The province has confirmed that the beds and shores of the inland marina at Meridian Beach are private.
Confirmation of the development’s status was provided by Alberta Environment and Parks in an email. The response came due to a request from Ponoka News seeking clarification of the inland marina.
“The beds and shores of the inland marina are private lands flooded by Gull Lake as a result of being connected to the lake,” explained Charity Wallace, public affairs officer for the ministry. “The Public Lands Act does not apply to the bed of the inland marina (unless approval is sought to dredge the access channel into the lake to maintain a connection to the inland marina.”
This comes on the heals of the Meridian Beach Homeowner’s Association posting a photo on its Facebook page restricting access to the inland marina, which caused some discontent from fishermen who use the water way.
There was some confusion of the status of the marina with some stating it’s a public water space and the association stating otherwise.
“The inland marina is constructed on private land and received appropriate approvals from the department,” the email from Wallace states.
In 2004 Alberta Environment approved an application from Inshore Developments to dredge a marina canal in Gull Lake as well as, “construct, operate and maintain storm water management works,” as explained in the approval.
Where the association and its residents must follow is under the Water Act. Under the Water Act there are processes for the development of water management.