FALSE CREEK:
1,355 BOATS IN 15 MARINAS

Concord "Energy Pig" marina approved; Appeal Planned

(Vancouver, BC Canada)  Five years after it was first proposed, Concord-Pacific's second BigBoat marina in False Creek has been approved by Vancouver's four-man Development Permit Board.

The decision ratifies a controversial 2002 City Council decision that approved the marina "in principle."

Thirteen of twenty-two vessels in the marina will be multi-deck motor cruisers, 50-100' long.

Neighbours who sought changes to the marina were unsuccessful, except for strengthening a requirement that four of the smallest berths must be reserved for sailboats rather than power vessels.
The 2004 photo above shows Wainborn Park and four marina sites, all located where Alder Bay (upper right) meets the central basin of False Creek.

In the yellow triangle, site of the proposed marina, a crane is helping build public walkways that would border two sides of the marina.  One side would be next to Wainborn Park, and includes the rounded View Promontory (centre left).

Beyond the yellow triangle are the grass and trees of Charleson Park.  

One member of the Permit Board's Advisory Panel supported requiring nine sailboats, but Board members accepted Concord VP Matthew Meehan's complaint that requiring more sailboats would be "economically limiting."

The neighbours argued sailboats produce lower GHG emissions, have less impact on views than motor cruisers, are safer, and much more environmentally sustainable.  The Permit Board received 47 letters opposed or urging changes to the marina, and one in support.

Neighbour-Appeals Blocked Citywide
Members of FalseCreek-Alert who led the effort for more sailboats, said they would now appeal to the next government level-- the federal-provincial Burrard Inlet Environmental Review Committee (BERC).

At the city level, Permit Board approvals can no longer be appealed by neighbours, due to a judge's decision in 2006 that ended the Vancouver Board of Variance's 40-year practice of hearing such appeals.

In 2006, FalseCreek-Alert successfully appealed the first approval of the marina to the Board of Variance.  The next day Councillor Peter Ladner and Council's NPA majority fired the entire Board of Variance.

Approval Details
The marina approval includes no restriction on parties or meetings that can be held in the marina's 75sm floating Lounge/Office building or on its 25' x 45' deck, except that they must end at midnight.

Contact phone numbers must be posted on the public seawall so the public can notify marina management of social or environmental problems created by:
  • the marina or its infrastructure
  • its staff and security personnel
  • its vessels or sailing/maintenance-crews
  • its berth and boat owners or renters
  • visitors to the marina.

Marina management is expected to be handled by Rancho Management Services on Hornby Street, 604.684-4508.

The Permit Board also approved at least one underground loading space for the marina, plus a larger street-level loading space bordering  Homer Mews.  But if that space encroaches on Homer Mews, Concord must create a second underground loading space instead.

Permit Board members predicted the street-level loading zone would adequately protect pedestrians and bikers by preventing boaters from using the street-end to load and unload their vehicles.

"Energy Pigs"
One member of the Development Permit Board, Vancouver Director of Planning Brent Toderian, said he regards large power boats as "energy pigs."

But despite the number and size of power boats in this marina-- two of them 100' long-- Toderian said the Permit Board's role is not to amend decisions already made "in principle" by City Council.

The marina's eighteen large power boats will occupy nearly 800 linear feet of water surface on False Creek-- two and two-thirds football fields.

Toderian referred to the need for "a change in societal perspectives" to bring about greater sustainability of development in Vancouver.

He asked for a promise that marina architect Walter Francl would design and select materials for the marina that embody "the greatest possible" level of sustainability.  Toderian declined to make his request a formal requirement.

The two optimistically agreed Francl would report his success to Toderian over coffee, "after the marina is completed"

---30----

Contact: Rider Cooey, 872-1382
FalseCreek-Alert.net


False Creek Alert      
Updated: 7/21/2010