Residents living along the lakeshore on Horseshoe Bay Estates may want to reconsider where they put their docks, boatlifts and campfires in the near future.
After receiving a complaint from a Cold Lake resident last year, Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) began looking into encroachments along Horseshoe Bay Estates. They found that a number of lake front properties have items such as docks, gardens, decks, stairs, watercrafts, and fences infringing on Crown lands.
Residents living in the area received a letter on Dec. 15, 2016 from AEP, informing them they would be required to remove their property from Crown lands prior to May 1, 2017. Any work to re-establish the land to its original condition must first be approved by AEP prior to being started. It's required to be finished by Sept. 1, 2017.
The letter cautioned residents that if work is not completed, further action may be considered without notice.
City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland said serving residents a letter is okay, but doesn't approve of “just putting it in the mailbox and running.”
Last April, a concerned resident made a presentation to city council about the encroachments on city and Crown lands along the lakeshore, about the same time AEP was contacted.
“A joint inspection between the city and AEP staff was held on April 19 (2016) to examine the situation along the lakeshore first hand. Since that time, administration has been waiting for a response from AEP to see how they wanted to proceed with the issue, and in response we received communication from AEP requesting a second inspection be held,” explained Brad Schultz, planner for the City of Cold Lake.
A second inspection took place in November, and included regional representatives from Lac La Biche, AEP staff, city staff and the concerned resident surveying the area up to the point where the lakeshore became impassable on foot.
It was after the second inspection that AEP sent the letter to residents with lake front property in the area of concern. The letter outlines the requirements for use of Crown lands along the lake, as well as the request that residents begin the process of removing their property from Crown land.
“In addition to Crown lands along the lake, there is also environmental reserve and municipal reserve lands that are under the control of the city. This issue was discussed subsequent to the delegation and council had spoken about potentially looking at some sort of a linear trail system, or planning for the management of those city owned lands adjacent to the lake,” Schultz noted.
If council were interested in creating a trail system along the lake, it could cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 for geotechnical investigations. This is due to land stability concerns along the shoreline.
The item was brought forward to council during their Jan. 17, corporate priorities meeting, after Coun. Vicky Lefebvre received an email from the resident exclaiming his disappointment with council's decision not to enforce the regulations on their lands.
The decision had been made due to the “other issues going on,” explained CAO Kevin Nagoya, adding city administration is looking for guidelines on how council would like to deal with the issue
“The question is, for those that are within municipal domain, are we going to enforce it or not? My thought process is, if there is a demonstrated hazard, if there is an environmental concern, if there is an obstruction to a flow through for anyone operating or walking along those lines, then I would have a concern, otherwise I don't think I do,” said Coun. Bob Buckle.
The issue with allowing residents to encroach on reserves is that AEP will not allow it as it is intended for access to the shoreline and public use.
“I think you just can't pick one area, if you are going to do it, you have to look at the whole city,” said Lefebvre.
Council decided they would look into laying out a municipal reserve plan and meet with government officials from AEP prior to hosting an information open house for residents in the spring.
“I think we need to engage the community because I think this has hit a lot of people suddenly,” noted Copeland.