Shannon Bond/Staff Writer
Islanders who filled the Gambier Island community hall last Saturday received bad news regarding public access to the Langdale float.
"We want to close it before the summer," said B.C. Ferries' Chief Financial Officer Rob Clarke.
June 15 is the official date, according to Clarke.
Clarke told about 100 people that safety at the float is the number one reason it is being shut off from the public and that Transport Canada's post 9/11 port security upgrades is secondary.
"B.C. Ferries is not contending that Transport Canada has said we need to close the dock," Clarke said. "Here's a regulation to be able to close it off it's the icing on the cake."
He said the regulation requires B.C. Ferries to be able to limit access to the area for security purposes, but how they enforce that is up to the company.
"We should never have allowed public access to this private facility," he said. "There have been many, many incidents and near misses [with reckless boaters] and that's what we're worried about."
Clarke's comments were often met with disdainful laughter and negative commentary. People in the audience challenged him and said there have never been any deaths or serious accidents with boaters using the float, but Clarke said it was better to quit before that happened.
"I just don't want to kill anybody," he said.
Clarke said he is willing to work with the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to remedy the problem, but said the responsibility to provide float access is theirs, not B.C. Ferries.
"I'm prepared to put on the table one third, up to $25,000 into the new dock," Clarke said suggesting that the SCRD owns land adjacent to the float that could be developed.
Several people who spoke at the meeting were frustrated with the feeling that islanders were being cut off and treated like second-class citizens. They asked why the security hazards for boaters were any different from those accessing the ferry by car. They wanted to know why decades of customary access was not considered important in a marine community and what the rush was to close the float before a solution was put in place.
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons attended the meeting.
"The June 15th deadline is unreasonable and unfair," Simons said in an interview after the meeting. "No public process has occurred and no solutions have evenbeen explored.Privatization has taken the public out of all decisions affecting our marine highway."
Jason Bowman of B.C. Ferries tried to assure everyone that medical emergencies would still have access to the float, but people weren't buying his assurances. They said contact with staff at the Langdale ferry dock is already poor, partly due to poor cell phone connections, and when the float is fenced off, they will have no way to offload the sick or injured. There is no other dock access nearby for an ambulance to meet islanders coming ashore.
Some pointed out that the passenger ferry Stormaway, which has a contract with B.C. Ferries, does not offer a robust enough schedule for islanders to use it for all their needs to access the mainland. Most simply wanted a solution in place before B.C. Ferries pulls the plug on the Langdale float.
"We're late out of the gate on this one. I do apologize for that. It's been before the Ferry Advisory Committee for 18 months now," Clarke said.One resident summed up the thoughts for most at the meeting.
"This is our only link for a lot of people to the outside world," he said. "It's been an arrangement for 50 years. Get a move on an alternative, but you can't take away our link before that happens. Please do not terminate our access until then."
Cal Bowles, representing the SCRD, attended the meeting, and took notes and photos of the shoreline that Clarke pointed out as a possible place for a new float. At press time Thursday afternoon, he was still researching the possibility.
