With a new council elected, a long-time campaigner for a new motorized boat launch hopes that he'll finally find the political will to get Squamish just that.
Gord Gunner, who's leaving town in the next few months, says that he wants a launch built as his way of giving back to the community before he says farewell.
"The whole Sea to Sky Corridor is going to benefit from this," he said. "I'm giving back because I want to see something for this town."
"I just want to see the boating community have something that they can be proud of," he added.
Gunner has long lobbied for a new boat launch in town. The current one by the yacht club is aging, and many in the community say it no longer serves its purpose.
This sentiment is echoed by the Squamish Harbour Authority.
"There is a great need for a new/repaired boat ramp in Squamish," Catherine Lea-Smith, the authority's wharfinger, wrote in an email to The Chief.
"There is a lot of frustration in the boating community regarding the condition of the current boat ramp. The ramp's use is limited by tide levels as it drops off sharply at the end. There is also heavy commercial use of the ramp, including landing barges, which cause damage and erosion."
Furthermore, because that launch is located on private property, there are no guarantees that the public can use it in perpetuity.
"Its use could be restricted at any time without notice," Lea-Smith. "If this were to happen, it would force boaters down to Porteau and put more stress on an already congested highway."
Though Gunner has campaigned for a new launch with little result so far, he says that his hope has been rejuvenated because of the new faces on council.
Last week, Gunner met with councillors John French and Eric Andersen to discuss the matter.
Both politicians say they recognize the need for a new launch and reiterated the need to start speaking to people in the community for ideas.
French said they haven't yet approached landowners or developers, but he's hoping the community talks further on the matter.
"I certainly support that kind of dialogue and that kind of conversation," French said.
French said that it's premature to say if and when a boat launch will happen, but he's hopeful the town can get things started.
"This is the time when the boating community really needs to get in on the conversation and provide feedback," he added.
Andersen said that the Marine Action Strategy will light a way forward.
The strategy was endorsed by the previous council in July 2018. It provides a blueprint on how to do deal with vessels, development and other matters in or by the water.
This document lists a boat launch as a needed item for the community, he said. Preliminary budget talks have set aside $3,000 for a group that would plan a way to put the strategy into practice.
"It would be an embarrassment, really, as a waterfront community that we can't solve this," he said.
In the immediate future, however, the main thing to is to listen to the community, he said.
"All we can do at this time is gather information from resource people like Gord Gunner," Andersen said.
So far, the trio have been kicking around three prospective ideas for where a boat launch could be.
Two possible locations would be on the oceanfront, on the property of Newport Beach Developments, said Andersen.
Andersen also added that council could have some leverage when it comes to rezoning. While Oceanfront development sub-area plan has already been approved, it has since been amended twice, he said.
"So you never know," he said.
There was also talk of a third ‘mystery' location. The three wouldn't reveal any details.
The Chief contacted Carlos Zavarce, a planner with Newport, and he said the company was open to dialogue about a boat launch, but he hadn't been approached by anyone from council.
Zavarce noted there has been talk about possibly putting a launch in an industrial corner of the development, but added one in the park is off the table.
"It's still a potential to happen in the industrial portion of the site, but there's a lot of complications," he said.
But while these are considerations, it appears that if a new launch is created, it will be at the discretion of the company.
"There were no agreements put in place to secure that, previously," said Zavarce.
He also added that Newport Developments only owns three-quarters of the oceanfront.
There are other potential sites outside of the company's property in that area, but council would have to approach those landowners instead.
District spokesperson Christina Moore said municipal staff haven't been asked to look into the creation of a new launch at the moment.
"A boat launch has not been discussed during council's 2019 budget meetings due to other priorities," she wrote in an email.
