Rail trail ownership says yes to farmer easement option, no to extension for dock owners

The Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail ownership group has agreed to provide easements for farm owners in place of previously offered crossing permits, but made it clear it will not be extending a similar deal to dock owners.

The 50-kilometre rail trail, which is intended for pedestrian and cyclist use, is planned to run along shorelines, through rural farmland and forest from Sicamous to Armstrong.

At a June 20 Columbia Shuswap Regional District board meeting, directors voted in favour of supporting two recommendations from the rail trail governance advisory committee (GAC).

One recommendation allows for easements for agricultural land owners, and another denies a delegation request from dock owners, redirecting them to file for dock permits before their July 31 deadline.

“There's an issue raised by the farm owners in the Regional District of the North Okanagan and Spallumcheen that are requesting easements to cross the rail trail to access their farmland,” Derek Sutherland, General Manager of community and protective services, told the board.

“The GAC and the technical operations committee in the ownership group have offered permits for crossing and assured the permanent access. The farm operators weren't satisfied with that, so through negotiation with the RDNO and the District of Spallumcheen and the farm agricultural producers, they have reached an agreement where they will provide easements across the rail trail.”

Board Chair Kevin Flynn clarified the easements are an option for farm owners, and they can still opt for the free crossing permits.

At the grand opening of the pilot section of the rail trail in Enderby last month, some farmers showed up with large farm equipment to protest the permits and call for easements to be provided.

“If they choose to have an easement, they pay for all costs, surveying, registration of an easement, all of those things,” Flynn said.

“At the meeting, many farmers made it quite clear they're fine with the permits. ...But if they want an easement, because they feel more comfortable with an easement, then they pay for all the costs.”

Some board members asked for clarification on the difference between the easements and the crossing permits, since they are both lifetime agreements and transferable with the sale of the property.

“From an operational perspective, we all struggle as to what the difference is between the two,” Sutherland said.

“I do think it's a trust issue in that there is something filed on title, there's an agreement that is entered into. It's very clear from the GAC and the recommendations that there's still certain protections that need to happen.

“It's very clear that the GAC recommendations are that the language of the easement would still allow us to move the easement if we needed to, for some operational reason, we'd have that right."

The option to move the easements is necessary due to planned Ministry of Transportation work to widen Highway 97A.

Dock permit deadline unchanged

After the CSRD board voted in favour of allowing easements for agricultural landowners, there was a second motion from the committee in relation to a delegation request from Sicamous dock owners.

It was recommended the board deny the request from rail trail adjacent dock owners, and instead redirect them towards the approved permitting process.

“The GAC wanted to make a really clear delineation between the easements that were being granted for agricultural producers and food security reasons, and for the recreational dock users for docking their boat on Mara Lake, and there has been a request to GAC for the dock owners to appear as a delegation,” Sutherland said.

“The GAC is of the opinion that they are well aware of of all the arguments and the issues that the dock owners have, and have considered those and provided a viable option for the dock owners to gain a permit, to have upland consent from the rail trail owner and to have their docks on the rail trail property.”

He added the dock owner delegation was asking for the permit deadline to be delayed until later in the year rather than the current deadline of July 31.

Flynn said he never wants to turn down delegation requests, but in his opinion the rail trail ownership group has done everything it can to change the permits to better fit the needs of the dock owners.

“I want to make it clear that the permit has been changed significantly since our CAO came, through the TOC and with Derek to meet every request made to the ombudsperson,” Flynn said.

"To remove the 30 day notification, it's now two years. It's transferable and it wasn't originally, and it's a 10-year length. Everything that was requested through the ombudsperson, we've matched. So I'm not sure what the need would be for the meeting.”

Dock owners who have properties adjacent to the rail trail on Mara Lake have been outspoken against the rail trail zoning amendment efforts in Sicamous because they didn’t agree with the terms offered in the permits.

Colleen Anderson, municipal director on the board and Mayor of Sicamous, spoke up to clarify the permits relate to provincial water tenure issues rather than the CSRD or rail trail owners going after dock owners.

“I want folks to understand that the province is putting a spotlight on tenures and on the water and everything we do,” she said. “This isn't the CSRD coming down on dock owners, because in the District of Sicamous, we do have zoning that allows dock owners and we're a boating community, you know, it's what we do.

"This has nothing to do with the zoning, it has to do with the province, and it has nothing to do with the District of Sicamous, and really has nothing to do with the CSRD."

The province has asked the rail trail ownership to provide them with a list of dock owners who do not have upland consent for their docks.

The ownership group has said dock owners have until July 31 to apply for permits or else they will be on the list sent to the province as not having upland consent.

When asked how many of the dock owners from along Mara Lake have applied for permits at this time, Sutherland told the board to his knowledge no one within the district of Sicamous boundaries is working on a dock permit right now.