As residents of Ivy Green move their homes to the north end of Fourth Avenue, the Oak Bay Marine Group is getting ready to put their own plans in the works.Rob Waters, general manager of the Ladysmith Marina, said there are still a few homes waiting to be moved.Despite some delays in building the new park, Waters said they were in the position to tell the residents and others involved not to rush the ordeal.“Our plans are not ready to proceed right away,” said Waters.Waters suggests any plans for the waterfront will take a couple of years as they still need to go through a rezoning.“We have zoning in place for the single family residential phase, but for the condos and the townhouses, we have to go for a rezoning.”The marina has entered into an agreement with Western Forest Products for a new municipal service road which will help get plans underway.“It will come down and access our lower parking lot at the front end,” said Waters.“There is going to have to be some restructuring of the land.”The plan includes three buildings of 30 condo units, 68 townhousing units and 42 single-family dwellings. The marina itself fits around 450 boats.Waters predicts it will take around seven years for the whole project to be completed.“It’ll be designed with controls and be a unique little village site within Ladysmith,” said Waters.“It’s certainly going to add to the town’s tax base.”The project, he added, also completes the vision of the land’s owner, Oak Bay Marine Group.Included in the plan is a pathway feature, giving people a chance to walk along the waterfront with some area for benches and sightseeing.“People in the community will be able to come down. There’s always interest around a marina.”Waters said they often see visitors pull into the marina parking lot and look around. The new path will give those people the opportunity to get out and walk around.

Ladysmith Chronicle