Victoria expects to begin the process of removing liveaboards and derelict boats from the Gorge waterway in September.
Councillors agreed Thursday to hold a public hearing May 26 on zoning bylaw changes in the waterway that would allow for short-term anchoring of up to 48 hours, to a maximum of 72 hours in a 30-day period.
The current bylaw prohibits anchoring in the Gorge Waterway from Selkirk Trestle to about Gorge Road Hospital. But following a recent B.C. Court of Appeal decision regarding anchoring in West Kelowna, Victoria council, worried a blanket prohibition would exceed municipal jurisdiction, changed course. The federal government has jurisdiction over navigation.
There have long been complaints that some of the Gorge boats are in poor repair, leaking fuel and oil, and that boaters are dumping sewage and careless with their garbage.
Coun. Geoff Young said concerns over the liveaboards and derelicts are significant enough that council has to take action.
“There’s no question that the bylaw will mean change. I think people understand what we are doing and why. There will be adjustment issues, there’s no question and some people will have to make changes in their living circumstances that will require some effort.”
A consultant is undertaking an environmental assessment of the waterway, in part to determine what impacts the liveaboards have on the waterway in the context of other inputs such as industrial uses and storm water flows. The consultant is expected to comment on appropriate locations for mooring buoys. A report is expected in six to eight weeks.
City staff have been working with community partners to initiate a process to help relocate people who have been living on the waterway.
If the bylaw amendments are passed following the hearing, the enforcement program would begin with an education program for boaters in June. During July and August, more active attempts would be made at encouraging voluntary compliance, said city clerk Chris Coates.
“Then, as the schedule suggests, at the end of the summer, any vessels remaining that haven’t been removed voluntarily, there would be the consideration about the ability to take legal action to have them moved on,” Coates said.
Coun. Ben Isitt said council should move quickly to install eight to 10 moorage buoys in the area and not wait on the environmental assessment.
“I know that Parks Canada has moorage buoys off Portland Island and several other of their marine parks, and no one has challenged the constitutionality of telling mariners:You can’t drop an anchor on this sensitive sea bed, you have to tie up to our moorage buoy for the permitted amount of time,” Isitt said.
“The fact is that we’re a maritime community and we have to start acting like one, and that includes providing opportunities for recreational use of the waterways.”
