Dock washes up on beach
The owners of a wayward dock are being asked to come and claim it from a Kelowna beach.
The dock, which appears to be in reasonable shape, washed up in late January on the shore of Okanagan Lake next to the Imperial strata building at 4058 Lakeshore Rd.
“Because of the prevailing winds, and where we’re situated near to Mission Creek, we get a lot of things washing up here — trees, boats and even houseboats,” Imperial resident Wendy Steciuk said Wednesday. “But never anything like this.”
The dock is about six metres long, and has wood and plastic bumpers and several tieups for boats.
More than half the 2,000 docks on Okanagan Lake were damaged or destroyed last spring as floodwaters rose to a record elevation.
Along the Kelowna shoreline, there were approximately 275 licensed docks before Okanagan Lake began rising last May. If the damage to the structure was slight, rebuilding could be done without new dock applications being submitted to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
For new docks, the structures cannot extend more than 42 metres from the shoreline; it must have a walkway width of no more than 1.5 metres, and it must have a moorage platform or float of no more than three metres in width.
Docks must also not impede public access along the lake between the high- and low-water marks.
So far, no one has shown any inclination to retrieve the washed-up dock next to the Imperial. But residents hope someone claims it, as it could be something of a hazard and isn’t the most appealing addition to the beach.
“One good thing, though, is sand seems to be building up a little bit around it,” Steciuk said. “So the public beach here might be a little bit wider.”