Warning
What happens when out-of-towners go into cottage country, buy up all the prime waterfront properties, drive up the price of real estate and don’t live there year-round? As a cottager have I ever stopped to consider the impact I have my seasonal community?

No. In fact, I complain. I scan my tax bill and think, ‘Why am I paying school taxes? My kids don’t even go to school here.’ I actually think the town must love people like me. I seldom use its facilities and they get a huge tax grant.

If I had a cottage on Wasa Lake, I would be dead wrong. Considered one of the warmest lakes in the Rocky Mountains, Wasa is a quiet cottage community tucked in the Kootenay River Valley. The town of Wasa is based around this small lake. In the past 5 years, the permanent residents, who now only comprise 38% of the town’s population, have witnessed their property values approach $1 million.

Are they happy with what’s happening to their town? Not according to Susanne Ashmore, chair of the Wasa Lake Land Improvement District. The influx of Alberta dollars have radically changed their social and environmental landscape, and not for the better.

Five years ago, they have lost their school. Young families, considered gold to small communities like Wasa, cannot afford the premium to live there. Both their restaurants have closed; unable to make it on eight weeks of business. Only a threadbare gas station remains. The town would like a volunteer fire department, but with the majority of it’s residents over the age of 50, Ashmore, one of the youngest at 51, says it just isn’t possible. “We have become road kill for the demand,” she states.

When asked if the town is benefiting from the increased tax base, Ashmore answers, “Property taxes are the gift that keeps giving…to the provincial government.” She is actually working very hard to get the government to fund water stewardship. “Last year did water tests on the lake, but not this year,” she explains.

Ashmore has reconciled that cottagers are not going away. The future of Wasa hangs in a precarious balance. Alberta residents now comprise 43% of the town’s population. But they are not allowed to vote in BC, nor do they have a say in the town’s planning process. They are becoming the majority in a village they only live in eight weeks of the year. She has hope for the emergent community and has begun seeking input from the cottagers association as to what their interests are. On Thanksgiving weekend, the cottagers were asked to participate in a shoreline cleanup. “Only 12 people showed up, but it’s a start,” Ashmore concludes.

Cheers,

Julie

PS Today’s photo comes from Bed and Breakfast Inns in Wasa Lake

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.