Residents divided on issue of moorage buoys

Okanagan Weekend

Lake Country residents are almost equally divided on whether the proliferation of private moorage buoys should be encouraged or reined in.

Thirty-eight per cent of respondents to a town survey say more moorage buoys should be allowed.

But 37 per cent said no additional moorage buoys should be permitted in area lakes, or the town should actually take steps to remove some of the buoys.

More than 330 survey responses were received, both online and at public open houses, during a consultation period from March through early May.

Moorage buoys have become something of a contentious issue in Lake Country.

Some waterfront and near-waterfront property owners, as well as people who don't live near the lakes, maintain a buoy to tie up their vessels through the boating season.

To others, however, the proliferation of the buoys and tied-up vessels is unsightly, a possible marine hazard, and represents an improper private use of a publicly-owned lake.

Detailed results of the survey will be presented at Lake Country town council on Tuesday. It will then be up to the mayor and council to decide what, if anything, to do about the issue. The survey also found — 81 per cent of respondents thought waterfront property owners should be allowed at least one moorage buoy

— 69 per cent believed semi-waterfront property owners, those owning houses on the upland side of a road that runs along a shoreline, should be allowed at least one moorage buoy

— 62 per cent said the town should consider introducing some kind of permit system for moorage buoys, which are currently unregulated.