Questions over Lake Access Answered

Cold Lake hosts information session on lake legislation.

An information session was held on Thursday in Cold Lake for residents wanting to know more about provincial lake legislation and lake shore access. Hosted by the City with Senior Lands Team Lead, for Alberta Environment & Parks, James B Laird facilitating, the session covered a broad area of topics regarding Cold Lake; including, lake legislation, keeping the lake healthy, aquatic vegetation, and blue-green algae (cyanobacterial), as well as lake shore access.

“We wanted to utilize this as an opportunity for the Province, being welcomed by the City, to come in and speak specifically on the Provincial Government’s mandate and jurisdiction,” Laird explains the open house on lake shore development was a perfect chance for the government to go over some of the legislation that may affect development. Laird says there are areas around the lake that the Province is responsible for, “anything on the crown title or on crown bed or shore.” It was an educational opportunity for the Province, explains Laird, “we want to educate people, so that they can understand what they are allowed to and not do on public, crown land.” It also gave property owners an opportunity to ask questions in regards to their land, says Laird.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the City of Cold Lake, Kevin Nagoya, says the City was happy with the response from the residents. “The intention was to get the residents together that are both, on the lake shore of Cold Lake and the public at large and provide education. There’s different environmental and provincial reserves around that are adjacent to their homes and adjacent to the lake.” The gathering was ideal for the City to go over some of the facts, “some people aren’t aware of the property lines or the zoning. [We wanted to] help with that aspect.” The City also used the session as an opportunity to answer any questions or concerns residents may have regarding the lake, reserves, and property lines.

“We don’t have any clear policies regarding the various reserves. The idea was to bring everybody in a room, as many as we can, and provide their comments and their feedback back to the City of Cold Lake in that regard,” Nagoya says the information gathered will be brought to City Administration and eventually Council for policy decisions. There’s different components to public land and provincial or crown land, “there’s different perspectives of what the public land is and what the reserve land should be used for.” All of the ideas and comments will be put into a report for Council, says Nagoya, who adds that the residents, who attended, provided some valuable feedback.