Prior to the public meeting on Bylaw 335, Bowen's municipal councillors were urged to stop environmental damage caused by dock chains and prohibit the building of docks on public beaches. Council met both of these suggestions with a strong set of negative responses.
Following a presentation by Stop the Docks campaigner Peter Williamson's, Mayor Adelaar questioned why the municipality was not included in the correspondence between Stop the Docks and the Provincial government. When Williamson stated the Campaign would be happy to share any of the information gathered from this correspondence, the Mayor continued his questioning.
"As I understand it the anchors for the chains are on the sea-bed. Who owns the sea-bed? The sea-bed is owned by the province, I gather. And any impact done by the anchor chains would be made to the sea-bed. Have you made the Province aware of the damage you allege would be caused by these anchor chains?"
The mayor went on to say that the water in the ocean is the jurisdiction of the Federal government, and if the Stop the Docks Campaign is concerned about the water or sea-creatures, they should report those concerns to the Federal government.
Councillor Cro Lucas joined the mayor in his argument that the Municipality can do little to regulate docks because it is "so low down on the pecking order."
Later in the meeting, Councillor Tim Rhodes initiated a discussion on the Land Use Bylaw and whether it might be possible to come up with a strong definition for a public beach and then to prohibit the building of private docks on these.
"It seems to me," Rhodes told council, "our bylaws have vague language that allow for subjective decision-making. We have an opportunity here to clarify the language that would allow for objective decision making."
Councillor Cro Lucas replied that such a substantial change to the bylaw would cause the whole process to get mired down.
"We want a quick fix that will deal with the issue at Cape Roger Curtis," Lucas told council.
Bowen Island's planning consultant, Judy McLeod said that while it would be possible to change Bylaw 335's restriction on dock-length to something shorter than the stated 60 meters, to include no-go areas for docks into the bylaw would force council to go back to the very beginning of the amendment process.
Councillor Lucas added that the months required to start from scratch would leave the two docks at Cape Roger Curtis that have not yet gained approval, and that would have to get building permits from the Municipality in order to go forward, out of the Muncipalities control.
"Do we want to take the chance and let these go through?" Lucas asked.
At the Public Hearing on Bylaw 335, numerous members of the public objected to the council's stated powerlessness and the importance of making a decision on the bylaw by the Province's deadline of November 30th.
Nerys Poole called the deadline "artificial".
"My suggestion is, you indicate to the province that Bowen Island does not support approval of the two pending applications at Cape Roger Curtis. Two, indicate to the province that the public interest is overwhelmingly against docks at Cape Roger Curtis, and that because of this, the Municipality is working on a bylaw that will ensure the area is protected," Poole told the Council. "This bylaw will not stop the application at lot one, it is less than 60 meters, its 51 meters long, and who knows how many other dock applications at Cape Roger Curtis could occur."
