Later this week the County of Barrhead will host a public meeting for Thunder Lake area residents to give them a chance to give their opinion on what the future should look like for the municipal public reserve lands.
Although most of the time we would applaud any government, municipal or otherwise, this time we are not sure what the purpose of a public meeting will accomplish.
Municipal public reserve lands are aptly named. They are public land, controlled and owned by a municipality for public use.
Think of it as a public park that has the added benefit of protecting a waterbody or other sensitive environments. And how many public parks do you know of where adjacent or nearby property owners are allowed to use the public park as an extension of their private residences?
We suggest the answer is very few to none at all.
For the last two or three years, we have received several letters and or phone calls, from Thunder Lake residents complaining that someone has put something on the public reserve land that doesn’t belong there.
All of the letters, or phone calls, of course, are anonymous, as they don’t want to be known as the ones snitching on their neighbours.
One that comes to mind is one where a resident complained that a person had set up a playground surplus equipment from the county. It turns out the complaint was false. At least we couldn’t find it, nor did the county have anything on record about disposing of surplus playground equipment.
At the time we also asked county manager Debbie Oyarzun if there were very many abuses of the bylaw. At the time she said no, that for the most part people were obeying the bylaw and the infractions were relatively minor. They also embarked on a public information campaign delivering brochures about the bylaw requirements to the majority, if not all the residents in the Thunder Lake - Tiger Lily area.
Fast forward two years and it seems that it was a wasted effort. In May, county staff toured the public reserve and took 400 pictures of violations, with more than the fair share being of the flagrant variety.
Yes, some of the violations, predate the residents currently living there. And if this is the case, they shouldn’t be held responsible for other people’s misgivings, but for the others why shouldn’t the county hold them responsible for breaking the bylaw? How many of the violations were put there for the betterment and use of the public? If they are do they meet the county’s requirement’s for installation, et cetera? After all, we are talking about a public park.
At the public meeting, we hope residents will decide to hold their neighbours accountable and forward the message that they want the county to enforce the current bylaw.
