”The Town believes the project is not in the community’s interest and should be denied.”
This is the message the provincial government will hear from Ladysmith council after council was asked to provide Crown land referral for an application by Pamela Anderson for private moorage within DL462 on the Ladysmith Harbour.
At its June 3 meeting, council voted to direct staff to tell the provincial government that council believes the application should be denied because it is not in the community’s interest and that there has not been a dock structure within DL462 for many years. As part of an upland development proposal for these lands on Chemainus Road in 2008, the owner agreed that the lands shall not be used for a marina or any marina be connected to the lands.
Council will also tell the Province that “it is important that Crown tenure decisions protect the existing shellfish harvesting areas in Holland Bank, which is an important local economic and business sector” and “the Town is currently reviewing its regulation of private moorage.”
The purpose of the Crown land application is for a “Commercial A” land use.
“The commercial use of the proposed moorage is unclear,” Felicity Adams, the Town’s director of development services, wrote in her staff report. “The applicant describes the proposal as the construction of a dock to provide moorage for light watercraft described as kayaks, lasers and other light watercraft for the exclusive use and benefit of the upland development where nine strata units are proposed to be established in the future. An application for development of the upland has not been received by the Town.”
The water lot DL462 is located near the Holland Bank shellfish tenures held by Limberis Seafood.
Limberis Seafood has noted that the construction of a new dock would negatively impact the water flow in the area and reduce the company’s harvesting area due to Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) regulations requiring 125 metres of separation between a dock and shellfish area.
According to the proposal, the purpose of Anderson’s application is to develop a walkway, ramp and float for “moorage for light watercraft associated with upland development. No watercraft should be capable of any discharge of effluent, hydrocarbon or other into the surrounding water.”
The proposed walkway is 135.8 metres (445.5 feet) in length. The ramp would be hinged perpendicular to the walkway and rest on the float, and it is proposed to be 13.68 metres in length. The concrete float would be 184.4 square metres (1,984.86 square feet) and would be equipped with racks for light watercraft and designed with swales for easy launch and recovery, according to the proposal.
In 2008, Anderson proposed a multi-family residential development on the upland parcel, and at that time, she committed that a marina would not be constructed in the waterfront area adjacent to the subject property, according to Adams’s report. This agreement was never executed and the permits for the development were never issued.
Leo Limberis was at the council meeting, and he spoke about how his family’s company could be impacted by this proposal.
“This particular site we’re talking about is the Holland Bank and is comprised of about 36 acres of probably the best clam beaches in all of British Columbia,” he said. “It’s one of the best natural seeding grounds in B.C.”
Limberis explained that one of the issues he has is that there is a 125-metre radius from the point of a dock or wharf where shellfish culture or harvesting is prohibited.
“If you were to take that diagram 125 metres, it cuts well into that 36-acre site,” he told council. “The issue with us is the radius of that enclosure and what happens when someone decides to bring a big live-aboard boat, who’s to stop them? I’m not trying to be unreasonable; I’m just trying to make sure we cover all the bases and we don’t open Pandora’s box here.”
There are five parcels of land on Holland Bank that comprise a contiguous site, and this particular site in question is one of the best, said Limberis.
“That particular site happens to be one of the best parcels of that entire site, and it comprises perhaps 30 per cent of that site, 25-30 per cent,” he explained. “We’re talking tens and tens of thousands of dollars of lost income for that site, there’s no question about it. It’s one of the largest and one of the most prolific and one of the most renowned sites in all of B.C.”
Coun. Bill Drysdale was concerned about the size of the “monolithic concrete float” and the potential for float planes.
“What really concerns me is it talks about watercraft, but I don’t believe float planes are watercraft, and that’s a possibility if they had to do any maintenance there,” he said.
As well, he noted that somebody could come up in a large watercraft, anchor off shore and get into a little dinghy and pull up to the dock.
Coun. Gord Horth wondered why the Town would compromise a site that is environmentally sensitive and is an economic generator, and he also was concerned this is a one-off, noting the Town needs a comprehensive look at zoning around moorage.
“I think it’s a poor one-off, and we should say we’re not interested,” he said.
As part of these discussions, council directed staff to develop regulations for private moorage and shellfish culture use as part of the Zoning Bylaw update project.
