Province issues a stop-work order for Victoria Beach shoreline protection

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This article was published 05/03/2011 (5560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government has issued a stop-work order just hours after work began in the middle of the night on shoreline protection for a group of Victoria Beach cottagers.

Late Friday afternoon, after heavy construction equipment moved onto a section of Victoria Beach’s famed lakefront to begin digging and placing boulders in front of four cottages, Manitoba Conservation issued the order and said “further action is possible”.

Cottager Al Keith, who with about eight other cottagers rushed to the site in the morning to block any more trucks from getting to the lakefront, said they’re pleased with the order.

“The province’s involvement will allow projects designed to protect beach and property to move forward,” Keith said. “We need solutions that work for all of us.” Keith said they still want the province to order removal of the materials on the site and restoration of the beach.

The province said its order only applies to work on Crown land and it was issued because the erosion structure was being built on a public road that is still on the books even though most of it has been washed into the lake.

The work is being done by the same group of cottagers that the RM of Victoria Beach council discussed at a meeting earlier this week.

The municipality had put in place a cease-and-desist order against them last month after they began dumping boulders in front of the cottages.

But at this week’s meeting, that order was lifted after the council was told a legal opinion said the municipality can’t stop the cottagers from building a rock barrier because Lake Winnipeg had stripped away so much shoreline all that was left was the cottage owners’ own property.

Reeve Tom Farrell said it would still be up to the provincial government to decide if the work could be done on the beachfront.

Some of the protesting cottagers also noted that Jim Conly, one of the cottage owners pushing for the shoreline work and who appeared at this week’s council meeting, has had his cottage up for sale for some time.

On the Ateah Realty website, under the heading ‘Lakefront on Sunset Blvd, Victoria Beach restricted area, rustic log cottage’, the approximately 1,123 square foot lakefront three-bedroom 91-year-old cottage on a 75-ft. by 200 ft. lot at 205 Sunset Blvd., is listed at $559,000.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca