A group of Mara Lake property owners is claiming the Columbia Shuswap Regional District has no plans to build a public rail trail along the lake and instead is secretly planning a multimillion "commuter train mega-project."
The CSRD, meanwhile, says the claims are laughable and untrue.
A press release from the BC Dock Owners Coalition alleges that communities from Sicamous to Armstrong have been "misled by (the) promise of a walking trail that will instead see Mara Lake industrialized for transit purposes."
The group claims that despite months of promoting the Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail, the district plans instead to rebuild the old CP railway along the western shore of Mara Lake.
For its proof, the coalition offers the revised licence and upland consent agreement the district is asking landowners across the right of way from the lake to sign.
The document is an updated version of the previous agreement between landowners and CPR, which granted them access across the rail corridor to their docks.
Part of the document states: "The licensee acknowledges that the licence area is situated within the owner's lands, a portion of which is used to actively operate a public trail, and which the owner may in the future, utilize as part of a transportation corridor (such as for commuter rail) and that the owner's ability to safely and efficiently operate same is paramount."
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