The Ladysmith Maritime Society is prepared to go to court to dispute the early end to an agreement allowing it to run until 2029 Ladysmith’s community marina using what it maintains are its own assets, says its executive director.
But the society would prefer to resolve its differences in an amicable way through talks it has been seeking for many months without success, Richard Wiefelspuett said Wednesday.
The society is asserting ownership of what it says are $5 million worth of docks and buildings at the community marina, installed by the non-profit organization over three decades.
If its concerns are not settled by year’s end, “we have instructed our legal team to prepare for litigation,” he said.
Assets at the marina are one of the issues surrounding the planned handover of water leases in Ladysmith Harbour to the Stz’uminus First Nation under a reconciliation agreement signed with the province in 2022. The province owns the water leases.
Plans call for the First Nation and its economic arm, Coast Salish Group, to take over the water leases and some land leases, on Dec. 31. The nation is eyeing the site for future development which could lead to a mini-Granville Island type of project, along with an expanded marina.
It aims to take over the marina where 170 boaters are renting moorage.
The nation anticipates environmental remediation will be required in the water and is waiting to hear about potential costs.
Representatives of the First Nation value the leases, saying this will restore areas of historical and cultural significance to them and are optimistic about the opportunities the site will bring.
A Coast Salish Group official could not be immediately reached on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the maritime society is managing the marina as it has been doing under an agreement with the Town of Ladysmith, which has water leases from the province.
The agreement with the town was to permit the society to manage the marina until 2029. The town has notified the society that the agreement is ending ahead of its expiry date.
Wiefelspuett said the society’s legal team has said that the assets at the marina — docks and other infrastructure — belong to the society because the agreement was cut short. Otherwise they would go to the province if the agreement had ended as planned in 2029.
He said the society will continue reaching out to the First Nation in the hopes of talking about the marina.
No meetings have been held, Wiefelspuett said.
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