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Cabins sliding into Last Mountain Lake

Jul 3, 2014 | 4:56 PM

Cabins that have been passed down from generation to generation for the last 60 or 70 years are falling into Last Mountain Lake.

A stretch of cottages in Grandview Beach are teetering on the edge of the water. Decks have already fallen in—one, with patio lanterns still attached.

“We had a geotechnical engineer out yesterday and he was surprised at you know, how big this land mass is that’s moving and how quickly it moved,” said Mayor Bob Stobbs.

On Thursday Stobbs and other village councilors were disconnecting the village water pipes from the cabins so that when they fall in, there wouldn’t be more damage to infrastructure.

The power was disconnected Monday.

“People look at it and there’s nothing you can do to stop this. It’s going to do its course,” said Stobbs.

He said the cottage owners’ land does stretch back away from the lake, but added he wasn’t sure if anyone would want to rebuild.

“(It’s) not likely they can rebuild in the current spots,” said Stobbs. “There’s land up there, but this hillside is moving down too, so do you want to build a new cottage on top of a new hillside that is already failing? I don’t know.”

Stobbs says the village will be covered under the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program for its infrastructure problems, but the cottage owners won’t be covered. 

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