DEAR EDITOR:
A few weeks ago, Bowen Island Municipal Council granted a variance for a property owner to build a private dock on Ecclestone Beach, notwithstanding community input, which was 90 per cent against the dock.
Last week the Friends of Ecclestone Public Beach were successful in getting the Province of BC (FLNRORD), which makes the final decision about whether to allow the dock on Crown land, to re-open public comments on this private dock application.
Public comments will be accepted by the province until July 15. The province makes the final decision, so we still have a chance to stop the dock.
Our issues with the proposed dock:
1) The proposed dock size – 37.1 meters (121.7 feet) long, six metres (19.7 feet) above the ocean floor and located in provincial jurisdiction, will completely overwhelm this small, but treasured pocket beach, permanently impairing the recreational and aesthetic values of the beach and ecologically impacting the shoreline.
2) Ecclestone is a small pocket beach and the only family-friendly public beach on the outer shore of Deep Bay. For a century, the public accessed this beach via a public road and a short pathway across private property. The property then changed hands several times, and public access was no longer allowed. The current owners proposed to legalize public usage, but only in exchange for being allowed to build a private dock at the public beach.
3) Ecclestone Beach is the only safe pull-out on this entire shoreline – and the proposed location and size of the private dock will interfere with water access to the beach by swimmers (who at low tide, enter the water at the same place as the proposed dock) and boaters; and potentially poses navigational and safety risks.
4) The current proposed siting of the dock contravened Bowen’s Land Use Bylaw and thus required a variance. The location and size of the private dock is too close to the adjacent road allowance and will permanently block future opportunities for legal public access to the foreshore from the road, including the community’s proposed public staircase.
5) Allowing such private docks with huge anchor blocks dragging the sea floor undermines current efforts to restore marine habitat in Deep Bay where volunteers are replanting eel grass as refuge for juvenile salmon and hundreds of other species of fish and invertebrates.
What can you do?
It’s our letters to the province that will make the difference – and numbers matter.
Each member of a household can write.
Kids who want to swim and play on an unspoiled Ecclestone beach can also have their say and even draw pictures to send to the Province.
But the window’s very tight – we only have until July 15 to send our letters. At the top of your letter please include the Crown land file number: 2412347.
Use the link below and enter the file number 2412347 that takes you to the dock application from the property owners, Timothy Klauke and Rosemary Toye.
You can then upload your letter: comment.nrs.gov.bc.ca.
If you want to go an extra distance, after sending your letter via the portal, you can also mail a hard copy to the Province: Project Manager, FLNRORD, 200-10428 153rd Street, Surrey, B.C. V3R 1E1.
You may also wish to email your letter to FLNRORD Minister Katrine Conroy at: [email protected]
Please join us and write your letters today.
Gillian Darling, Heather Hodson, Leah Cline
On behalf of Friends of Ecclestone Public Beach
