Live-aboard boaters facing eviction off Ladysmith

A Vancouver Island town is trying to use bylaw enforcement to removederelict boats in its harbour, but in the process a number of people who live on board their vessels are also facing eviction.

People have moored boats for free and lived aboard them in an area called the Dogpatchnear the Ladysmith MaritimeSociety marina for years.

Severalabandoned and derelict vessels havethecommunityconcerned about public safety and environmental contamination.

• Derelict shipVikiLyne2 threateningLadysmithHarbour

"Five vessels burned in a period of about six or seven weeks or so during the later part of the summer," said Ladysmith Mayor Aaron Stone.

The town has issued bylaw infraction notices to all boats moored oranchored inwhat it describes aswater lot 651 in Ladysmith Harbour. According to the notice, the owners of the boats have until Nov. 15 to move their vessels.

BryanLivingstone, 72,has lived on a boat in the areasince 1997 and wonders where he will go if the town chooses to enforce the notice.

"I have been here for a long time. It's unsettling. I've got relationships with people here, and this town," he said.

Somewho call their boats home also sayit's frustrating that live-aboards areoftenlumped in with the problem of derelict vessels.

"People live here. If anybody wants[derelicts]gone, it's people who live here, saidDanielInkersell.

The 25-year-oldhas moored his boat and a protective boathouse toa concrete pillarthat used to hold acrane for an industrial business that operated in the harbour.

Inkersell said the1946 Chris Craft boat he is also working to restore provides an affordable place to live between his jobs in the forest industry.

"A lot of people here are obviously onfixed incomes," Inkersell said, adding they can't afford the hundreds of dollars a month usually required for a spot in a marina.

Authority over the water

Jurisdiction over the water has been a difficult issue for communities up and down the coast that are trying to deal with derelictvessels.

The City of Victoria has long beenworking to get jurisdiction over a section of water near the downtown core, where a group of derelict and live-aboard vessels have moored. Evictions were expected this fall but have yet to happen.

In Ladysmith, future development is also behind the effort to clear outthe harbour.

A local First Nation has anapplicationin to turn the Dogpatch area into a marina, and ahead of that development Ladysmithbelieves it hasthe authority to use a bylaw enforcementto force boats to move on, Stone said.

But he acknowledges that some people who have been living responsibly aboard their boats may also bepushed out.

"Unfortunately, some of the good people that are down there in their live-aboards kind of get caught up in this larger issue," he said.

The town is now meetingwith a group of live-aboardsto see if there could be aplace in the future where theycould legitimately moor with regulation, Stone said.

"Hopefully we can start to build a model around responsible use oflive-aboards, how they can fit into our communities, how we can accommodate them in whatever reasonable way possible, but at the same time making sure we address concerns around public safety and environmental issues."