Sooke Public Boat Launch

We seem to be making progress on getting an operational agreement in place, and none too soon. The rip-rap bed is washing out from under the launch slab and other routine maintenance issues are heading toward major structural failure. To date the launch fees have been donated to the food bank instead of being reinvested into the facility.

$60 annual pass for locals has been proposed and $10 for one-offs. Annual out of town is $120.

http://sooke.ca.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=4&clip_id=303
 
How is it that a brand new ramp is heading for major structural failure? The ramp at the resort has been there since dinosaurs roamed the planet without any problems. Only a resurface job in the 30 years I'm familiar with. Did the town hire an out of work leaky condo crew to lay the ramp?
 
"$60 annual pass for locals has been proposed and $10 for one-offs. Annual out of town is $120."

Sooke paid approximately the same amount as the federal grants received for the ramp, therefore every Canadians taxes went in to that ramp. No other ramp that I'm aware of has a two tiered pay system for "out of towners". Esquimalt anglers is still $50 even if your from Timbuktu, and it's twice the ramp the prestige will ever be.

Just sayin'......sooke should be embracing anglers not trying to pull this bs
 
What a joke. A new ramp needs repairs already ?? Not that the Food Bank isn't a good cause but why isn't the money being held in trust ? For future repairs, amenities or salmon enhancement.. My tax dollars went into this ramp with the intention it would be free. Is there revenue still being shared with the neighbours ? Thats what seemed to irk people the most..
 
Gear'n'beer! said:
"$60 annual pass for locals has been proposed and $10 for one-offs. Annual out of town is $120."

Sooke paid approximately the same amount as the federal grants received for the ramp, therefore every Canadians taxes went in to that ramp. No other ramp that I'm aware of has a two tiered pay system for "out of towners". Esquimalt anglers is still $50 even if your from Timbuktu, and it's twice the ramp the prestige will ever be.

Just sayin'......sooke should be embracing anglers not trying to pull this bs
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X2 $120 for an annual pass is not acceptable to me I'll choose day fee's at another launch when possible. Moved out of esquimalt last fall but ill be paying my annual membership there for a lifetime I think great facility and cannot beat the people or the price.

Good luck to the Sooke ramp but if you go annual membership consider making it the same for everyone a Sooke resident could use the ramp 15+ times per summer but somebody from Vic probably will rarely get value out of a $120 membership that's over 12 launches to get into the free zone.
 
I can not believe that a newly built boat ramp was built with absolotely no thought put into it. Shortage of parking. Someone is going to get killed on Westcoast rd because of trucks and trailers parked there. Only one dock, so in and out. Slows things down on busy days. No washrooms. People doing you know what in front of the hotel. No fish cleaning table. People cleaning the fish there anyways. The kicker is no one to maintain it. Someone will fall through the dock and break thier leg/drowns and then will sue Sooke. These are all things that can and will happen if they don't do something quick. Collect money from it and stop debating it. All they had to do is look at the Esquimalt ramp or the Sidney ramp. Both very good ramps that are easy to do and run. It's not rocket science to build or run a boat ramp unless you get government involved
 
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Wonder what cow bay does? There is a pretty sweet ramp with tons of parking and not much tax base....and it's free!
 
makes me appreciate what i get when i go up to prince rupert. one of the ramps I use is free parking, and a nice dock. other you have to pay for parking... (ticket meter that you can pay daily, weekly, etc...) and ramp is free. has decent washrooms also that are free. (pay for shower...) I always thought that a community would recover most if not all of it's expense and probably more through increased tourism (and the dollars it leaves behind) having the proper facilities... build it (properly) and they will come... $120.00 a year sounds a bit like a joke to me... I'd be suprised if many of those passes were sold. at least they have the $10.00 a launch... hope that $10.00 would cover launching and retrieval... don't really care for the two tiered system also.
 
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Sookies pay federal taxes too, so by this argument they paid twice as much and therefore should get a break. In any event the thing cost nearly 3mil so anything is better than letting it fall apart.
 
I can't believe they had a quote of $10,000 for a cleaning table. The gentleman at the meeting pointed out that the one at the government dock was built for $500 and the town of Sooke all ready has a bylaw officer to collect money from a ticket dispenser and ticket people that don't pay or single cars/trucks that park in the trailer parking. I think it should be a $10 fee for everyone. Sooke people I'm sure use the Sidney or Esquimalt ramps which I'm sure were paid for by tax payers money as well. SIRA I wish you luck on your application, but at the rate Sooke council is moving I don't see anything happening soon.
 
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Gear'n'beer! said:
Wonder what cow bay does? There is a pretty sweet ramp with tons of parking and not much tax base....and it's free!
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We up here in the valley pay for it and so do other facilities such as in my community Shawnigan Lake wharf. We don't *****. We all know money is generated from those ramps being there , and it goes into the local community through gas stations/restaurants/tackle etc. Everyone benefits. Sooke seems like it can't seem to grasp that concept. I can understand why residents are upset they were told it wouldn't cost anything and now everyone changed there mind...
 
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SpringVelocity said:
We up here in the valley pay for it and so do other facilities such as in my community Shawnigan Lake wharf. We don't *****. We all know money is generated from those ramps being there , and it goes into the local community through gas stations/restaurants/tackle etc. Everyone benefits. Sooke seems like it can't seem to grasp that concept. I can understand why residents are upset they were told it wouldn't cost anything and now everyone changed there mind...
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Exactly SV, one would think sooke could appreciate how many $ fishermen add to the community, but no, that doesn't seem to happen. I personally spend $ on fuel, bait, food in sooke and I'm really not even a drop in the bucket. Does sooke have any idea how much money is spent in sooke on fishing related activities??? It's ridiculous. I know I won't be paying $120
 
Good news for Jock's and SS. Not a fan of how this launch at Presitge has been dealt with so will be supporting these "vintage" launches this season.
 
I use this launch in the summer and have no choice to park on the street as my truck and trailer are too long for any of the spots..there are no washrooms no fish cleaning station and one ramp for in out..I don't mind paying for use of a launch but your offering nothing except a place to back my trailer down and put my boat in the water.
 
casper5280 said:
SIRA I wish you luck on your application, but at the rate Sooke council is moving I don't see anything happening soon.
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We lobbied council and they told staff to get on with it. We had one back room meeting already, and another is scheduled tomorrow. We expect the contract to go to council by the end of the month. If we get an executed contract, one thing that will happen is all of the comments on this thread will be rolled up and analyzed, and used to inform operations.

We don't, however, have any control over the fee schedule. That said, our funding formula is designed to minimize user fees, so whatever they come out with will be subject to review once real operational numbers are generated.
 
One thing I would not like to see is a boat wash down hose. As nice as it is to have it just slows things down on a busy ramp. Plus the cost of water and maintaining of it.
 
Wash down hose is old school. Why not sprayers in ground just like the automated car washes? Just drive through, sensors detect your truck and trailer and you just drive through slowly on your way out and it is rinsed without having to stop!
 
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