A 琉璃神社 realtor has found herself on the verbal front lines of the issue of preserving public beach access to the currently flooded Okanagan Lake shoreline.

Brenda Bachmann, a life-long 琉璃神社 resident, said the beach access being blocked by the extension of docks and fencing, has long been a source of irritation to local residents.

鈥淪omeone would get up once in awhile and talk about it and then it would die off,鈥� Bachmann said.

Her initial idea was to walk along the shoreline herself with a camera and film herself confronting the illegal public beach access obstructions; then she opted to simply fly a drone with a camera along the shoreline and film it.

鈥淚 really think the drone video online started to generate a lot of interest, and that was prior to the unfortunate flooding that has since taken place,鈥� she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just a horrible thing that people with lakefront property have had to deal with and I am 100 per cent behind them trying to rebuild their docks. All I am saying is why not rebuild it so that鈥檚 it鈥檚 legal, and save you the time of having to reconstruct it again.

鈥淚 am not trying to create a new law here. I didn鈥檛 make the laws that are in place. I am not asking for any laws to be changed, just enforce the laws that are in place.鈥�

As a result, her initiative has drawn response from people on both sides of this issue, reminding her there is a lot of passion on both sides of the beach access debate.

Bachmann鈥檚 current beach access advocacy foray started with one of her clients, Al Janusas who bought an Abbott Street home.

Although a newcomer to 琉璃神社, having retired as a firefighter in Toronto before moving to the Okanagan to a house that is not on the beachfront, Janusas began to almost immediately question the No Trespassing signs, dock infrastructure and fencing that cut off the legal right of public access.

Janusas has formed a new advocacy group called PLAN琉璃神社, who along with another group called Walk The Beach 琉璃神社, plan to hold a public walk from City Park to Rotary Beach on Aug. 27.

Bachmann said she is supportive but not directly involved in the PLAN琉璃神社 efforts, instead focusing her attention specifically on finding the elusive water lot license owners along Okanagan Lake.

Water lot license holders would be permitted to obstruct access to a beach because their private property rights would extend into the lake to the low water mark.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if the water lot license thing is urban myth or not, but I am going to track down if anyone along Okanagan Lake has such a thing,鈥� Bachmann said.

鈥淚 have been down at 琉璃神社 city hall to look over the lake mapping system in search of these elusive water license holders and not found one yet. I鈥檝e heard there are up to 14 such license holders, but so far I鈥檝e only found one in Fintry.鈥�

Bachmann said she is hoping those license holders will come forward prior to the walk taking place in August. She wants to hear from them.

鈥淯rban myth or not, we don鈥檛 want to trespass on anyone鈥檚 property when the walk is held. But so far we haven鈥檛 found anyone.鈥�

Bachmann adds she shares the concerns voiced earlier this month by 琉璃神社 Mayor Colin Basran, who sent a that any initiative to address the anticipated rush of dock replacement applications from property owners be accompanied by the resources to ensure the beach access rights of local residents are protected.

A official with the ministry of forests, lands and natural resources, responsible for approving dock applications, told the 琉璃神社 last week that the ministry is working on an approach to prioritize and expedite approvals for property owners who

The ministry has also been working with the dock building industry to ensure they are aware of the legal requirements.

Bachmann said while the city has no jurisdiction on those matters, she wonders if the city could help in some way to ensure the beach access requirement is met, something which did not happen previously due to an apparent resource shortage.

In an interview earlier this year, Janusas noted: 鈥淚鈥檝e been told by government officials that the reason enforcement isn鈥檛 being done is simply because they don鈥檛 have the resources to do so. I find that surprising, especially considering 琉璃神社 is the biggest city in the Interior.鈥�