WHEREAS the Land Act allows accretion of land if the natural boundary of a river, stream or lake has changed; AND WHEREAS accretions under the Land Act do not consider or differentiate artificial control of water by dams and future changes in water flows as a result of water flow regimes changing: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities appeal to the provincial government to change the definition section of the Land Act to disallow accretions if the shoreline changes are due to upstream water control.
Surveyor General of the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia The Surveyor General does not support this resolution because such proposed legislative changes would result in uncertainty as to the location of the water-ward boundaries of properties adjacent to water bodies controlled or influenced by dams and other water controlling infrastructure. Uncertainty as to the location of property boundaries is not in the public interest. As dams and other water controlling infrastructure can influence water levels for many years, the inability to deal with accretion adjacent to water bodies affected by such infrastructure would result in uncertainty as to the ownership of land formed adjacent to waterfront properties, which uncertainty would effectively sterilize any substantive use of this newly formed land.