Shoal Bay Properties filed a lawsuit against the Town of Gibsons on July 6 claiming that its water access rights have been violated by the proximity of the Gibsons Marina.
Gibsons chief administrative officer Emanuel Machado said the Town’s lawyer is reviewing the claim.
“They are arguing that the existence of a marina impedes their water access rights,” Machado said. “Needless to say, we don’t believe that to be the case. The marina has been there for over 35 years.”
President of Shoal Bay Properties, Chris O’Toole, and vice president Bob Papau declined to comment.
Papau said only, “We are hoping that all of the parties can sit down and resolve things amicably.”
The lawsuit is against the province, but includes the Town since it is leasing the land from the province in the same area as Shoal Bay, located at 409 - 445 Gower Point Road in Lower Gibsons.
The plaintiff (Shoal Bay Properties) is asking for a declaration of its riparian rights to unimpeded deep and navigable water access to and from the Shoal Bay Properties at every point along the foreshore of the upland properties.
It is also asking for an injunction restraining the defendants from continuing the infringement and nuisance on the Shoal Bay Properties as well as damages for its losses resulting from the defendants’ infringement.
According to the statement of claim, Gibsons Marina Hotel Inc. (GMHI) constructed the marina in 1983. The plaintiff is claiming that the manner in which the marina was constructed completely impeded and continues to impede its deep-water access.
The term of the province’s lease to the Town expired on March 1, 2012. In November 2011, the plaintiff wrote to the Ministry of Forest Lands and Natural Resources to inform the ministry of its impeded deep-water access and to ask that it not renew the lease without addressing the plaintiff’s riparian rights.
The claim said the ministry took the position that the plaintiff’s riparian rights were not impacted by the marina. Despite the plaintiff’s objections, the ministry renewed the lease to the Town.
Marina Hotel Holdings Ltd. (MHHL) submitted a development application to the Town in February 2013 to develop the George Hotel and Residential Complex, including a commercial marina, on adjacent lands north of the Shoal Bay Properties.
According to the claim, the George Hotel development application proposed that the marina be redesigned to accommodate navigable water access to the George Hotel.
The plaintiff claims this will further restrict the navigable deep-water access to and from the Shoal Bay Properties. The plaintiff’s solicitor wrote to MHHL in May 2013, informing MHHL that the proposed hotel development would further impede riparian rights.
The plaintiff is claiming that the infringement has created an unreasonable and substantial interference with the plaintiff’s use and enjoyment of the Shoal Bay Properties, resulting in a nuisance to the plaintiff.
The Town, the ministry, MHHL, GMHI and the province of British Colombia have been named as defendants in the lawsuit.
