“Some people see a beach as a place to relax. Others see it as a place to escape. But for those who understand, a beach is where the land meets the soul of the city, and its heartbeat echoes in the waves.” Cecelia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow.
On one of those sun-drenched August days last week, the low-tide fragrance of the ocean floor wafted over the placid beachfront at the end of 30th Street in West Vancouver.
It wasn’t the only strong smell in the neighbourhood.
A proposed land deal has bathed Mayor Mark Sager and all but one of the district’s councillors with one rank stench that calls into question the integrity of how and even why we ever sell the most precious of public land, our waterfront.
The extraordinary, expeditious plan to remove public access to the 30th Street beach by adjoining the public walkway at the buyer’s request to sweeten a sizeable plot of land at 3000 Park Lane has wheeler-dealer earmarks and reeks to high heaven.
It is yet another self-inflicted wound by a council that didn’t properly consult the community before changing the lot for the prospective buyer – a friend of the mayor’s – then failing to put that lot back on the market to guarantee the best price for it.
The mayor has defended the deal in a variety of his emblematic ways: that the money is needed to buy other waterfront property in Ambleside (not really), that adding the beachfront was the only way to sell the lot (not likely), that even with the beach there would be no other buyers to be found (not a chance), and that there are other beaches for kayakers and the like within a few hundred metres (not if you don’t want to take your life into your hands).
There is an ancillary ethical issue: should Sager have recused himself from involvement because he knew the buyer? Former mayor Mike Smith certainly thinks so, and for what it’s worth, I agree.
To be fair to Sager, it’s complicated. The mayor knows a lot of people who can do a lot of things for the district and for him. It’s helpful in certain jams. But recusal is a necessary practice to maintain public trust in governance. In this case, he would have been wise to recognize a transaction of this sort carries with it controversy that only festers if there is someone with a perceived or real conflict in shepherding it through council.
A mayor doesn’t have to be the community’s realtor-in-chief, too.
Thankfully, mayor and council seem to have gotten some sort of message from the “loud and clear” public complaints (1,600 petition signatures and a swarm of sharp speakers suddenly at council will do that). There is a search on for an escape hatch to save face before it returns to council in October for a final word. Sager asks us for patience, to enjoy the summer, and have “faith that the right things will happen.” Mind you, he’s just “not at liberty” to discuss what these right things will be. It does not help appearances that the matter is being wrestled with in-camera. But Santa Claus will supposedly come early.
Now, if he and his council (Christine Cassidy being the lone dissenting voice here) are antsy about the maintenance costs of the beaches and are agnostic about selling waterfront, then at the very, very least they ought to have established conditions to broker the best deal. It is nice that the district would get a $1.5 million bump in throwing in the beach for what appears to be a $6.5-million deal.
But who knows how much money would have emerged if a different kind of public access was granted – access to bid on the broadened property.
Sager said it was unlikely any buyer would have emerged with the addition to the lot. I think in psychology they call that overfunctioning, taking on more responsibility to manage anxiety in relationships. But listen, if the municipality is really going to go through with this sale, it is wrong to deny the market its right to bid, and the district its right to benefit, on what is a dramatically improved property.
As it stands, the district has had sand kicked in its face.
Kirk LaPointe is a West Vancouver columnist with an extensive background in journalism. His column runs biweekly in the North Shore News and he can be reached at [email protected].
Correction: This column has been amended to correct the address of the property in question to 3000 Park Lane. A previous version had an incorrect street name.
