City liveaboard evictions ‘just moving the problem’

City ‘pushed’ troubles onto others, says man who lives on Gorge Waterway

Kayakers pass a liveaboard boat in the Gorge Waterway. Victoria’s new policy of evicting illegally moored boats — reinforced by the B.C. Supreme Court — is just moving the problem rather than solving it, says a man who lives on the waterway. He noticed a boat drop anchor on the Saanich side of the Gorge.

An Esquimalt man is worried the City of Victoria’s new policy on illegally moored boats is just moving the problem rather than solving it.

Richard Ackrill, who lives on the Gorge Waterway, said he noticed on Tuesday night a 26-foot sailboat drop anchor near Curtis Point, south of the Gorge-Tillicum bridge. The boat is on the Saanich side of the Gorge Waterway.

“It’s a situation where Victoria has pushed their problem onto others,” Ackrill said. The 63-yearold said he’s concerned about sewage being dumped in the Gorge, which is a popular swimming spot during the summer. He’s worried that if one boat drops anchor, more will follow.

“It seems inevitable there’s going to be more,” he said from his terraced stone patio overlooking his dock and power boat.

“I don’t blame people for looking for a place to hang their hat and call home, but it does seem to be a slippery slope.”

In March, the B.C. Supreme Court gave the City of Victoria permission to evict derelict vessels from the Gorge Waterway; the boats must be gone by May 30.

The ruling granted the city the authority to regulate the waterway, which was previously under federal jurisdiction. This allowed the city to enforce a bylaw passed in 2016 that limited long-term mooring to 48 hours and a maximum of 72 hours in a 30-day period.

Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell said bylaw enforcement officers are prepared to deal with any boats that migrate from Victoria. The District of Saanich has a bylaw that forbids tying up to a public dock for more than 72 hours, but that might not apply to someone who has dropped anchor away from the dock.

“As people move into the area we’re going to be trying to find out who they are, give them a notice that there’s a 72-hour limit and see what happens,” Atwell said. “If we find people are abusing the privilege of being there, we’ll take it up with our bylaw department. We can’t afford to put a huge number of resources into people who are trying to skirt the law.”

The issue of derelict boats and illegal liveaboards has confounded local politicians across the Island, including in Saanich, Oak Bay, Central Saanich, Sidney and Ladysmith. Residents put pressure on politicians to act but municipalities often say their hands are tied due to federal jurisdiction over navigable waterways and balk at having to pick up the tab for enforcement.

In March, federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau announced that the federal government is committing $1.3 million to help remove abandoned vessels from B.C.’s harbours. Municipalities must apply to the federal government for funding to assess or remove boats.

Some of that money went to the Capital Regional District — $66,700 for a public outreach campaign and $10,400 to assess boats in Sidney’s Tsehum Harbour, according to a staff report to the CRD environmental services committee.

The Dead Boat Society, a nonprofit organization, is working to remove two boats that have washed up in Cadboro Bay, according to the staff report.

The society has identified 21 wrecked or sunken boats that need to be removed from harbour around Salt Spring Island.