Neighbours rally to halt West Van council's sale of public beach access

A group of West Vancouver neighbours say they’re hoping the sale of a beloved Altamont beach access can be halted before council gives the deal final approval.

“It is a public piece of land that we as taxpaxers highly value,” said Sydney Sharpe, a local resident who uses the beach trail regularly. “Don’t rob us of a public amenity that we love and we use.”

“People use this and it should be defended,” added Christopher Molineux, another neighbour.

Molineux added the sale of the beach access sends the wrong message that “If you’re wealthy you can simply approach council and say I’m interested in this or that public amenity … It makes it look like West Vancouver’s up for sale.”

The neighbours are reacting to a council vote at a meeting July 22 to close a public beach path at the foot of 30th Street. Council voted to sell the beach access to add it to a piece of district-owned land immediately to the east, at 3000 Park Lane, to sell both properties to an interested buyer.

The amount of the offer hasn’t been made public but is said to be in the neighbourhood of $6.5 million for both parcels.

Mayor Mark Sager said the district needs that money in order to buy the last piece of the Ambleside waterfront for public use, a goal of the municipality for the past 40 years.

“We desperately need to raise funds,” said Sager, adding that swapping one smaller, lesser-used beach access for a more prominent piece of waterfront land seems like a “reasonable exchange.”

The majority of council appeared to share that view when they voted July 22 to give third reading to bylaws that paved the way for the sale of the beach access.

Since then, however, several West Vancouver residents have been pushing back, hoping to change council’s mind about the sale.

Fiona Akins started a petition opposing the deal.

“I don’t think many West Vancouverites would support the sale and closure of public access to our shoreline,” she said. “It’s a vital part of the character of West Van.”

Molineux added he doesn’t see the sale of the beach access and eventual purchase of the Ambleside property as inextricably linked.

Molineux said he’s heard the district was previously offered $5 million for the property at 3000 Park Lane, without the beach access included. That property, which includes just over 9,000 square feet of vacant land, was last assessed at $6.64 million – a similar value to neighbouring waterfront properties.

So far, the lone dissenting council voice on adding the beach access to the land sale has been Coun. Christine Cassidy.

Prior to the vote in July, Cassidy said she did not think the public beach access should be up for sale and said this week she hasn’t changed her mind.

“I feel the public needs to continue to make their point of view known to council” before a final vote is taken on the issue, she said.

Former West Vancouver mayor Mike Smith has also weighed in against the sale of the beach access. Smith was instrumental in the original creation of the lot at 3000 Park Lane, after discovering a neighbouring property owner had encroached on a district road allowance.

But retaining public access was always part of the plan when that lot was created after a court decision, said Smith.

Smith said he doesn’t believe the beach access should be sold, but if it is, other buyers should also have a chance to put in offers on the enlarged piece of property.

Resident Vikram Bhawa said he has written a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, asking the province to review the decision.

In a response this week, the ministry confirmed receiving that, but added the ministry rarely gets involved in local government decisions. In addition, “The Community Charter provides municipalities with the authority to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of local government property”, subject to requirements like public notice, the ministry's statement read.

Local governments can also sell land by “public offer or by direct offer to a single person or organization” the statement continued.

According to local real estate agents, the property at 3000 Park Lane had been on the market – without the beach access – for about a year. Waterfront property with more “frontage” does tend to fetch a higher price, said West Vancouver real estate agent Calvin Lindberg, because it provides more flexibility in what kind of home can be built on the property.

Paul Fedusiak, a longtime former neighbour, said he doesn’t see a problem with selling the beach access, adding he probably walked past it a thousand times with his dog “and didn’t really even notice it was there.”

Fedusiak said as far as he’s concerned, there are more accessible beach accesses close by – at both the foot of 31st Street and at Altamont Beach Park – and selling this one to buy the Ambleside property “is a better thing for the community.”

Sager said he’s heard from more people in favour of closing the beach access than from those who want to keep it open.

“It’s a narrow, steep, long, difficult access that the neighbours would like to close up,” he said.

Sager said there are only a handful of neighbours led by Molineux who want to keep the beach access open.

“I said to him, ‘Sure, if we have all the money in the world, keep it, keep everything.’ But we don’t have all the money in the world,” said Sager.

Sager said the final decision will be up to council, with the issue expected to come back for a final vote before October.