Cowichan Bay Village
Originally published June of 2012
Hook up, pump out or weigh anchor.
That’s the opening line in a recent article regarding sewage treatment issues appearing in the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial. It’s a simple sentence, only seven words long. Those seven words however, showcase the entire philosophy, attitude and handling of an issue that’s gone from silent to serious to downright silly in the space of two weeks.
The driving force behind all the rhetoric is as usual, our own area director and eco-alarmist, Lori Iannidinardo.
New federal regulations in Transport Canada’s Shipping Act ban all vessels from pumping effluent wastes overboard closer than three kilometers from shore. B.C.’s Public Health Act bans direct liquid-waste discharge into any tidal waters.
Never mind the fact that the average float home or live-aboard boat uses a fraction of the water and produces a fraction of the effluent a land bound house consumes and produces daily. It’s a very eco-friendly lifestyle, with a small carbon footprint. We don’t as a rule have bathtubs, (we shower of course!) multiple bathrooms, 40 gallon hot water tanks or in sink waste disposal machines. The environmental impact of my 250 square foot float home is microscopic compared to some of the 3500 square foot homes just up the hill from us. Never mind the fact that bacteria in effluent discharged into a cold, salty sea are quickly rendered harmless. Never mind that the pack of visiting sea lions produce as much if not more untreated effluent than we do here in the Village. Never mind that the Bay flushes itself twice daily and to such an extent that a biological survey done the last time this issue cropped up, biologists found that float homes and live-aboarders had “negligible impact” on the marine environment. Never mind the fact that the City of Victoria with a population of some 450,000 persons pumps virtually all its effluent untreated directly into Juan de Fuca Straight.
Never even mind the fact that a local dairy farm pumps thousands upon thousands of gallons of liquid cow manure as fertiliser onto a field in the estuary, a field which borders directly on the Koksilah River.
Never mind any of that. These are laws that are in place, laws that ought to be respected even if one does not exactly agree with them or sees them as more or less frivolous.
The new federal regulations had been anticipated for some time. We all knew they were coming, and waited to see what would be required of us as float home owners and live-aboarders (those who live on boats). It’s foolish to spend a thousand dollars setting up a float home for a non-existent pumping facility, only then to see expensive modifications required when the actual sewer lines are provided by the marina.
Quiet Seaside Community Villified
The clock ticked by, the deadline approached and we heard… Nothing. Not a peep. There was virtually no leadership on this issue. No calling together for input, no suggestion taking on how to deal with the effluent issue, no public dialogue of any sort. Nothing reached my ears, nor those of any of my neighbors.
Then after the deadline had passed, it was suddenly determined that something had to be done and the vilification of water-borne residents in Cowichan Bay Village began.
Ms Iannidinardo, always quick to air her concerns in the press and before TV cameras, was off and running with a newsletter seeking to “initiate a conversation with the community about how to accommodate our float home residents in a way that respects their needs as well as the needs of the whole community and our wider environment.”
She was further quoted in the papers as saying; “Float-homes aren’t even supposed to be there under our (Area D) by-laws,”.
Apparently our Area Director is willfully misinformed. The province deems float-homes a permitted use within Crown-land marina leases if the abodes don’t break local zoning by-laws. Float Homes and Liveaboards have been a part of Cowichan Bay for a very long time now. That the CVRD finds it necessary to meddle with our living space when the related issues are covered already at both the Federal and Provincial levels again says much about our leadership in this part of the country
At the meeting which followed, long time Village residents emphatically tried to explain the situation once again. According to Ms Iannidinardo; “I thought there’d be a brawl. It was shocking. We wanted to get discussion going about how float-homes aren’t allowed here, and how previous directors didn’t want to get into (non-compliance). It needs to be dealt with.”
Float homes are allowed no matter what Lori Iannidinardo says. They have always been allowed. Allowed is the default condition. It is the assumption one can live by unless something comes along and makes it otherwise. In fact, float homes and live-aboarders would be allowed here in Cowichan Bay even if they never hooked up to any sort of sewer system. So long as nobody puts human waste effluent or grey water into the marine environment, they break no rules. None.
In some marinas, where putting in a pumping system has been deemed too costly or difficult, or in those cases where a land based sewer system is not available for the marina to connect to, land based out houses or port-a-potties are used to allow residents to remain in compliance. It’s hardly a convenient solution, but it proves my point. No float home or lived aboard boat in Cowichan Bay is “illegal” no matter what our area director says.
I wasn’t able to attend the meeting myself, work commitments must come first after all, but my neighbor Currie Ellis was there, and with permission I reprint his recent letter to the editor of the local paper here:
Says Mr Ellis;
I was at the meeting. In spite of Ms. Iannidinardo’s inflammatory comments about its tone, I found it be a dull, boring meeting with preordained results. I must have dozed off during the moments when our area director “thought there’d be a brawl.” There were a few well-presented comments concerning the long-term payment of past property taxes while float-homes received no services, such as sewer, water and garbage collection.
I failed to hear one comment from a floathome owner against connecting to sewage lines. Nor, did I hear any similar comment from a marina owner. I believe the majority, if not all, floathome owners welcome the opportunity. This is in spite of the minimal environmental footprint they occupy in comparison to our neighbors on the hill. If there is a real concern in this regard, the green, eco-friendly lifestyle of living on the water should be encouraged for those living in single-family dwellings on the hill.
Ms. Iannidinardo’s opening statement at the meeting contained generalities regarding the damage done to Cowichan Bay by the floating community. And yet, she provided no references to back up her statements. Where were the coliform counts? What levels of pollution exist in the bay, and what are the real sources of that pollution? Let us stop blowing smoke without becoming educated first.
I am extremely disappointed in Ms. Iannidinardo as my electoral representative. I would like to encourage CVRD board members to do their own due diligence, and not rely on the direction of the director from Cowichan Bay.
Currie Ellis
Cowichan Bay
Mr. Ellis’ attitude is typical of many Village residents, myself included. Nobody wants to break the law. Nobody wants to harm the environment. Nobody wants to create a mess that cannot be cleaned up. But at the same time, nobody wants to be vilified in the media either on an issue over which they have little or no control. As I’ve always said, “Bring the pipe, I’ll be happy to hook to it. Until then, I’ll keep my money in my pocket.”
Meanwhile;
Tone it down Lori. Tone it down a lot. Your shrill voice is lowering the quality of life here.
Your threats have some convinced they are going to have to anchor out in future. If that happens, how likely do you think it will be that they follow those federal and provincial guidelines I mentioned above? How likely will it be, do you think, that anyone will be in a position to police those folks? The Coast Guard? They seem to be having budgetary issues at present. The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans? Ditto.
Scuttling off to try your case in the press at every opportunity isn’t the way to get things done. Singling out a group of citizens for public castigation because they dare continue to live in the a manner deemed perfectly acceptable on this coast for the last hundred years does you no credit whatsoever. Many of these people are in their senior years; how dare you act in such a divisive, disruptive, anti-humanist manner.
Complaining that “houses from Maple Bay came over to (Cowichan bay Village to) avoid having to hook up there”, when they actually arrived because they were pushed out by increasing moorage fees shows how easy it is to pick on the less financially able. Your bullying tactics have caused these people sleepless nights.
What your attitude ultimately shows is your open contempt for we the people who live on the water in Cowichan Bay Village.
You seemingly care nothing for the effects your comments have on our collective property values. Some of the float homes here are for sale, have been for a while, and your comments regarding their supposed “illegality” does nothing to help the owners sell their investments.
Last year you failed in your attempt to destroy our anchoring rights. We readily saw past the Eelgrass issue.
You have thus far failed in having the Dominion I removed from the Bay in spite of a series of widely publicized, seemingly counter-productive alarmist pronouncements on the environmental dangers posed by the vessel, all of which have since been proven false or over-stated. The current owner of the vessel, and American who wants to scrap it in Mexico has been having a difficult time dealing with all the red tape associated with its removal. What have you done to assist him?
Now you are failing once more, this time in obtaining support for the manner in which you are handling this issue.
About the only thing you have accomplished in the last few months involved a series of closed-door deals done to quickly locate the new Estuary Nature Centre at Hecate Park, where you plainly had the interests of outsiders at heart. Public input from Village residents on the fate of their only public green space was obviously neither wanted nor required.
Area “D” Cowichan Bay might well be the size of an English Country Manor Estate but that doesn’t make you the Lady and it certainly doesn’t make us your subjects. It’s time you stopped focusing on doing things for the people of Maple Bay, Cobble Hill, Shawnigan Lake and Duncan, and time you began to focus on your home turf and the needs of the people who reside therein.
It’s time we saw some leadership on the issues that affect us all, and real leadership doesn’t involve much of which you have so far shown yourself capable.
