On October 14, council passed a resolution for staff to come up with a way to implement the Easier Cove Loading plan, which envisioned cars lining up and loading onto the ferry from the two right-hand laned on Bowen Island Trunk Road. This week, the municipality’s Chief Administrative Officer, Kathy Lalonde, told council this week that there was nothing easy about moving forward with the Easier Cove Loading plan when looking at all the rules and regulations.
In her overview of the staff report, Lalonde told council that the “kicker” is the fact that a Temporary Use Permit would be required to re-dedicate the use of on-street parking as a ferry lane. She emphasized that the aquisition of this permit is necessary according to law.
“This process would require public consultation and referral to the Islands Trust, and the earliest we could have this, and in my mind this is really pushing it would be early January,” said Lalonde.
Continuing with notes from the report, Lalonde said that the number of ferry marshalling spots available under this plan would be 25, which is less than appeared in the earlier version of the plan as it did not take into account things like the inability to block fire hydrants. Originally, said Lalonde, what was appealing about the plan was that a full ferry loading would be accommodated by the two lanes.
Lalonde added that while the Easier Cove Loading plan suggests that two-lane loading occur every day from 5 a.m. until 9:45 a.m., staff felt that this short time frame would ensure chaos in the Cove and that the plan should be in effect until noon each day.
Lalonde brought forward numerous further complications to the plan, including an unwillingness to place the Denver Boot on cars that were left overnight on Bowen Island Trunk Road, and the need to replace street parking during business hours.
Lalond said that ultimately, trying to make the plan work underscored, in her mind, the need for a Bowen Island transportation plan.
“We’re up against the wire here, and trying to deal with things piece-meal,” she said.
Council decided to hold off on rescinding the motion made on October 14 that aimed to make the Easier Cove Loading plan a reality, so that staff could meet and discuss the issue with Tom Matzen (the concept’s main proponent).
“My sense is that in order to follow proper decorum, we should at least consult with Tom and the other people who brought this forward,” said councillor Andrew Stone.
Matzen says that he is disappointed in council’s latest decision, in particular because staff “arbitrarily” changed the terms of the proposal by extending it through the whole morning.
“It was only the morning commute, for many reasons,” says Matzen. “Only because the hours of the plan were extended do we require a Temporary Use Permit - because in the early morning hours there is only one business open that requires those parking spaces that would be turned into ferry loading. The OCP does not make reference to preserving parking outside of business hours. Neither does BIM bylaws. Neither does Island Trust statutes. This is a simple, low-cost way if implemented as proposed. If implemented as staff modified the proposal not so. Hopefully council will see this and direct staff accordingly.”
Lalonde says that staff is not opposed to the Easy Cove Loading plan, but made suggestions based on past experiences with the Bowen Queen. Questions of cost and enforcement will be taken up in further conversations with BC Ferries, and staff will also meet with Matzen to discuss the challenges to implementation next week.
