Trustees committed to a new approach for facilitating Ganges harbourwalk restoration at last week’s Local Trust Committee meeting.
The LTC took into account significant public input and staff advice by voting to pursue whether public access to the waterfront can be secured through a provincial shoreline tenure application. Ganges Marina’s 30-year lease expired in 2017 and the company is currently operating under a month-to-month arrangement with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development.
The LTC had started with the idea of securing the right-of-way by creating a new commercial zone as incentive to four private property owners along the shoreline. The Capital Regional District, which is overseeing the committee that hopes to complete and repair the boardwalk, has stated it prefers to continue with the rezoning amenity.
The marina operators would also prefer the LTC stick to its earlier plans.
“We were disappointed to see the Islands Trust step away from negotiating in good faith and proceeding on a path of interfering in our commercial water lease renewal,” Steve Azyan, a spokesperson for B&B Ganges Marina Ltd., told the Driftwood.
Motions passed at Thursday’s meeting direct planning staff to investigate the possibility of the LTC applying for a right-of-way, to be held jointly with the Capital Regional District or on its own, and to ask the ministry to hold off on processing the marina’s tenure application until its receives the LTC’s materials.
The LTC also discussed adjusting inconsistent zoning in the area in the shorter term, as well as planning more engagement on upland uses.
For more on this story, see the March 7, 2018 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.