About 100 people gathered near Sidney’s Beacon Wharf on Saturday to let the town’s council know they want to see the wharf preserved as is.
The existing wharf has an estimated lifespan of seven or eight more years, and Sidney has explored options to remove it at the end of its safe life or replace it with a floating wharf through a partnership with a private company to bear the costs of construction and maintenance.
Neither of those ideas sits well with Donna-May Morris, co-owner of the Pier Bistro, one of two businesses on the wharf.
Morris, like many at the rally, is concerned that involving a private company could lead to a loss of public access and would threaten the character of the quiet seaside town.
“The Fish Market or I don’t want anything to do with a floating pontoon, because I don’t think it represents what Sidney is,” she said.
She worries a floating pontoon would be geared to “the rich and the famous” and the company providing it would be able to close it to the public any time it wants.
Morris said she believes it’s possible to upgrade the existing wharf and she hopes council will consider ways to preserve the “iconic” structure on Sidney’s waterfront.
Ted Chapman, who attended Saturday’s event, said his main concern is about preserving the town’s “quaint” nature and ensuring the wharf remains accessible to the public.
“You have to appreciate your history. If you lose that, what do you have left?” he said.
Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith attended the rally Saturday to chat with residents and answer their questions.
He said the town would retain ownership of a new wharf and act as landlord to any private businesses allowed to operate on the property, as is the case with the Fish Market and Pier Bistro.
“The proposal that Sidney Waterfront Partnerships brought forward was that on a portion of that floating wharf would be a structure that they would operate a private business from, but the town would be the landlord to that business,” he said.
The cost of replacement ranges from $10 million to $17 million, and the town would need to borrow money for any replacement option, McNeil-Smith said. The public would have to approve the borrowing of money for a replacement project.
The town has spent more than $400,000 on repairs since taking over control from the federal government in 2006, but that work couldn’t bring the wharf back to its original condition, he said. An engineering report about a decade ago determined it was no longer safe for vehicles to drive on the wharf.
Staff will present a report on next steps for the replacement project to council at a meeting on Nov. 8 or 22, when the public will have a chance to speak to councillors.
“A decision is not imminent, because we knew in this process where we were starting early, and we don’t have to make a decision. We don’t have a hard deadline,” McNeil-Smith said.
