Mayor Walt Cobb is hoping council will meet with the Williams Lake Field Naturalists as soon as possible to discuss the contentious issue of public access to Scout Island.
“We have a lease for recreation use with the Nature Trust and they are not allowing it,” Cobb said Tuesday. “That’s what we need to settle.”
The causeway, beach and boat launch are all under the city’s jurisdiction, Cobb added.
“I want to get it in writing so they understand their jurisdiction and what’s our jurisdiction so we don’t have to go through this mess every year because it’s not productive,” he said. “That way they can do what they do best and we can have more access.”
Scout Island Nature Centre executive director Sue Hemphill said the field naturalists are in the process of firming up a date in early April for a meeting with the city, in an e-mailed response, and declined further comment at this point.
Cobb confirmed the city is also looking at the possibility of developing other water access at the RC Cotton site with trails that would tie into Scout Island and the River Valley trails.
“The beach will probably stay on Scout Island,” Cobb said.
Council is also looking to create a public access site on the other side of the lake down from the former Kwaleen elementary school and perhaps a new boat launch but there have been no formal meetings, Cobb noted.
“There is an issue there because the public would have to cross the railway tracks, but there is another crossing nearby because of the houses along Dutch Point Road and the boat launch,” Cobb said.
In a recent Tribune article about the history of the Scout Island Nature Centre, it was reported the island was purchased by the city from the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in 1966.
An article in the Tribune’s archives dated Jan. 26, 1966 it stated the town had purchased the island for $1 from PGE Railway. However, the following week there was a correction noting the town already had title to the island, but it was the peninsula that was purchased from the railway.
“The letter received from the railway also said ‘Scout Island’ and did not define it as a peninsula,” the Feb. 2, 1966 article noted. “The island was purchased in the early 1930s by Roderick Mackenzie for the Boy Scouts and the area was later turned over to the town.”