Public can forget about extra beach

Law makes clear that high-water mark for public access to shore hasn’t changed as a result of flooding

Okanagan Lake may have risen to a record-high level this month, but that won’t lead to wider public beaches in the future.

In B.C., the expanse of shore between the high- and low-water marks of freshwater lakes is considered to be Crown land and must, with few exceptions, be kept open for public access.

This month, the lake rose to a maximum elevation of 343.25 metres above sea level. It has been dropping since the second week of June and now sits at 343.1 metres above sea level.

If this year’s flood level were taken as the new high-water mark, the result in many places along the shoreline would be a significantly wider public foreshore that would encompass long stretches of what is now private property.

However, the established highwater mark of 343 metres above sea level will be retained for determination of the width of the public foreshore, says a Wednesday release from the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre.

“Property owners will need approval from the province for construction (of docks) on Crown land, beginning at the established high-water mark of 343 metres above sea level and extending to the lake, and they will be required to follow municipal bylaws,” the release states.

A section of the provincial Land Act makes plain that the determination of high-water marks is not dependent on seasonal variations that may be caused by unusually heavy rainfall or deeper-than-normal mountain snowpacks.

“Natural boundary means the visible high-water mark of any lake, river, stream or other body of water where the presence and action of the water is so common and so usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years as to mark on the soil of the bed of the body of water a character distinct from that of its banks in vegetation, as well as in the nature of the soil itself,” the definitions section of the act reads.

The act also states that any dock “must not unduly obstruct public access along the foreshore or the beach.”

Docks built since 2009 can have a maximum walkway width of 1.5 metres, down from the maximum width of 3.7 m that was allowed in prior years.

GARY NYLANDER/The Daily Courier The rising level of Okanagan Lake in May and early June damaged and destroyed docks along the shore, including these ones near Beach Avenue. Some of the docks may have been illegal in that they obstructed public access along the foreshore or beach, and...