Houseboaters oppose planes

Coal Harbour resident Doug McClelland, who lives on a houseboat, doesn't want to put up with another three years of floatplanes firing up their engines at 6:30 a.m.

Reaching for earplugs and trying to get back to sleep has been the wine agent's daily routine since the floatplane terminal moved three years ago to its temporary location at 1075 West Waterfront Road. By 7 a.m., the planes are taxiing for takeoff.

McClelland is also the president of the Coal Harbour Residents' Association. On July 16, association representatives are appearing before the City of Vancouver's development-permit board to oppose a proposed three-year extension of the floatplane facility.

"There's a plane taking off or landing every five minutes on weekdays," McClelland said. "The fumes come up where residents are and they can't even use their balconies. When they clean the buildings, the water turns black from the soot."

He met up with the Georgia Straight one Sunday at the Harbour Green Park, which sits across from the terminal, and at times the sound of the engines drowned his voice out. Depending on the wind's direction, the smell of aviation fuel was noticeable at the children's water playground, a major feature of the park.

"We have nothing against these planes," McClelland said. "They're a part of the harbour, but they're also causing an impact on the residents."

In a separate interview, association director Gerry Sieben recalled that city hall gave their group the impression that the terminal would stay only for three years. The move was necessary because of ongoing expansion work at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre.

"The reason they had to ask to move here is [that] the convention centre was being built and there wasn't room for them," Sieben told the Straight . "We don't want them here any longer than their three years' stay. [It's] time for them to go."

The association had opposed the temporary transfer of the terminal in 2004 but lost out to the application by floatplane operators. "'It's only a three-year period, suck it up, we know they stink, we know they make noise,'" Sieben recalled city hall's pitch to the residents.

Coriolis Consulting Corp. filed the application for a three-year extension on behalf of the floatplane operators. Coriolis president Jay Wollenberg explained that the original plan had the convention centre finished by now.

"The new convention centre is planned to include the new permanent floatplane facility," Wollenberg told the Straight . "It's not finished and, obviously, the floatplane companies can't move into it because it's not finished. Their application is simply to extend the temporary use."

The last permit issued by the board allowed the terminal to stay at its current location from November 9, 2004, to November 9, 2007. Asked if this was a one-time permit stipulating that the planes would have to move when it expires, Scott Barker, a city project facilitator, told the Straight , "Any further extension will need to be sought through another permit application."