The BCMCA has made a number of attempts to meet with the Parks Board Commissioners, and make a presentation at the upcoming February 19th Board Meeting. We heard absolutely nothing in response, until finding today that the Agenda has been posted.

We are NOT on the agenda.

Later today, this response was received: 

You have requested to speak on a topic that's not on the upcoming committee meeting's agenda, however we have shared your request with the Park Board Commissioners to consider for a future meeting.
Questions about procedure? Have written materials about your topic to share with the Park Board? Email them to pbmeetings@vancouver.ca.
​
Thank you for your interest in speaking to your elected Park Board Commissioners.
Administrative Services
Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation
pbmeetings@vancouver.ca

We followed the procedure already posted on the VPB's website. Are we being deliberately ignored?

Things seem to have gone off the rails since this Strategic Plan was published in 2012:

Just released on Friday 9th - documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the rationale for the marina fee increase, in particular how the figure of being "30% below market rates" was arrived at. One particular marina is blacked out, as the FOIA office is still waiting upon permission from the 3rd party to release that information. 

Link to the documents released is here:
https://www.burrardcivicmarinaca.org/uploads/5/7/8/8/5788638/20180209_foi_release_2017-494_-_res.pdf

Some interesting conclusions can be drawn from what has been released, but we ask first that everyone read it for your own consideration.

The City of Vancouver 2018 Budget and Five-Year Financial Plan has been posted here:

vancouver.ca/files/cov/vancouver-2018-budget.pdf

​It's only 439 pages long, so we don't expect you to read all of it. However, there are a couple of highlights (besides our 8% fee increase), which shed light on our dock replacement project. 

Page 123:​

Originally it was supposed to start in May 2017, and be completed by Christmas. Last we heard, completion was targeted for April. Now it's September 2018?

Wait, page 202 begs to differ:

Already completed in 2017...! Just stating the facts, folks.

On January 26/2018, we received an update from Sev Araujo (Manager, Commercial Operations), regarding the current status of the project. His comments are as follows:

In 2016 when we met and consulted with the various Burrard Marina users, including the Burrard Civic Marina Community Association, we reviewed the expenditures and projects completed and confirmed the future projects and allocated funds.

At the time it was estimated that a total of $3.5 million will have been invested in Burrard Marina by the time all committed projects and funds were completed during the 2014 - 2018 Capital Budget cycle.   

At the July 5, 2016 meeting it was agreed by all users that with respect to the upland and float replacement project, Option B was the best use of funds.  During this meeting there was also discussion that since the Coast Guard dock returned, the break water funds* could be allocated to the project under Option B, as this option was going to cost more than what was originally scoped out.  As you may recall at the end of the meeting I explained the City’s Capital Budget process and confirmed that for the next of capital budget cycle for 2019 -  2022 we would be requesting more funds for Burrard Marina, but could not guarantee what would be approved.
 
As per the attached, and at our various meetings, our Real Estate and Facilities Management staff and the consultant estimated that the approximate $2.1 million might be sufficient to complete the upland and float replacement project under Option B.  The upland work was recently completed at a cost of $1.1 million and the replacement of floats G and G - L, which will be completed by April, will cost $1.7 million, for a total expenditure of $2.8M.  This is $700,000 more than what was estimated in 2016.

*Breakwater cost was estimated at $300,000.

A copy of the July 2016 presentation is available on the BCMCA website under Archives - Parks Board Documents.

For perspective, the original bid for the uplands works (as shown on the City's website) was $785,402. If the total cost was $1.1 million, this means it went over budget by about 40%. 

​The original bid for the float replacement was $1,193,514. Now we understand the estimated cost to be $1.7 million, or about 42% higher than anticipated, and the work has not even started yet. It seems the cost of repairing marinas easily gets out of hand.

Out of the original $3.35 million available, this means perhaps $535,000 remains un-allocated, however the upcoming float replacements may yet eat even further into that. Bear in mind too that the replacement of docks "G" and "G to L" represents only about 7% of the total dock length in the marina, and it is not entirely clear whether the figures we have also include the Engineering fees or other incidentals beyond what the bidders have accounted for.