The Peninsula Lake Community Association appeared before the Township of Lake of Bays council on April 9, asking the municipality to cover the cost of ten of 15 buoys that had reached the end of their life on the Township side of the lake.
The association, comprised of volunteers, said it places the buoys in the water before the May 25 weekend and removes them from the water in October. The buoys help with safe navigation on the lake.
Lori Tersigni, representing the Association, told councillors that the markers warn boaters where there is shallow water with rocks. She said the markers not only help with boater safety but also help protect wildlife and vegetation and get boaters to slow down.
Tersigni told Lake of Bays that Huntsville was supporting the initiative and was purchasing markers for them.
Councillors asked how much it would cost. Tersigni said that, according to market value, the ten buoys would cost an estimated $9,000, but municipalities could possibly get a better price.
Councillor Bob Lacroix said while he did not want to spend $9,000, he did want to support the Association. Councillor Mike Peppard suggested that perhaps the municipality could help out with a grant for four or five buoys.
Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover noted that Transport Canada is responsible for the waterways. “From my perspective, I am very concerned with this because we have over 100 lakes. We get constantly inundated with questions and people wanting buoys and signs.”
Glover also expressed concern that the municipality would be liable if an accident were to happen. Councillor Nancy Tapley reasoned whether the same could be argued if an area on the lake was known to be a problem and not correctly marked. She also questioned the rationale associated with taking on liability just by supporting or gifting an item to a community group.
“We shouldn’t be doing it. This is a nice thing to do. It’s not our responsibility, and they don’t carry insurance for this kind of thing. If somebody doesn’t follow the rules, somebody hits one of those items, boat flies over, they’re going to look to sue, and they’re not going to sue the Pen Lake Association. They’re going to sue the Township because we provided the money that bought those buoys. We take responsibility when we do that,” argued Bryan Brown, Township CAO.
Councillor Mike Peppard asked about giving them a grant. “You can’t hide behind these things. If we provide the money directly or indirectly to purchase things that aren’t our responsibility and there’s a legal action, it’s very straightforward,” said Brown. “They’ll sue whoever they think they can get money from and we’re going to be the ones with the deepest pockets. We’re the ones that provided the money—it’s just gonna end up on our lap.”
Glover also argued that there are other lakes in the municipality. “The other thing is the concern that we have other lakes; I’m not sure that we’re aware of that,” he said. “And the other lakes are asking all the time for this kind of thing. This isn’t a new thing… certainly the narrows in Baysville, I’ve heard about it ever since I got into office [but]policy around that clearly said that this isn’t something you do,” said Glover, who also noted that it’s an unbudgeted item.
When asked, Director of Building & Bylaw Services, Stephen Watson said that in 1989 the Lake of Bays Association approached council asking the municipality to impose a speed limit on Lake of Bays of 9 kilometres per hour before the 10 kilometer limit was imposed by the federal government. Watson said because the resolution for a speed reduction was brought to Transport Canada by the municipality, it is now the responsibility of the Township to maintain all the signage. Similarly, he said if the buoys are not maintained by the Association, responsibility will fall to the Township. He said he’s not a lawyer but thought that would happen.
Councillor Rick Brooks expressed concern with the perpetual maintenance of buoys he said the municipality does not want to own. “I appreciate their interest, but I don’t think we should be doing it,” he said, adding that there are many other water bodies in the municipality.
Glover added that it’s wonderful that the volunteers are doing all they can to keep everybody safe, but he said safety is also up to the boat operator.
In the end, the majority of council turned down the Association’s request.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
Brian Tapley says
Not sure there is logic here. So it seems that the more money you have, the less you can do for fear that something you do, might somehow land you with responsibility for looking after other party’s errors or omissions. The logic being that if you do nothing then you can’t do anything wrong. This is not entirely true in all cases.
In the extreme, maybe we should block off all public boat ramps because, heaven help us if someone launched an unsafe boat or drove a safe boat in an unsafe manner and by providing a means for that person to put that boat in the water the Township would thus be liable!?
I’ve heard that if you put a marker on the lake as a guide or safety idea and then because of that guide’s misuse an accident happens the entity placing the guide is responsible. Maybe that is why you see occasional javex bottles to mark things. I guess if nobody knows how they got there then liability vanishes, or maybe never appears in the first place?
I fail to understand the Baysville narrows. Lake of Bays is marked, or always was marked by I think it was the Coast Guard with aids to navigation for the old steam boats. These boats are long gone but the buoys have remained and Baysville seems to be well marked by standard red and green markers. There are a few others marking major rocks in Lake of Bays and these are much to everyone’s benefit, especially at night. I have been told that this is not the case in many other area lakes.
There must be a method to ask the higher governments to extend this official marking. I don’t think the local municipality is equipped to do this, nor should they be.
When you go boating anywhere, it is generally the job of the captain of the boat to either know or find out about local hazards and understand the interpretation of standard channel markers. They are also the ones who are responsible for normal safe operations of their boat.
There are already plenty of rules about speed, in proximity to shorelines.
What we seem to lack is the ability to have any control of both noise and wake size. Curiously the Police, who do patrol these lakes seem to have more excuses than answers when it comes to control of these two last items. They are good on paperwork but short on noise and wakes.
Now houseboats are coming to the area more often and this will be an additional challenge.