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Editorial: Keep eyes on the right roads

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Keep eyes on the right roads

Efforts to improve safety on Salt Spring’s roadways should be applauded in principle, but it only makes sense to undertake them if they solve an identifiable problem.

At their last public meeting, Salt Spring Island Transportation Commission members agreed to ask the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to examine four island road areas, pick two of them and offer ways to improve safety at those spots.

Three of the suggested are intersections: Southey Point and North End roads; Fulford-Ganges and Beddis/Charlesworth roads; and Booth Canal and Rainbow roads; and the fourth is the Vesuvius Bay Road curve between the churches. The suggested locations were brought to the SSITC by a member of the public last fall.

However, a look at official ICBC crash statistics, as detailed in our story on page 3 of this paper, shows that the four areas discussed at the commission meeting do not make the list. Between six and 16 crashes were recorded from 2013 to 2017 at seven intersections in and near the Ganges area, but none at the four raised in the SSITC meeting.

A case could be made to improve any number of intersections or stretches of road on Salt Spring Island, but if there’s no documentation to support a need for change, i.e. through accidents occurring in those spots, it seems unlikely that the transportation ministry will give them any consideration.

The ICBC statistics show that installing a four-way stop at Central greatly reduced crashes at that intersection. Ironically it is still the area with the highest number from 2013 to 2017. 

There should be no harm in the SSITC asking for transportation ministry resources to be spent on investigating the four areas in question, but that isn’t the case if more important safety-related projects are delayed as a result. As the McElhanney road condition report done as part of the incorporation study process in 2016 revealed, numerous Salt Spring roads need upgrading and rehabilitation. Trouble spots have only gotten worse since then, and three major washouts have required MoTI attention.

We have enough difficulty wrangling approval for things like road-line paint out of the south Vancouver Island MoTI office without distracting them with proposed new, less critical projects.

ICBC stats reveal worst Salt Spring intersections

Elizabeth Nolan
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ICBC stats reveal worst Salt Spring intersections

Where to best focus safety improvements on Salt Spring’s dangerous roads is an ever-changing opinion, depending on which intersection a person happens to frequent and/or has faced a close call.

What to do about those hazardous sites forms an equally difficult line of conversation, as evidenced at the most recent meeting of the Salt Spring Transportation Commission. The commission voted on Feb. 25 to advance some areas of concern to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, based on a list of locations brought forward by a member of the public.

Capital Regional Director Gary Holman said he is committed to taking the commission’s request to the ministry, but he also feels that more attention could be focused on the overall situation and how to deal with it.

“This is a start, but I think we need to take a broader, more strategic approach,’” Holman said. “People are approaching the commission with advocacy issues, which is not a bad thing, but over time we need to develop a systematic approach to road safety because, a) resources are thin, and b) you can’t tell MoTI to do anything, but you can hold their feet to the fire.”

While close-calls and actual road incidents may feel all too frequent for residents, the numbers may not add up to what the ministry considers as warranting action. As well, sites of specific interest to some islanders may not reflect the areas where the ministry might agree to act.

“Safety is our top priority and we are always looking at ways to further improve safety on our highways, roads, bridges and at intersections,” the ministry told the Driftwood. “It is important to note that the ministry identifies collision-prone locations based on serious collisions (injury or fatality).”

Prior to 2012, the Central intersection of North End, Lower Ganges, Upper Ganges and Vesuvius Bay roads experienced by far the most crashes compared to other Salt Spring intersections. There were 32 reported crashes during the five-year period of 2006 to 2010. It took a community petition with 700 signatures and a concerted campaign by the transportation commission and other community members to convince MoTI to change the intersection to a four-way stop, following a particularly bad crash on Christmas night in 2011.

Central still has the highest crash rate among island intersections, according to the most recent ICBC statistics covering 2013-2017. However, the situation has improved, with 16 accidents recorded over that five-year period. The next highest are the intersections of Lower Ganges/Rainbow roads at 14 crashes, Lower Ganges/Atkins with 11, and Fulford-Ganges/Cranberry with 11.

According to ICBC statistics, two people died in car accidents between 2013 and 2017: a young child in one case and a male driver over the age of 75 in the other.

Adjusting for accidents that included an injury, the highest-crash locations from 2013-17 are Lower Ganges Road/Crofton/Park (seven crashes), Lower Ganges/Rainbow (six) and Lower Ganges/Atkins (six).

No intersection improvements are currently planned at any of these sites. Pedestrian-controlled crosswalks exist at two of the dangerous corners because of previous community campaigns, both of which included a fundraising component. Despite this, the Lower Ganges/Rainbow intersection’s high crash rate remains worrisome as being the major crossing for children arriving or departing from school via water taxi and being within a reduced-speed school zone.

The transportation commission is working on new pedestrian and cycling safety improvements there as part of the North Ganges Transportation Plan, but changes to how the intersection works are not part of the most recent plan. (The project has been delayed by archeological concerns at the foot of Rainbow Road.)

Holman said the island MLA should be involved in road safety advocacy, since island roads are ultimately a provincial responsibility, but he believes the transportation commission is still the appropriate body to take on the task locally. He would like to revisit some of the work the commission did in the past on speed limits, for example, and to lobby for previously identified road surfacing and repair needs.

“I think it is important to document safety concerns with MoTI and keep reminding them,” Holman said. “The fact that we voted ‘no’ on incorporation to my mind doesn’t mean we just throw up our hands and say, ‘Okay MoTI, over to you.’”

Featured Opinion: Let’s get creative to solve housing and water crises

Contributed Article
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Featured Opinion: Let’s get creative to solve housing and water crises

BY RHONAN HEITZMANN

The North Salt Spring Waterworks District has released its strategic plan for the next five years and is asking for public feedback.

I have some creative ideas that I hope they will adopt to allow for more affordable housing solutions even while maintaining the moratorium on new hook-ups.

First, I would like to say that it can’t be easy being NSSWD. They have to make hard decisions while facing changing-climate patterns and increasing demand from so many new monster homes, as well as tourism and business growth. I understand that the moratorium on new hook-ups and encouraging conservation is an important part of protecting our precious water resources under their management.

I believe the board and staff mean well and are trying to act within their limited mandate. However, as a housing advocate in a time of such a severe housing crisis, I am dismayed that there is no mention of affordable housing and no effort to find creative solutions to help people create essential housing within the constraints of the imposed moratorium. 

Indeed, as part of their guiding principles they claim:

“Public interest: working in the best interests of the public and stakeholders, both current and future” and “Innovation: seeking informed and creative solutions to difficult problems.”

With adequate rental housing in such short supply, our community is losing valuable assets such as teachers, nurses, carpenters, building inspectors, farmers, entrepreneurs and other essential members of a healthy community. It is difficult to hire people to fill these positions as there is literally nowhere to live, unless you can afford one of the few houses left between $600,000 and a million dollars on the market. It is most definitely in the public interest to find and allow for creative solutions to this critical problem.

Affordable-housing advocates I’ve been working with for the past year have done a lot of thinking about water. Since I also run the Salt Spring Water Company, I guess you could say I’ve got water on my mind most days. Herewith I humbly present a number of solutions the NSSWD could implement, or work with other bodies like the Islands Trust and CRD to make happen:

Distributed storage: The reservoirs of St. Mary and Maxwell lakes are not the only way to store water from our abundant winter precipitation. There is also a concept called distributed storage. This would be to encourage use of storage tanks and ponds throughout the district area. Consider this: If 1,000 buildings each had one 3,000 US-gallon storage tank then that would equal three million US gallons of water that would not be drawn from the surface reservoirs during the dry season (about 10 per cent of metered consumption during peak period of July and August).

As an additional bonus, these storage tanks would refill during the occasional summer rains, thus multiplying their value. NSSWD could encourage private installation of storage tanks via an annual rebate on fees, perhaps in conjunction with incentives from the CRD. Of course these benefits could be multiplied as many property owners might want more than one tank. They gain freedom of use for irrigation, perhaps flushing toilets, etc. Win, win! It’s a lot cheaper than building a $3-million concrete storage tank, which is one of the NSSWD’s proposed ideas.

Let’s take this concept a step further. Legal challenges from not supplying water to some 275 potential new dwellings in the Channel Ridge development loom over the district’s head, frankly providing a disincentive to create solutions. We know that the available supply during the summer months when demand is greatest is a distinct challenge for NSSWD, yet there is spare capacity in the annual volume of their licence. Millions of gallons overflow into the sea every winter. What if a proposal was put to the developer of Channel Ridge to create appropriate affordable housing and the planned little village with some local amenities where storage was built into the footprint of those buildings? This storage could be replenished by NSSWD during the winter months when the lake overflows to the ocean. Supplement this idea with rainwater, ponds for irrigation and potential local groundwater as a backup. The community would gain sustainable housing and NSSWD could be free from a challenging legal situation. Win, win!

Finally, I understand the reluctance to allow for new hook-ups to a housing project even if it is in the public interest due to the constraints of the moratorium. Yet at the same time the aging infrastructure of NSSWD is in desperate need of capital funds, and now loses large percentages of their capacity due to leaks (17 per cent of total withdrawals). Meanwhile, the CRD has a property close to Ganges and plans to build 80 units of affordable housing but lacks the water necessary to proceed. Why can these various levels of government not work together with BC Housing to secure capital funds to fix enough leaks to secure the annual supply needed by the housing project? Win, win, win! I would think that the CRD would be the central player in this case and seek cooperation from NSSWD and BC Housing.

This leads to an important last point. Would it not be in the public interest and the ratepayers’ interests to join forces with the CRD and create an island-wide water authority under the CRD but with express local control of management, decision making, engineering and as much local labour as is feasible? This would open the door for funding options and economies of scale, not to mention integrated island-wide water management, finding solutions for not only surface water but protecting and managing groundwater, and encouraging distributed storage and rainwater harvesting island wide. 

Young working-class families are a species at risk on Salt Spring Island. As a community we should support NSSWD and our various levels of government to create innovative approaches to achieving a sustainable, balanced demographic essential to this healthy community. We should not allow fear of over-population to exaggerate the fear of water scarcity as justification for no new housing options.

Instead we should be embracing new solutions and rejoicing at the natural abundance of our annual meter-deep rainfall, allowing for the kind of sustainable population we want to have settle here, not only the wealthy folks seeking a beautiful place to retire, but also hard-working, creative young families, who embrace sensitive lifestyles, respecting the delicate nature of our wonderful and unique ecosystem.

The writer is a member of the Salt Spring Housing Action Committee.

PINCHIN, Barry E

Driftwood Obituary
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PINCHIN, Barry E

Barry E. Pinchin

Barry E Pinchin, passed away peaceably at 83 years old, under the loving care community of Greenwoods Eldercare in the morning of Sunday, March 10, 2019. Barry is well known for his sense of humour, and his friendly smile.

Barry leaves behind his wife of 62 years, Margaret Betty Pinchin (nee Baker), his three children, sons John Pinchin (wife Wendy and step son Blake Ell), Jay Pinchin and daughter Katelyn Lucas, granddaughter Chante Dufresne, great grandsons Kane Dufresne-Taypotat and Tre Dufresne-Taypotat.

Barry is the third eldest of seven children and is survived by his five sisters, Doreen McKinnon, Mabel Darlington, Sharon Abel, Carol Darlington and Donna Churchill (husband Stan Churchill), sister-in-law Maisie Pinchin (wife of Barry’s late brother deceased 1978, Robert Pinchin Jr.) and sister-in-law Marilyn Baker along with numerous nieces and nephews. He survived his parents Robert Pinchin Sr. (deceased 1988) and Isabel (Sowden) Pinchin (deceased 1964), as well as step mother Eleanor Pinchin (deceased 2005).

Barry had a love of the ocean and was a seafarer spending most of his working years on boats. He was a fisherman for most of his youth and then worked on freighters transporting goods up the northern west coast up to Prince Rupert and Stewart BC. He worked with Northland Navigation on the Northland Prince before its final voyage, then moving his family to Salt Spring Island to work on the BC Ferries until his retirement. Barry was a chief engineer of the BC ferries and was a mentor for many current and past engineers throughout his many years. In retirement, Barry was an avid advocate for mental health and was a long-time hospice volunteer. Barry and Betty loved to travel and enjoyed camping and the outdoors. They traveled for many months upon his retirement to travel across Canada and throughout the United States. Barry was a passionate hobby farmer and vegetable gardener.

Barry will be remembered for his red sweater, his hearty laugh and his fun-loving joking as well as his hardworking ethics.

For those who wish to pay their respects, services will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2019 11:30am at the Royal Canadian Legion #92.

DOWRICH, Marcus

Driftwood Obituary
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DOWRICH, Marcus

MARCUS DOWRICH

Marcus Dowrich (1957-2019) died Thursday February 21, 2019 at home on Reynolds Road, Salt Spring Island.

Marcus, suffering from severe depression for some time, took his own life Thursday afternoon. We are deeply saddened by his death, yet comforted that he is finally at peace and suffers no longer.

A true islander, Marcus was born in Trinidad, moved to Toronto Island to start a family, lived in Tobago, and finally settled on Salt Spring in 2002. He loved his islands deeply.

A constant joker with a smile and a laugh that could illuminate anyone’s spirit, Marcus was well known for his bright energy, sweet kindness, and loveable character.

A fantastic and passionate chef who nourished many bellies and souls over his life with his amazing Caribbean cooking.

An incredible and integral part of the Salt Spring Island farming community who loved and cared for his animals with such a passion.

An essential family member at Salt Spring Island Cheese Co. for many years.

A staunch Tottenham Hotspur F.C. supporter and a soccer fanatic in general who called any match times his “church” visits.

An avid Weston Lake fisher who always, and annoyingly so, would “out-fish” his son without fail.

A loving and supportive partner to his best friend and sweet sweet love, Lisa.
And, the most amazing father any son could ever hope for. A teacher, a guide in life, who showed me how to be a kind man and encouraged me to lead with passion and love. Who taught me never to do anything “half-assed”, and to always give your full effort and attention. A best friend who I shared so many brilliant moments and made so many memories with. And, if not most importantly, to always cook with colour, fantastic music, and a good drink in your hand.

Marcus will be missed dearly by his community, friends, family, his buddy Jana, his mother Dolores, and his son Kyle.

Memorial parties will be announced for Salt Spring Island and Toronto Island when things warm up a little. Marcus never loved the cold.

For those suffering with severe depression and anxiety, there is help out there. Speak to friends or family if you are able and, if not, reach out to your local help line.

It can get better.
Vancouver Island & Salt Spring Island Crisis Line
1-888-494-3888
Canada Suicide Prevention and Support
1-866-277-3553 (Français) 1-833-456-4566 (English)
TEXT 45645

District wins apprenticeship award

Gail Sjuberg
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District wins apprenticeship award

The Gulf Islands School District’s apprenticeship program had a lot to celebrate on Feb. 26 at an awards gala night presented by the Industry Training Authority, the provincial regulator for trades and technical education.

The school district was presented with the Youth in Trades Performance Award for having the highest enrolment in the Youth Work in Trades Program in the Vancouver Island region. In attendance were 48 students, educators, local tradespeople, parents and ITA representatives.

“[The ITA] said there were more people in our little room than they would often get out to one of these dinners in Surrey. That is a testament to our community and why we’re able to be so successful,” said Shari Hambrook, work experience and apprenticeship teacher at Gulf Islands Secondary School. “When [employers] bring on board a young student and register them as an apprentice, they bring them into their family. There’s a very close connection that is formed as they train the young people.”

The award included a $5,000 grant that can be used to support the program.

The Youth Work in Trades Program allows students to begin working in trades while they are still in high school. Around 80 per cent of their learning takes place at the job site, and 20 per cent in the classroom.

“Career programs represent a strong bridge between school and community,” said Maggie Allison, the manager of career development and community initiatives at the school district. “The mentorship that students receive on job sites and in places of business prepares them for success and strengthens their transition from school to life beyond.”

The ITA counted the number of apprentices registered in the program in June 2018 and compared the percentage to other schools in the area. Hambrook said that at the time of the count, 13 students were registered in the program.

“We had about 130 kids in the grad class and my goal has been to ensure that at least 10 per cent of the kids were well on their way to graduating before they leave high school,” she said.

The event included a gala dinner at the Harbour House Hotel and award presentations for both the school district and students who had completed over 900 hours of workplace training in their programs. The students are presented with a $1,000 award for finishing their hours. Six apprentices were presented with the award at the event.

The average age for new apprentices in Canada is around 27 years old, according to data from Stats Canada. Hambrook explained that people tend to get certifications later in their 20s after working odd jobs and pursuing other interests.

“These kids are starting when they’re 16 or 17, and that’s a big leap,” she said. “These kids are starting with their certificate. They may last in the industry for 10 years, or they may travel and bounce around, but they will always have that certificate.”

The district has the second highest number of students that have been introduced to the trades through its various programs. These include things like the Women in Trades field trip to Camosun on Feb. 20, the robotics program and other trades-oriented classes. Allison starts working with kids in Grade 6 and continues their exposure to the trades through high school.

“Maggie Allison . . . has had a vision for trades training in high school and it has been unbelievable how much work she has done to create that vision,” Hambrook said.

Shifting winds and freighters make race exciting

Contributed Article
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Shifting winds and freighters make race exciting

By GREG SLAKOV

The thought of sailboat racing in the middle of winter may seem strange to some, but throughout the winter a group of intrepid sailors from the Salt Spring Island Sailing Club meets every weekend or two to do just that.

On Feb. 24, this stalwart group put on toques, fleece and long underwear and enjoyed a lovely eight- to 10-knot northerly breeze, along with some welcome sunshine, to race to the Channel Islands and back.

Six boats took part in the race. There was a downwind start, with some of the keeners getting good starts right at the gun, notably Bob Jones on Oasis and Kevin Vine on Deryn Mor. The other boats were shorthanded, had sail handling issues, or simply decided to wait a couple of minutes to avoid the pressure of the start line.

The wind was quite shifty and puffy all day, requiring the crews to change course and alter sail trim constantly to wrest the best from the breeze. However, the wind never died, allowing the fleet to maintain good speed from the start to the finish of the 14.6-mile course.

One interesting component of the race was the very strong ebbing current, moving from north to south in Captain Passage. This required careful consideration, with boats trying to get into this current quickly on the way south, and attempting to stay out of it on the way back home.

Many islanders have noticed that Captain Passage now hosts anchored freighters more often. This was one of the first races where freighters affected the running of a race. First, an anchored ship close to the Salt Spring shore required consideration as it blocked the wind to leeward for at least 100 metres. More excitingly, a northbound freighter went between the boats in the fleet and caused Gyle Keating on Shingebiss to elect (in an act of self-preservation) to stay close to the Salt Spring side of the channel on the way home. Up close, these ships are intimidating, and when they are moving at speed, they are downright scary.

The race was tight for the lead boats all day long, with Shingebiss, Radiant Heat, Oasis and Sorcery in touch at most mark roundings. The first three boats finished within 10 minutes of each other. At the other end of the scale, fleet captain Greg Taylor finished almost two hours back after a few interesting episodes. Taylor is learning fast, illustrating how it is never too late to join in the great sport of sailboat racing. Even though the social gathering on Oasis had died down by the time Taylor finished, the crew of Shingebiss was still on their boat, and heartily invited Taylor aboard for a visit. Great fun was had by all.

A different type of scoring — similar to golf handicapping — was used in this race to make it even more fun for our diverse fleet of boats and skill levels and to invite new boats and crew members to join us. If an individual crew has a particularly good race compared to their typical race, they stand a very good chance of winning. In theory, all boats have a roughly equal chance.

After handicapping, the finish order was Oasis (Jones), Sorcery (Greg Slakov), Shingebiss (Keating), Radiant Heat (Tony Brogan), Deryn Mor (Vine) and Skeena Cloud (Taylor).

Trust aids housing projects

Elizabeth Nolan
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Trust aids housing projects

Salt Spring Local Trust Committee decisions made on Tuesday, Feb. 26 will help bring two affordable housing projects closer to reality, although ultimate completion for each site will also rely on approvals from other agencies.

As part of the application stream at last week’s business meeting, the LTC gave the green light to a development permit at 210 Norton Road and gave second reading to the rezoning of 154 Kings Lane.

Need for a development permit at Norton Road was triggered by a subdivision application currently underway with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and fulfills one of eight conditions that planning staff submitted in response to the referral.

Speaking for property owner Norm Elliott, consultant Donald Gunn explained the plan is to separate a seven-acre parcel with an existing family dwelling from a five-acre parcel where 26 affordable dwelling units are proposed. While the northeast corner of the property lies within Development Permit Area 4 for streams and wetlands, the housing development is planned for the southern half.

The project was first devised as an amenity proposal related to a subdivision on the side of Mount Erskine, and came with a $50,000 donation toward housing development. A rezoning process that began in 2004 changed the property from an agricultural to a residential category.

The applicant is now working on a stormwater management covenant and a development variance permit that will also be needed for subdivision. Gunn said time is of the essence to get those items onto the LTC’s agenda because there is considerable pressure to sell the property as part of a divorce settlement.

“The problem is there are lawyers involved in this project and they are going to want to put this property on the market this spring,” Gunn explained. “It will be sold, subdivided or not. So what I’m basically saying is time has run out on this project. Twelve years has gone by to get it this far.”

Gunn said organizations that might want to partner on the affordable housing project are  also looking to see a good chance of success. Representatives from Island Women Against Violence, who are currently building new affordable housing units at Croftonbrook, were in attendance at the meeting for that reason.

Gunn and planning staff agreed they would do what they could to ensure the next stage comes back to the LTC on its March 26 agenda.

Development of the housing units will require establishment of water supply, as only the single family dwelling lot will have a North Salt Spring Waterworks connection.

The Meadowlane seniors’ housing complex planned for Kings Lane will also need to get Island Health approval for its alternate water supply system, as well as connection to the CRD sewer service.

An update on the project given prior to second reading of the rezoning application last Tuesday demonstrated the Gulf Islands Seniors Residence Association is well on its way to meeting a number of other requirements. The LTC approved in principle the draft housing agreement, which sets a maximum unit rental for 2020 at $1,620, based on 30 per cent of the median household income reported in the most recent census. 

Project lead Richard Walker reported the organization has engaged a consultant to undertake an archeological impact overview and has formed an agreement with Island Pathways to develop an amenity pathway along Blain Road. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has no concerns with the proposal or its impact on traffic, Walker said.

For more on this story, see the Mar. 6, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Water district seeks feedback

Gail Sjuberg
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Water district seeks feedback

The North Salt Spring Waterworks District wants feedback on its draft strategic plan.

A public meeting is set for Monday, March 11 in the library program room starting at 1:30 p.m.

The plan, which is available on the NSSWD website, looks at the purpose and goals of the NSSWD and would guide the organization through the next five years. It focuses on governance, water supply and management, communication and engagement, asset management, organizational strength and financial management.

Community engagement has already begun around the document, with ratepayers and community members completing a NSSWD customer satisfaction survey. Additionally, the Salt Spring Housing Action Committee, which runs the Salt Spring Solutions website, is conducting a letter-writing campaign and inviting people to the event to ask the district to prioritize affordable housing solutions.

“The NSSWD’s moratorium, which is a really great climate and conservation policy, has the unintended consequence of making it extremely difficult for any densified or non-market housing to happen,” said Jason Mogus, one of the organizers of SHAC. He added that inviting people to the open house is a way to “thank [the NSSWD] for doing a great job, [and] to ask them to take another look at this housing issue and see if there are creative ways that they can work with other stakeholders in the community to solve it, because right now it’s not on their radar.”

The housing issue was discussed at the district’s monthly trustees meeting on Feb. 28. Trustee Michael McAllister emphasized that though affordable housing is not within the mandate of the district and therefore not considered a strategic priority, the board of trustees is concerned about the issue.

“We’ve had a number of discussions on affordable housing. I don’t want it out there that we haven’t talked about the issues of affordable housing and we’ve had some of those discussion in closed meetings and we can’t talk about those. The fact is that we are concerned. I am concerned,” McAllister said.

Allowing exceptions to the moratorium would open the district up to risk, McAllister and new trustee Gary Gagne added.

The Salt Spring Solutions group has stated that conservation measures that include water catchment systems and grey water management cannot occur within the North Salt Spring Waterworks District. However, according to the moratorium policy and district staff, rainwater catchment and reuse are not within the district’s authority. The moratorium policy only applies to applications for water service connections made after Oct. 1, 2014. Under the policy, all properties currently served are entitled to one 19-mm connection, and any changes to the size of that connection or applications for new connections will be denied.

“The root of the problem is that it puts 100 per cent of the restrictions on new customers and zero per cent of the restrictions on existing customers,” Mogus said. “It’s kind of a water justice issue . . . The cost of the moratorium has to be borne on anyone that wants to do anything that is out of the ordinary.”

As of Monday afternoon, 34 people had sent letters to the district.

Paddlers need spot to park boat

Contributed Article
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Paddlers need spot to park boat

After 14 years with the same home base, Salt Spring’s dragonboat team is looking for a new spot to keep its boat.

When the Spirit Point Dragons were established, then-team member Marit Christensen’s family owned a waterfront property with a dock in Long Harbour where the narrow 40-foot racing boat could be kept. Since the property sold a couple of years ago, its new owners have generously allowed the club to park the boat at the dock during the practice and racing season, but club members do feel it is time to find a new spot.

“We are looking for a more sheltered spot, preferably in Long Harbour, because we compete in ocean conditions for the most part,” explained team coach Mary Rowles.

“St. Mary Lake is an option,” added board member Barry Green, “but it’s not the best option.”

“You do notice a big advantage if you are practising on the same kind of water,” added Rowles.

A spot that’s even closer to the head of Long Harbour would be perfect. Green points out that very little space is needed.

“A lot of the docks that have ramps going out and down to a floating dock, we can tuck underneath them,” he said. “A lot of that kind of space is not usable by people.”

The 550-pound vessel has only a seven- or eight-inch draw, they note.

On practice nights the boat is taken to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club outstation on Quebec Drive and paddlers get into it from there.

“It doesn’t take us more than six minutes to load and then we are gone,” said Rowles. “We are really low impact.” 

Practices are held two nights per week from the end of March through September.

The club has $2-million in liability insurance and undertook repairs and upkeep at the current spot over the years.

Green said the club is prepared to negotiate if a property owner wants some remuneration for keeping their boat at a dock.

“We don’t have a ton of money but we realize that sometimes you have to pay for these things.”

If anyone can help the Dragons find a new home, they are encouraged to phone Green at 250-537-1150, or call Rowles at 250-653-4139 (or email her at onthewater181@gmail.com).

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