Bowen Island dock gets go-ahead from British Columbia’s top court

The owner of a waterfront property on Bowen Island will proceed with a new dock after winning at B.C.'s highest court, in a case that highlighted the clash between development and conservation along the province's coast.

Murray Skeels, the mayor of Bowen Island, a 20-minute ferry ride from West Vancouver, called the defeat disappointing and said it involves a "spectacular, wonderful, iconic point of land."

"This dock is going to be built right beside it, within rock-throwing distance and that's why we are very upset about that," he said.

The case centred on a stretch of Bowen Island known as Cape Roger Curtis, which is popular among locals for its rocky shoreline, trails and views.

A lot at Cape Roger Curtis was acquired in 2011 by Zongshen (Canada) Environtech Ltd., which in 2013 sought to build a dock. But the company – led by Zuo Zongshen, a billionaire who made his fortune selling motorcycles in China – was repeatedly stymied by a municipal council that wanted to stop the construction of such structures.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in Zongshen's favour in mid-July and Peter Kenward, the lawyer who represented the company in the case, in an interview on Wednesday said it has submitted its material to the municipality's lawyer and is awaiting the issuance of its permit.

Mr. Skeels said the municipality could theoretically appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court of Canada, but likely will not.

"I don't believe we're going to, because … it would have to be an issue of national significance. And I don't think one dock application is going to rise to that standard," he said in an interview.

Mr. Skeels said there are already four docks in the Cape Roger Curtis area and this will be the fifth.

He said the docks have caused disagreement among Bowen Island residents, with some of those who live on the waterfront saying the issue is one of class.

"They don't see a big deal with docks at all," he said. "Whereas the people on the interior of the island that go to the waterfront but don't live there took much more issue with them. I don't think that people who live in the interior of the island thought of it that way, they didn't see it as a class thing at all. And I don't live on a waterfront lot and I didn't think of it that way."

Zongshen sought provincial approval for the dock in February, 2013, and notified the municipality of its plans a couple of months later, as required. But Bowen Island amended its municipal bylaws in November of that year and the permitted length of a dock structure became less than what Zongshen had planned, according to the appeal court ruling. Zongshen submitted a revised plan in August, 2014, in which the dock had been shortened.

But in March, 2015, Bowen Island council asked staff to prepare an amendment to the municipality's land use bylaw that prohibited all private docks at Cape Roger Curtis. The municipality then refused to accept a building permit application from Zongshen.

Bowen Island council adopted the amended bylaw in May, 2015. Another building permit application by Zongshen was rejected in September of that year.

The company then filed an application for judicial review, but a B.C. Supreme Court judge last year ruled in Bowen Island's favour, saying the proposed dock would be a private moorage facility and fell within the amended bylaw's prohibitions.

However, the three-judge Court of Appeal panel unanimously overturned the ruling. It said the dock should not have been classified as a private moorage facility but instead as a structure accessory that is permitted under the bylaw.

The court ordered the municipality to issue the building permit for the dock to Zongshen once the company submitted a current title search and resubmitted the application fee.

Mr. Kenward said he does not anticipate any issues in having the building permit delivered.

He said the dock will be constructed once the permit is issued and a single-family home will be built on the property "in the fairly near future."