WL Council on Dutch Point Rd Lake Access

Courtesy of the City of Williams Lake:

Meeting as Committee of the Whole on Oct. 28, Williams Lake City Council passed a recommendation to limit the lake access on Dutch Point Road to non-motorized traffic only to address safety concerns. The access is not being closed. Council will consider a parking option for users as part of the 2015 budget process. Committee of the Whole recommendations are not decisions; they are referred to regular Council meetings for final consideration. This item is scheduled to be on the Nov. 4 Council meeting agenda.

Committee of the Whole recommended referring consideration of a right-angle parking solution that would create between 3 and 5 parking spaces and a turnaround for vehicles without trailers to the 2015 budget process. Due to the limited space on Dutch Point Road, this parking area would stretch across the width of the Dutch Point lake access. This proposed solution would block vehicle access to the lake, but allow safe parking, a turnaround, and non-motorized lake access.

Recognizing that lake access is important for all residents of the community, Committee of the Whole also passed a recommendation to direct staff to investigate improvements at Scout Island beach, boat launch area and access to Scout Island and report back to the 2015 budget discussions. City staff also continue to work on a lake access inventory that will examine the overall access to the lake, both in and out of City boundaries.

Dutch Point Road is not a dedicated road right-of-way; it is an encroachment onto CN Rail right-of-way and is only 10 metres in width, which is half of most City roads. This does not allow emergency or municipal services vehicles such as fire trucks or snowplows to travel the road when vehicles are parked on it.

Bollards or another barrier will be installed in the coming weeks at the lake access if Council approves the recommendation. The barrier will still allow access to the lake for non-motorized activities such as skiing or walking or canoeing. However, parking along the road will remain prohibited. In addition, signage will be placed at the entrance to Dutch Point Road alerting motorists that there is no motorized lake access, turnaround, or parking along Dutch Point