Island View Beach management plan gets endorsement

Despite concern over off-leash dogs, parks committee recommends adoption

A new management plan for Island View Beach is being recommended for approval despite the concern of some Capital Regional District parks committee members that dogs are being given too much room to roam.

“When I look at this plan it seems to satisfy the dog people and the horse people, but it’s left the immediate neighbours unhappy and it’s also left the environmentalists unhappy,” said Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt during the parks committee debate on the plan Wednesday.

The committee ultimately recommended the CRD board approve the plan, which addresses such issues as offleash dogs, ditch and berm management, mosquito control and protection of sensitive areas in the 48-hectare park.

The plan recommends dogs be allowed off-leash where people are allowed, except for the campground and day-use area. The north end of the park would be off limits to both dogs and people to protect habitat for species at risk.

The Capital Region Equestrians group has called the plan, which would allow horses on the beach and one trail, balanced. Others aren’t so keen. Bren Axon, founder of Capital Region Dog Owners, said the plan reduces the area where dogs and people can roam, “leaving a huge area where people will not be allowed to go.”

The Friends of Island View Beach, which collected 4,500 signatures on a petition to leave the beach as is, said fencing off 1,250 metres of beachfront and leaving just five access points would be a “huge cost for no good purpose … blocking the public from a substantial area of the park.”

The proposed access points would be blocked by storms and machinery needed to clear them will damage the environment, spokesman Jason Austin said.

On Wednesday, Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor called the plan “a really good compromise.”

“I think there’s going to be a lot more happy people than unhappy people here, and I think that’s probably the best we can do at times,” he said.

Isitt said his preference would be to give more weight to ecological factors than to recreational uses, including dog walking.

“I think people love their dogs. It’s a vital part of their lives, but the fact is that people taking their dogs into the park have a much more detrimental impact on the ecology of the park than someone walking, someone having a picnic,” Isitt said. “They kill birds. They move various invasive species around. Sometimes they leave excrement if the dog owner isn’t responsible.”

The plan calls for a new fence north of Lamont Road, between a berm and the inner trail, limiting access to an area of sand dunes. Isitt said the fencing is an attempt to protect a sensitive area from dogs.

View Royal Mayor David Screech also raised concerns.

“To me, having virtually the entire park off-leash for dogs is not balance. It is catering to what was a very loud, vocal, smaller minority group,” he said.

“Having the whole area below the high-tide mark as an offleash area for dogs is also bad and dangerous to the birds and wildlife. The No. 1 goal [of CRD parks] is protecting biodiversity, and when you look at this plan, I don’t think this is doing that.”

Island View is the third most visited regional park in the system, with almost 384,000 visits in 2015.