A majority of Powell River Regional District directors have voted to contribute to the cost of removing a derelict barge from a Savary Island beach. Electoral Area B Director Stan Gisborne and Texada Island Director Dave Murphy voted in opposition to a motion about the issue at the February board meeting. However, the regional district will contribute up to $6,700 to the Association of the Savary Island Committee (ASIC) for the removal of the barge, with the funds to come from the waste management service.
ASIC received a quote from a contractor to remove the barge for about $33,000, less revenue for any scrap metal that can be salvaged. The committee has received $10,000 from the province’s Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) for the project.
The barge has been on a south beach for over five years. While ILMB has received permission from Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to remove the barge, neither agency will contribute to the cost of removal.
Gisborne said boats and wrecks are the responsibility of the federal government. “Now they are getting the local taxpayers to pay for it,” he said. “It really is setting a precedent, because next thing you know, something else floats up on the beach and we’ll be expected to remove it too. I don’t think we should be paying for it.”
Murphy agreed. “It’s not our jurisdiction,” he said.
