Now that Riverside Marine has leased space in Victoria’s Inner Harbour to start passenger-only ferry service to Vancouver this summer, Sidney Mayor Steve Price has asked the company to consider stopping at his town’s Beacon Wharf.
In a Jan. 6 letter, Price tells Nick Cheong, Riverside’s vice-president of operations, that such a stop is an “untapped opportunity” to use Sidney’s enormous water lot — 4.49 acres or 195,500 square feet — as a foot-passenger facility.
The wharf and its water lot lease were divested to the town about 10 years ago and have been “an iconic and important feature of our downtown waterfront since 1899,” the mayor wrote, noting it was once the landing point on the Island for ferry services from the mainland.
“They could put in a stop here or they could run a service from here,” Price said Friday.
The route from the CPR Terminal Building to Vancouver’s Harbour Flight Centre in Coal Harbour is 59 nautical miles and expected to take about 3 1/2 hours by catamaran.
The trips, touted as a premium travel experience as opposed to point-to-point transportation only, will likely start slowly this July and be fully operational by summer 2017.
“It makes more sense, actually, to operate out of Sidney than it does out of downtown Victoria, not only because of the weather and trying to get around in the wintertime, but also just the distance,” Price said.
“It cuts a good hour off the trip by running out of here.”
Some tourists might prefer a short boat trip and jaunt around Sidney, rather than travelling all the way to Vancouver, he said.
Riverside’s daily sailings are expected to leave Vancouver in the morning and depart from Victoria in the afternoon.
Price said he has heard back from Riverside that they are “going over the letter, which I thought was nice.”
“Early days, but all you have to do is look at a map and see that Sidney truly is the gateway to Vancouver, the mainland and the Gulf Islands,” he said, noting that the town has both the Anacortes ferry terminal and part of the Victoria International Airport within its boundaries.
“We are only getting started on being the transportation hub of the future for Vancouver Island.”
Beacon Wharf is located at the foot of Beacon Avenue. The Pier Bistro is perched at the end, along with a fresh fish store and summer ferry trips to nearby Sidney Spit operated by Alpine Marine.
The wharf is “structurally sound” for current uses, but needs to be rebuilt in the next five to 10 years.
What that entails will depend on what potential users indicate they want, Price said.
A Vancouver ferry service would require new breakwaters, new infrastructure and turnarounds for buses.
Price would expect to seek a financial partnership with Riverside and the provincial and federal governments.
“This would be a huge economic generator for the whole Island,” he said.
Price said the town plans to hire a consultant to undertake a “visioning process” this year for the wharf area to ensure that any plans would enhance from the locale’s “postcard” image of Sidney by the Sea.
“We wouldn’t dream of putting something down there that was detrimental to the town’s charm.”
