Victoria Harbour International Marina

The Victoria Harbour International Marina development project is still alive and well according to a recent article (CLICK here for a copy) published October 18th in the Globe and Mail. The development proposed by WAM Development Group is slated for construction in 2010 and aims at creating a marina for the moorage of up to 52 large yachts.  The project has considerable political momentum and while the public have seemingly forgotten about the proposed project, the planning has been growing roots like a Garry Oak and the development is firmly established.

A public meeting was held in the summer of 2008 by a group of several hundred concerned citizens.  Attending were past mayors, Allen Lowe and Peter Pollen who both spoke on the issue. Dr. Keith Martin also stood up and gave a very skilled presentation that provided some political wisdom to the audience on how to gain political support for protecting the harbour. The general trend of the meeting was vocally strong resistence to the project. We are all quite used to folks standing up waving fists over proposed development because as humans we often resist change. However, the impact of this project is profound and commitment to object to it must come from those who will be impacted by the project. We may well be looking at "WAM bam, thank you ma'am!" as the project goes ahead without any resistance.

The project appears to be of great  benefit to some businesses while detrimental to many others, effectively rendering a transfer of money from existing groups to new groups. The Victoria International Marina website has many letters of support by various folks of note who think the project is a great idea. There are also 7000 names on a public petition against the project which are not featured on the web site.

Former Mayor, Allan Lowe, had mentioned in the public meeting, organized by those resisting the project, that the city had suffered severe financial civil damages for exercising its regulations on a previous project and the city would most likely not oppose the project for fear of a recurrence of civil damages awarded against it.

One of the greatest benefits of living on Vancouver Island and particularly Victoria, is the ability of the greater general public to enjoy use of the lands and waterways. I challenge anyone to find a community in Canada where more kayaks and outrigger canoes can be found on top of vehicles traversing up and down our roadways.  There are hundreds of kayakers and outrigger paddlers who belong to the many kayak and canoe clubs that use the Gorge waterway and the Victoria harbour. The Gorge Rowing and Paddling center has 300 outrigger canoe paddlers alone.  Add to that the numbers from the Victoria Canoe and Kayak club, the Ocean River Paddling Club and the South Island Sea Kayak Association and one can envision the sheer number of paddlers affected by this development.

On the surface, a project such as this would add 'action' to the Victoria harbour.  The more action there is, the more prosperous the area should be, right?  In this case, the joint-use harbour is already crowded beyond a level of safety and more development will mean higher density for the harbour and increase risk. There are areas of the harbour where there are larger areas of water such as by West Bay where a project such as this would not impinge on aviation and would allow canoe and kayak traffic to pass without converging into the aviation area.

The Port of Victoria harbour is unique in North America.  It has an active Transport Canada licensed airport in the middle of it with over 40,000 aviation movements annually, making it an extremely busy airport. The Victoria Harbour traffic scheme CLICK is presently a compromise, which balances marine usage with the needs of a busy airport.  Presently there is a system of flashing strobe lights keyed ON by clicks of the airplane's radio. The strobe lights switch the traffic priority in the center of the harbour to the seaplanes.  A modified harbour map showing the new development as shown in the diagram on the left is available by clicking here

The bright green area added to the adjacent map shows where the project will sit. These boundaries are from the Google map image at the start of this article.  The project completely replaces the area reserved for hand powered craft and is bounded by the present Seaplane Taxiway Area. This area is presently marked with "NO POWER BOATS" icons and is the only pathway for hand-powered boats on this side of the harbour. The proximity of the two seaplane take off and landing areas are evident on the map.

Marine traffic is cordoned into a north and a south corridor along the sides of the harbour. These corridors are in several places less than 40 meters wide. Placing an obstruction with 52 boat slips accommodating vessels up to 135 feet in length will narrow the corridor to a point that the project publicists have proposed using a bridge that kayaks can pass under to access the outer harbour. 

This from the project web site:

Acting on further feedback from the Victoria paddling community and Transport Canada through the recent public consultation process regarding non-powered vessel access in and around the marina, Community Marine Concepts has now created a dedicated paddling lane to accommodate kayaks and larger paddling craft.

Unveiled at the last public meeting on September 22nd, 2009, the route has been designed using Transport Canada criteria to facilitate the passage of paddling craft up to the size of dragon boats or 6-man outrigger canoes. The new paddling lane eliminates the potential conflict for paddlers with larger vessels in the marina, or with aircraft and other vessels around the southern side of the marina, as they will not have to paddle through the marina or around its southern perimeter. Paddlers will now be able to travel along the shoreline, protected from wind and waves by the marina itself. With a minimum of 8 meters clear span width for the entire paddling route, as well as a minimum of 1.5 meters headroom at high tide beneath marina ramps and buildings (more headroom at all other times), the new dedicated paddling lane provides unfettered access for all paddlers on the north shore of Victoria Harbour.

I am not certain if the project designers have actually seen an ocean going outrigger canoe, but navigating a 42 foot Hawaiian hand powered racing canoe (complete with an outrigger 6 feet off one side) under the proposed bridge is not possible. There are sharp turns required for which an outrigger canoe  does not have the required turning radius and cannot accommodate the passage (Click  adjacent inset map for larger). 

This dedicated paddling lane; underneath two buildings in pilings with 1.5 meters of clearance as part of the plan is not an idea that engenders respect for the paddling sport, users of the harbour or marine safety. Neither does it demonstrate an understanding of what impact their proposed project will have on the present users of the harbour. I am surprised the above quote from their web site can announce this "tunnel" under the project with such naive enthusiasm. Personally, I'd be embarrassed

The shoreline in the area where the proposed buildings and the dedicated paddling lane is supposed to go is presently quite shallow with exposed rock at low tide.  Also, if an inbound outrigger canoe were half way through the tunnel and met with another canoe outbound, an unsolvable problem will have occurred. The passage is not wide enough to pass! And Lord, DON"T sit up too high in your boat! It is appreciated that the project designers have come up with a solution to the paddling problem.  If the solution were respectable and feasible, there would be no requirement to write this article.

Many businesses, such as the Victoria Harbour Ferries and the floatplane businesses, stand to be negatively impacted by this project. To many, it may seem the project is inconsequential as it is just a matter of balancing one political agenda with another, but the risks to aviation are very real and these risks will require mitigation.  I can just see old uncle Howard in his 125' yacht coming into the harbour asking aunt Maude what those flashing lights are for while they cross their behemoth across the marine runway in opposition to a Twin Otter floatplane on final approach to the obstructed marine runway. I can also envision the young pilot's eyes as wide as saucers in disbelief starring at a white faced Aunt Maude on the bridge of their boat.

At present, conflicts between float planes and marine traffic are frequent. The wisdom of allowing this further crowding of the runway area would be paramount to allowing cows to graze on the grass adjacent to the Victoria Airport runway. I can just see the project manager for that project trying to convince us that cows are good for airplanes. The crowding can only cause more conflict and in the interests of safety something may well be forced out of the harbour after the project is completed. Airplanes???

In a vain effort to appear more friendly to the environment, the project has associated itself with the International Seakeepers Society, The Victoria International Marina web site sports the design of a spiffy nautilus shaped kiosk they plan to put on their property to educate the public about the vanishing oceans, etc. 

To quote their web site, "The International SeaKeepers Society was founded in Monaco in 1998 by a group of concerned yacht owners who recognized that, in order to address the deterioration of the world’s oceans, scientists needed a monitoring system that could provide them with large-region, high-quality data.  They created the SeaKeeper 1000™, a revolutionary method of data collection, and then used some of the founders’ yachts as free ranging test platforms.  The system is now deployed in over 50 locations around the world and has been recognized throughout the scientific community for its unique ability to provide reliable and extremely cost-effective data. Canada’s first SeaKeeper 1000™ monitoring station will be situated at The Victoria International Marina."

Yacht borne thermometers...how quaint.  According to their web site, it would appear the marina would be doing something unique in collecting scientific knowledge to outstrip the wisdom of ocean research provided by the Federal Government Ocean Sciences center located on the peninsula.

Five outrigger canoes will supply pleasure and exercise to a club of 300 outrigger paddlers and use no fuel. Nor will they introduce any fuel or oil spillage into the ocean; while one 135 foot yacht will usually service one family and their friends and use many tons of fuel annually. There is some irony in this group using a kiosk to inform the public about the danger to the world's oceans.

To anyone who actually uses the harbour and the oceans, this kiosk is the ultimate red herring and perhaps is a fitting metaphor for the wisdom of the entire project. It is clearly designed to demonstrate to someone who votes who does not use the harbour, that "Hey I could actually go look at that thing, it would be neat".  Yes, you could actually go out and see the water from the water. The project verbiage on the web site and in the Globe and Mail article tends to give the impression that the public have had their say and that the Supreme Court of BC are behind the project and it will cost us millions if we stop it.  I would hazard to guess, the complete lack of open forum for public discussion sponsored either by the WAM group or some level of government would indicate the group is not all that interested in public opinion, but none-the-less very afraid of raising too much public concern!

READ MORE INCLUDING SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION AT www.elc.uvic.ca/press/mega-yacht-submission.html

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from Risa, 2009-10-26 20:38:56 Risa  - Good information

Thank you for posting this useful information about the existing uses of the waterway and the issues arising from the proposed marina. As one of the local paddlers and life-long Victoria resident, I object strenuously to the proposed marina.

Someone in this busy working harbour will be forced out - should it be the ferries? the paddlers? the existing businesses (airlines)? the barges/tugs? the existing boaters?

Our harbour is unique. I heard some of the presentations at the forum last summer - a local scientist who explained the likely effects of the large yachts on the wave action in the harbour - he clearly stated the float plane takeoffs and landings would be at risk.

It is amazing to me that such a private proposal can be contemplated by the city/region when we are unable to commit to other large, VALUABLE projects such as sewage treatment... What kind of global citizens are we? I wish Victoria and region would show leadership and commit our community to reduced ...

from brian, 2009-10-27 10:44:16

Robert Evan, Vice President of Community Marine Concepts LP, is working to deliver the final phase of the original Songhees Masterplan, is also a Director of the Victoria Esquimalt Harbour Society and is Chairman of their Government Liaison Committee.

Nothing like a concerned citizen! Sounds like the public interest could possibly be compromised by a perceived conflict of interest.

from Brent, 2009-11-06 08:31:30 -the History

I expect that many people are wondering how Evans managed to get to this stage. It may be helpful if you looked at the judge's decision in the civil suit that Evans brought against the Corporation of the City of Victoria in the 1990's. The case is called Pacific National Investments v. Corporation of the City of Victoria. It can be found at www.courts.bc.ca/ click on the search_judgments link and you simply enter the name of the case or some part of it on the search page. ie "Pacific National Investments and The Corporation of the City of Victoria"

You probably already know about the www.victoriainternationalmarina.ca webpage.

If you want to have a say in whether this proposed marina goes ahead, I suggest we create a list of persons who may be interested in presenting another side of the picture. We can then either act as one in lobbying the levels of government that have a say in this project or can join with pre-existing group(s) to ensure that there is sufficient publi...