Councillors in Gibsons are hoping to use a foreshore improvement project as an opportunity to deal with what they see as an eyesore and a hazard – the abandoned boat cradle at the old Coles Marine site.
The Town’s infrastructure department is ready to solicit bids on a $308,000 project that includes reconstruction of a retaining wall at Armours Beach, the infill of a short section of the seawalk fronting the Coles site at 524 Marine Drive, and repairs to storm damage at Georgia Beach, Franklin Beach and Pebbles Beach.
The work at Armours Beach and the Coles site would help protect the sewer line running under the seawalk and improve the access for maintenance vehicles.
The issue of the boat cradle came up during debate at the July 30 council meeting on recommendations from director of infrastructure services Dave Newman to put the work out to tender in time to ensure the project goes forward during the Department of Fisheries and Oceans window for foreshore work, which typically opens in late August.
Coun. Aleria Ladwig said getting rid of the rusting structure at the Coles site, which has been unused and unmaintained since the building was destroyed by fire in 2010, was one of the issues she encountered during last year’s election campaign.
It’s also an issue Coun. Stafford Lumley has raised in the past.
Lumley said he still doesn’t understand why the Town hasn’t ordered the structure removed, or had it removed and billed the owner as they might with an upslope property that’s in violation of property standards bylaws. “I would say that rusting out beams of steel in the water probably doesn’t meet [that standard]… Hopefully we can do some cleanup there that doesn’t cost the Town anything.”
The Town has a right-of-way that allows it do to the work along the seawalk, but the Coles boat cradle and slipway fall under a foreshore lease with the province.
Councillors also heard that since the death of the property’s owner in 2017 there’s some uncertainty about the current ownership, although the foreshore lease remains valid.
Mayor Bill Beamish also said he’d like to see the structure removed, and thinks the province may have the authority to get the leaseholder to act.
“I would like to approach the province about requiring that lease to be cleaned up – it’s clearly not being used,” he said, adding that he’d also like to know more about potential contamination issues on the site because of its use as a ship repair facility.
“I personally feel spending money on this site without having that removed is a waste of money at this point because that thing is what’s causing the erosion on the walkway. As long as thing is there, more [drift]wood will pile up and more erosion will happen,” said Ladwig.
Newman said from his department’s perspective the priority is protecting the sewer infrastructure from further damage.
“If we do not proceed with this work now, then we are potentially faced with not doing the work this year and we could end up with another storm and damage to our infrastructure,” Neman said.
Coun. David Croal agreed with the need to get rid of the structure at the Cole’s site, but not the idea of putting the planned work on hold until it could be included in the project.
“My concern is that we have a fairly large exposed section of the sewer pipe… If we get a king tide and a storm and a five-tonne piece of wood coming down on that pipe – concrete or not – it’s broken and we’ve got sewage going into the water,” he said.
Council voted in favour of sending the project out to tender as proposed, with the additional recommendation that staff try to contact the property’s current owners, approach the province about whether the boat cradle could be ordered removed under the conditions of the foreshore lease, and bring back a report in September.
“We see it as a priority to have it removed,” Beamish said.
