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Unauthorized Pender Harbour docks ordered demolished

PENDER HARBOUR — Two to three dozen private docks could be demolished in Pender Harbour as part of a new dock management plan negotiated by the provincial government and the shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation.
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Gunboat Bay resident Rick Crook will see his dock demolished under a new dock management plan.

PENDER HARBOUR — Two to three dozen private docks could be demolished in Pender Harbour as part of a new dock management plan negotiated by the provincial government and the shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation.

More than 320 owners of docks that have provincial permits will be able to re-apply for 10-year approvals from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development starting this September.

Those applications will be subject to an archeological assessment and the approval of the shíshálh.

But docks in the most sensitive parts of the harbour that do not have permits will be removed, according to the ministry. The government was not able to provide an estimate of the number of illicit docks, but local residents believe as many as 40 properties could be affected.

The plan is part of a package of First Nations reconciliation agreements that give the shíshálh a role in forest management, revenue-sharing and title to several parcels of Crown land.

The dock agreement is meant to address the need for environmental stewardship and protection of archeological sites in shíshálh traditional territories, said Chief Warren Paull.

“Our ultimate goal is to restore the harbour to its historical ecological abundance,” he said. “Pender Harbour was an area where our people lived year-round. It was a bread basket of our territory and historically held an abundance of resources.”

Boatbuilder Rick Crook’s floating dock was decades old when he bought his cottage on Gunboat Bay, but it is certain to be destroyed under the new plan.

“It was there when we bought the cabin, and by the time we got here to live full time there was no option to get a permit,” he said.

An informal moratorium on new docks in the area has been in place for about 15 years while the government and the shíshálh worked out their new relationship.

“There was nothing I could do about at that point. No one was accepting applications,” he said. “I suppose I should have realized earlier, but I came here from Alberta.”

Like many waterfront homes in Pender Harbour, Crook’s property is considered water-access only, with no formal road in place. He shares a driveway with 21 other property owners.

“There are no legal agreements about the use of the driveway, so that could change at any moment if a new owner wanted to do something different,” he said.

The Pender Harbour dock management plan, released last month, divides Pender Harbour into three zones. No new docks will be allowed in the zone that covers Oyster Bay and Gunboat Bay, and existing unauthorized docks are to be removed.

A first draft of the dock management plan was released in 2015, but was met with angry opposition by local homeowners.

Former minister of aboriginal relations and reconciliation Barry Penner was hired to conduct a review of the plan and oversee environmental and archeological studies before a revised plan was written.

“The second plan is no different from the first one,” said Leonard Lee, leader of a local residents group that has tried to offer advice to the province as the plan was drafted.

Although Penner held discussions with local dock owners early in his review, Lee said locals were shut out of the process.

“We sent questions and documents and got no response,” he said.