Comments from the public are being accepted until Jan. 9 on the Cultus Lake Park Board application to convert its existing foreshore lease to a new commercial lease.
“This application has been under consideration by the Province of B.C. for almost two years now,” said Joe Lamb, Cultus Lake Park Board chief administrative officer.
The new commercial lease is part of a foreshore management plan that would allow the park board to enforce its bylaws, slow down the speed zone, balance non-motorized boat use with motorized use, regulate buoys, docks, and commercial business — all in one, Lamb said.
Nothing in the Land Act lease application however is about “restricting land use or access to public paths,” in Cultus Lake Park, Lamb tried to clarify, adding there had been some misinformation about the application posted recently on social media.
In the lease application it does mention restricting access: “CLPB would provide public access without interference to the Cultus Lake in the Main Beach area where several public parking lots are available and in the Sunnyside Campground area, while restricting public access to the foreshore in the residential areas due to an increase in criminal activity (i.e. break-ins and theft).”
But Lamb said that the wording wasn’t quite right.
“It’s not about restricting access to the foreshore, it’s restricting access in the foreshore,” Lamb added.
That led park board officials to emphasize on their website in capital letters: “Please note for clarification, public access to any any park lands or pathways will not be restricted.”
For example the current institutional foreshore lease doesn’t allow park board officials to to regulate access to facilities like docks after 11 p.m.
“We’ve been seeing crime coming into the area, and we want to ensure our bylaws are in alignment with our foreshore lease.”
The purpose of the new lease is to help “managing public facilities” including construction of boathouses, wharves and “other water improvements” along the north edge of Cultus Lake.
Part of plan is “to reconstruct one of the existing wharves used for the Main Beach Boat Rentals business,” which is at the end of its “lifespan,” according to the park board.
They are looking to modify the boundaries of the foreshore lease area for “better management” of the existing buoys, docks and swim lines. The existing lease covers 28.227 hectares of foreshore, and the application would increase the area to 50.59 hectares, which is an increase of 22.363 hectares.
The application details include a link for the public to ‘Submit a comment’ in blue.
RELATED: Cultus park board sought input about buoys
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