Archive for the ‘Gabriola Island Real Estate’ Category

Today, the realtor and water-taxi operator is unapologetic about his reluctance to open up his island community to traffic and visitors.

“We are being selfish,” Fred Maguire said yesterday, referring to the remote lifestyle that he and fellow islanders – all 70 of them – have adopted.

The decades-old bridge debate was reignited last week after B.C. Ferries president David Hahn floated the idea of building a fixed link in response to complaints about rising ferry fares.

With its tiny population, Mudge Island doesn’t rate a ferry service, but if a fixed link were to be built, the island would be in the path of progress. A bridge across Dodd Narrows would tie Mudge to Vancouver Island at the community of Cedar, just south of Nanaimo. A second bridge would then take traffic through to Gabriola.

“It would destroy both islands,” Mr. Maguire said.

He moved to Mudge in 1971, where he lived in a cabin. Today, he has his dream home, where last weekend he entertained the grandchildren, who were free to wander down to the beach without supervision. “We have a piece of heaven over here.”

B.C. Ferries’ Mr. Hahn, who has fielded numerous complaints about recent rate increases, saw an opportunity to end the grumbling over fares and service by agreeing with one critic’s suggestion to test support for replacing ferry service with a fixed link.

The idea came from Gabriola resident Jeremy Baker, although he wasn’t planning to go public with his suggestion. The subject is too hot to debate with his neighbours.

In an interview, Mr. Baker defended the notion, saying a fixed link would mean the end of dependence on B.C. Ferries. He is no newbie; he has lived on the island for 36 years. But he also runs a courier service and feels the rate increases more acutely than residents who rarely venture off their island.

He feels demographics on Gabriola could be swinging his way. Older people are leaving the island, which has limited health services, and rising real-estate prices are attracting a new breed of islander.

“What’s wrong with checking people’s attitudes? If B.C. Ferries is going to keep whacking us over and over again [with fare increases], some new way of dealing with this issue should be looked at.”

Mr. Hahn has handed the contentious issue to the island’s local ferry committee, a reluctant participant in the debate. He said he is willing to fund a survey of residents to see whether they want to end their reliance on the ferry service that links them to Nanaimo.

He said he is not advocating a bridge in lieu of ferry service, but is simply giving the islanders a chance to have their say. “People are looking at us to be creative.”

A fixed link wasn’t a viable concept eight years ago, when a study pegged the cost of building it at $50-million. Construction costs would drive the price higher now, but Mr. Hahn believes an alternative to ferry service could be feasible given today’s fuel prices. “You look at everything differently at $142 a barrel of oil.”

On Gabriola, however, the debate seems toxic.

“The bloody bridge,” said Jerry MacLeod, sitting at a patio table at a local caf