Councillor Disappointed With Lake Vote

The Portage la Prairie City Councillor who was absent for the vote on the future use of Crescent Lake says the issue isn't likely to be resolved anytime soon. Ryan Espey wasn't at last Monday's meeting, where Council voted on the recommendations put forward by the Crescent Lake Use Committee, which would have allowed boats on the lake, with a few restrictions. In the end, the motion was defeated in a 3-3 tie, with the three who voted against the recommendations hoping to not allow motorized water craft on the lake. Espey's been a proponent of allowing the boats on the lake, and says he's disappointed by the outcome. 

"I felt like I had failed a little bit in my community, that these could have gone through had I been there. Then, I realized we kind of painted ourselves into a corner because now there are no recommendations going forward. The one's who didn't like the recommendations because they didn't want to see boats on the lake ironically have now opened the lake up to everything."

If Council wants to put any restrictions on that body of water for next year, they need to submit a proposal to the federal government by September 15th. If they don't meet the deadline, the lake will remain unrestricted for yet another year. Espey feels submitting those recommendations will be a challenge, given the divisive nature of the issue, and because he feels the first set of recommendations were a good compromise.

"One could probably assume that if a Councillor who voted against those recommendations made a motion that no boats were allowed on the lake, that that motion would likely be defeated. If that were the case, we wouldn't have a recommendation in by the deadline and we'd end up just seeing what happens."

While there aren't any regulations on the lake currently, Espey says that hasn't seemed to have been a problem. He's seen a few watercraft on the lake, and has yet to hear of anyone abusing the opportunity. Espey says he hopes to continue to see Portagers using the lake as a recreation opportunity throughout the summer.