More than 20 floats dot the Kaleden lakeshore, marking mooring locations for boats on Skaha Lake. Regional district directors asked staff to investigate legislation to regulate boats anchoring on the lake.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - A convenient, low cost way to anchor boats on Skaha Lake is being scrutinized by the regional district.

The proliferation of anchorages on Skaha Lake is prompting regional directors to look at the possibility of zoning regulations to control moorage.

The topic came up during a Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board’s committee discussion over dock and moorage regulations on are lakes at Thursday’s board meeting, May 3.

Okanagan Falls director Tom Siddon expressed concerns about the “continued proliferation of people mooring boats, first without a permit, then with what appears to be a rubber stamp from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.”

Siddon said he was concerned about more and more runaway boat moorages on Skaha Lake, along with docks damaged by last year’s flooding being rebuilt “bigger and better.”

He said boat owners were placing everything from old engine blocks to chunks of concrete in the lake to attach their boats to, without asking anyone, calling it a particular problem when one neighbour does it, then the rest follow suit.

Siddon called for tougher forms of legislation to deal with the issue, adding he had fielded lots of complaints from people, including community recreation commissions, asking what all the boats were doing along the waterfront of communities like Kaleden and Okanagan Falls.

The board agreed to have regional district staff look into the possibility of regulations for moorage.

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