The City of Victoria has been sitting on an offer to remove derelict boats from the Selkirk waterway for free, says a former councillor.
“It’s a lack of political will. [That] is what we’re witnessing here,” said Shellie Gudgeon, who is exasperated by the city’s seeming unwillingness to take action to remove the boats.
On Wednesday, Gudgeon released a March 2014 letter from Ralmax Properties president Ian Maxwell in which he offered to remove the boats as a gift to the city. Ralmax Properties is part of Ralmax Group of Companies, which also owns Ellice Recycle and Point Hope Maritime shipyard.
“We will use the services of the Salish Sea tug to guide the vessels under the trestle bridge where larger tugs cannot operate,” Maxwell says in the letter.
“Seaspan has agreed to offer its services at no charge to direct operations and take control south of the trestle bridge and deliver the vessels to Point Hope.
“Point Hope will then lift the boats onto land. Ralmax Contracting will supply trained personnel to inspect each vessel before deconstruction looking for hazardous materials. Ralmax Contracting will demolish the vessels and separate any recyclable materials to be loaded into Ellice Recycle bins for delivery by Ellice trucks to the appropriate recycling facility.
“I am pleased to offer this as a gift in support of my community,” the letter says.
Gudgeon said she’s frustrated by “waffling about both the cost and the process regarding this issue.”
But Mayor Lisa Helps said the city isn’t dragging its feet; it’s doing its due diligence.
“If it looks complicated and slow, that’s because it is,” Helps said.
Victoria has been trying for years to figure out what to do about liveaboards and derelict boats on the waterway near the Selkirk trestle. Many are in poor repair, leaking oil and fuel.
The latest incident occurred Sunday, when the Victoria Fire Department was called to the waterway to help contain a diesel spill linked to the sinking of a 35-foot pleasure craft near Banfield Park.
Last summer, councillors adopted a bylaw to rezone the waterway for recreational use only, saying the waterway is intended to be used primarily as a park and that liveaboards, float homes and overnight anchorage and moorage are not permitted in the area.
It also sought and has since received a licence of occupation over the waterway from the province so it can enforce the bylaw. City staff are developing a management plan that is expected to go before councillors next month.
Helps has said that since receiving the licence of occupation, the city has been ensuring no court challenges or other actions prevent it from enforcing its bylaw.
“At the time we changed the bylaw to prohibit overnight moorage, we were certain that our bylaw didn’t contravene anything else,” she said.
“We had to wait a year for the province and we want to make sure that in that time, nothing else has cropped up. So if we go in and remove a boat with our own means or Ian Maxwell’s, someone is not going to turn around and sue the city or do some other thing.”
