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LAUTENS: Ahoy, landlubbers! Sailors offer free hot dogs

First the good news: Everyone, no exceptions, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un included, is invited to the Hollyburn Sailing Club’s open house Sunday.
Hollyburn

First the good news: Everyone, no exceptions, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un included, is invited to the Hollyburn Sailing Club’s open house Sunday.

The club will launch its annual Wooden Boat Show on its site at the 13th Street entrance to Ambleside Park with free hot dogs for all from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Now the middling news: The club, a West Vancouver institution – its headquarters has a jaunty, Cape Cod air about it, unlike the glittering clubs where most yachts are firmly moored even in fine weather – has had a worrisome relationship for years with the landlord. The landlord being the municipality.

The unease is about the club’s future. Commodore Mike Bretner and the executive, including politics-savvy Mel Turner, who was manager of planning for B.C. Parks for 30 years, believe town hall is coldly silent about bringing the club into talks about that future.

West Van Mayor Mike Smith – a boater himself, recently back from a trip through the Gulf Islands – is his customary plain self: “Complete nonsense from the sailing club members, many not from West Van, who are sitting on the most expensive land in West Vancouver and paying virtually no rent.”

About Hollyburn’s membership: Yes, North Vancouver residents slightly outnumber West Van’s, and both Bretner and Turner live in North Van – but that only underlines citizen everyday indifference to North Shore boundaries, and the case for amalgamation.

As for the mayor’s “virtually no rent” claim: This year, the middle of a five-year lease, it’s $2,634.20. A bargoon, right?

Bretner’s convincing response: “The Jericho Sailing Centre Association, which is about 11½ times our size, pays the City of Vancouver $1. We pay the District of West Vancouver more than 30,000 times as much per square foot as JSCA pays Vancouver.” Furthermore, “there are over 220 parking spots beside the JSCA site and a loading area for over a dozen vehicles and direct vehicle access to their compound.” Some contrast.

Current friction: A bistro is planned next to Hollyburn’s premises.

The plan recognizes the club’s 50-year contribution to the waterfront and then proposes a development that will negatively impact that contribution,” Bretner says. “The proposed location of the bistro and its impact was never discussed with the club prior to the presentation of the plan to council.”

The proposed bistro, at the east end of the club’s compound, “will result in the loss of about 17 boat storage spots, representing roughly 25 per cent of our boat-storage income.” It’s a volunteer club with barely any operating costs – the day I visited Bretner was humping garbage to a bin.

Cool it, Mayor Smith essentially says: “No council decisions have been made … as we only have a planning document from staff outlining a vision for the area. No applications have come forward for a bistro.”

Smith’s take: “Council does have an obligation to ensure that our assets are used in the best interest of our residents. The vast majority currently receive no benefit from owning this world-class property. An expanded use here with watercraft lessons and rentals together with a facility to socialize and enjoy the location makes sense to me. The sailing club will obviously have input into any decisions that will be made.”

The mayor, not for the first time, seems bent on maximizing beach use dollars, and in this case treating the sailing club like a whining nuisance operating on town hall sufferance, not a longtime community benefit.  

Bretner extensively quotes fees for membership, lockers, and sold-out storage of boats – most under 16 feet, topping out at $625, “as cheap rates as we can.” The club merits praise for its summer sailing lessons for 200 youngsters – about 10,000 over half a century. A bit surprising: The Hollyburn doesn’t offer strong drink. Yo ho ho, no bottles of rum.

The proposed bistro will, of course, and adult club members will sip there. The club has suggested alternate locations, “some 20 metres to the east of the proposed area … and where the food and beverage is located for the Harmony Arts Festival at the 15th Street end.” No town hall response.

Objections to that 20-metre move? A mature tree – which Bretner says isn’t healthy anyway – would have to go, and the bistro would impede the water view for those coming down 13th Street.

A suspicious mind wonders: Are developers of the nearby giant Grosvenor development OK with the modest club, in the foreground of views from its fantastically expensive condos? Early on, club leaders asked Grosvenor. No opposition, Bretner claims.

Whatever they say. Not too heavy with the mustard on that hot dog on Sunday.
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For dog’s sake: A gent in the West Van Marine Drive liquor store was overheard saying his dog had been “rolled” by a car. Veterinarian’s bill, $13,000.

rtlautens@gmail.com

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