to obtain a lease.

MacKay told him the matter can be addressed by obtaining a development permit, however the permit is only issued to him and wouldn’t be automatically transferrable to a new owner.

He could advise the new owner to also obtain a permit, but there’s no guarantee it would be granted.

MacKay explained that the bylaw amendments address a change in provincial policy where the province no longer wants to be issuing permits for individual private docks for single family homes.

“As long as you follow best practices, you’re not disturbing the foreshore, you’re not putting soil down there, you’re not moving any rocks, you’re not removing any trees and that kind of thing, to put the dock in and remove the dock, then you don’t need their (the province’s) approval.”

Barry Romanko, the town’s chief administrative officer, explained that with the province getting out of private moorage for single-family homes, the development permit process allows the town to control the foreshore “for the betterment of the community overall, just to ensure that best practices are made.”

The bylaw amendments were initiated by town staff in 2017 after five years of experience with the Foreshore and Lake Zoning Bylaw of 2012, when the town realized updates were needed. In a report to council, MacKay said timely action is needed to cover a regulatory shortfall for private moorages.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times