In an effort to promote public access to Kelowna's lake shore, PLAN Kelowna is putting on the second annual Walk the Beach this weekend.
While a homeowner may own a property on Okanagan Lake, if the beach itself isn't private property, then provincial law allows the public to access it.
However, many homeowners with public property beaches still put up "deterrents," says Walk Co-ordinator Brenda Bachmann, who appeared on the Early Edition Thursday morning.
"It's very cool to see people's reactions when they understand what has been built up along the foreshore, and how many docks and fences go right out into the water," says Bachmann. "Some people have hedges that go out into the water or rock barriers. I saw a sign the other day on a dock that said: 'NO TRESSPASSING. VIOLATERS WILL BE SHOT. SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN.'"
Provincial law also requires any dock on public beach space to have stairs installed to allow people to go over or under it.
Bachmann says she's hoping to make the issue of public beach access a topic during the upcoming election season.
"The City so far has been relatively quiet on this, but I believe it's really important to try to get the City to lean on the Province to really take care of it," says Bachmann. "We're sending out letters, and PLAN Kelowna is working on this to try and get the people running to respond."
Walk the Beach happens on Sunday, August 26th at 1 PM. It begins in City Park and goes down to Gyro Beach.