Skip to content

Waterfront access protected

Existing limited public access to Williams Lake should be left alone, city council agreed Tuesday.
mly water access signal point road
After receiving inquiries about water access on this property on Signal Point Road

Existing limited public access to Williams Lake should be left alone, city council agreed Tuesday as it directed staff to prepare an inventory of existing lake access and the functionality of options available.

“At our last committee of the whole meeting last week council unanimously agreed not to dispose of any water access to the lake,” Coun. Surinderpal Rathor said.

“We want to know if we can develop these accesses or not and how much it would cost the community.”

Recently a resident asked about acquiring a three metre wide strip of water access located next to 1707 Signal Point Road where a new house and shop are currently being constructed.

In his report for council about the property, city planning technician Chris Hutton said there has been interest expressed in both the potential sale of this land to an adjacent land owner, as well as interest from residents in the neighbourhood to clarify whether access is available.

“Staff has also indicated that this access could be further developed to ideally provide access to pedestrians, and small, non-motorized watercraft.”

There are presently three lake accesses off Signal Point Road. None are developed to clearly indicate that they are lake accesses and are at risk of being utilized by adjacent land owners for personal use, Hutton said.

Originally the access in question was developed as a water draw for fire hydrants when the subdivision was being developed in 1965.

Today hydrants are serviced by city water, although the foundation from an old pump house is still located there.

 



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
Read more