Access to waterfront can be restored after floods

Editor: Okanagan Lake is at an all-time high, and Kelowna’s waterfront is getting battered as a result.

Unfortunately, there will be lots of very expensive near-shore damage by the time the lake recedes later this summer.

Included in this damage is the partial or total destruction of many private boat docks. Nature has forced a “fresh start” to shoreline development on us.

For decades, the public has been illegally prevented from walking along big parts of our beach foreshore by impediments that were put there by some waterfront homeowners.

These unlawful blockages mostly consisted of fences that extended into the lake, or improperly constructed docks.

For many years, the City of Kelowna has strongly advocated that we all adopt a healthy lifestyle, that includes walking the shore of our beautiful lake.

To join us in supporting the Healthy City Strategy, contact Mayor Colin Basran at mayorandcouncil@kelowna.ca or at 250-469-8980. Please ask him to: 1. ensure that all dock reconstruction conform to Kelowna’s bylaws, and 2. to contact the B.C. government to ensure that all provincial foreshore construction laws are also obeyed.

If these shoreline laws are followed, and start getting enforced, we’ll all soon be able to walk a lot more of the beach that belongs to all of us.

Al Janusas, PLAN Kelowna