McGregor Lake

McGregor Lake

A German investor bought a district lot on McGregor Lake. If a stream or lake was shown on a

property, it was normally excluded from the purchase of a Crown grant. But here was a lot, a

half-mile square, with the lake being half the property, but on a survey, there was no lake shown.

Under the Land Act, if no lake is shown on the survey, the landowner owns the lake. This

situation at McGregor Lake started an argument that carried on for years until the law was

changed, allowing lakes that do not appear on survey maps to revert to the Crown.

The owner of the land at McGregor Lake sold the land to this German fellow, who decided that

he was going to create strata title on the property and have guests. He thought that people from

Europe would buy sites out in this wilderness area. The land was probably ten miles away from

the highway and was accessed by a very steep, but decent, road that required a Jeep or a four-

wheel drive vehicle. Word got out that the new owner was going to subdivide the land. We went

in there and surveyed it. I will never forget it. I broke my ankle very severely and ended up on

crutches for four months. But the regional district, which more or less controlled rural planning,

pushed for a bylaw so that the land could not be developed.

The project was not really impinging upon anybody. There was nobody within five miles of the

place, and the people living there were rural. The Kokanee Springs development was already

there, and there was a golf course and a resort.

The German fellow had a vision for property development that would not bother anyone, but the

planners held their ground. They did not want the property to be developed with half a dozen

cottage sites.

The manager of Kokanee Springs got involved. He supported the subdivision. He and I went to

Victoria and spoke to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Mr. Vander Zalm (later the Premier of

British Columbia). The provincial government had the power to overrule the regional district.

We convinced the provincial government to rescind the power of the regional district to change

the zoning. But the proposed developer decided that it was not worth trying to fight bureaucrats

in this country. As far as I know, He sold the property and went back to Germany.

This is all part of the work that a development consultant takes on. You have to go with the flow

or go with a client. It is your job to represent the client’s interest. You do not always win, but

you do it anyway.

Another person bought a property on Crystal Lake on a peninsula, and I had the job of surveying

it out. The owner decided not to even try to subdivide it or create any housing or anything on it.

But it was a very nice homesite. I enjoyed the job of marking out the property and making sure

nobody trespassed, cutting trees or timber on the owner’s property or on Crown land.