Victoria has the authority to regulate the Gorge waterway, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled.
In making his ruling, Justice Peter Voith gave vessel and dock owners 60 days, or until May 7, to remove their property from the waterway.
Mayor Lisa Helps said she was “very happy” with the decision, noting that issues involving derelicts, docks and liveaboards on the Gorge have been ongoing for at least a decade.
“It’s a balance, but this has been a long one,” the mayor said.
“And I think [for] residents of Vic West and users of the Gorge and the environmental stewards of the Gorge that on balance, it’s a good decision.
“The Gorge waterway is clearly a public space and it’s also clearly a sensitive ecological ecosystem.”
In 2016, the city passed a bylaw limiting boat owners to 48 consecutive hours of moorage in one spot, and a maximum of 72 hours in 30 days.
In 2017, it sought an injunction to get 17 boats and four docks out of a section of the waterway near Selkirk Trestle. This was contested by boat owner Barry Zimmerman on behalf of a group of people who moor their boats on the waterway.
They argued that the city did not have the authority to zone a water lot, which falls under federal jurisdiction.
City solicitor Tom Zworski said the judgment confirms that the city’s zoning regulations do not intrude on federal jurisdiction over navigation and shipping, and that “they represent a reasonable balance between the municipality’s role in regulating land use and boaters’ rights to occasionally anchor.”
Helps said the ruling addresses the notion of semi-private or private occupation of public space.
“The city appears to want to use the area for park and recreational purposes and to promote its use by kayakers, rowers and other temporary recreational users,” Voith said in his decision.
“Such land-use planning decisions and how they are best achieved, properly lie within the purview of the city,” the judge ruled.
Helps said the city would continue to contact those who have been living on their boats in the area to try to assist in their relocation and to help find a home on land for anyone interested.
“There is the ability from our 2016 bylaw change for people to come and stay for 48 hours at a time and no more than 72 hours in a 30-day period,” Helps said.
“So essentially, now it’s a marine park.
“Just like you’re not allowed to permanently occupy parks on land, so too with parks on water,” she said.
