Victoria goes to court to boot derelict boats
The City of Victoria is in B.C. Supreme Court this week in its bid to get 17 boats and four docks out of a section of the Gorge waterway.
The city is seeking an injunction to remove the vessels and docks, a step that is being contested by boat owner Barry Zimmerman on behalf of the group. Zimmerman had four supporters with him at court on Wednesday.
Some residents near the moorage area, which has a number of liveaboards, object to use of toilets on the boats and the garbage they say is linked to them. The area in question is just north of the Selkirk Trestle and adjacent to Banfield Park.
City lawyer Tom Zworski said enforcement is a zoning matter for the city. A bylaw for the Gorge approved in 2016 limits boat owners to 48 consecutive hours of moorage in one spot, and a maximum of 72 hours in 30 days.
“The Gorge waterway is a good, small-boat anchorage,” Zworski said, adding it is far from the only one around the capital region.
He listed Brentwood Bay, Canoe Cove and the Saanich Inlet among other options.
Boats that were in place prior to the bylaw being enacted have no say in whether they can stay or go, Zworski said.
“There was no previous right to do what they are doing.”
The boats there have been using the area for months or even years, he said.
He likened the area to “a parking lot for boats.”
“Mr. Zimmerman and others have taken over a public waterway.”
Brian O’Reilly, a retired lawyer acting for the boat owners on a pro bono basis, said the notion that city bylaws control what happens in the Gorge is wrong.
“It’s my submission that this is a federal tidal waterway.”
At issue are things the city has no jurisdiction over, O’Reilly said.
“It’s all about the buoys, it’s about the boats, it’s about the docks.”
O’Reilly described Zimmerman as a retired bricklayer who has worked hard all his life, and has also worked hard to become a fully qualified mariner. He built the red and yellow, 12-foot power boat he lives on himself, and has been in the area for six years.
Richard Patterson, one of Zimmerman’s supporters and a Gorge liveaboard since 2012, said part of the problem in the area has been dealing with people who don’t conduct themselves properly on their boats.
“In any group, you’re going to have losers,” he said.