.jpg;w=120;h=120;mode=crop){kind=avatar}
Hikers hoping to hoof it up to Tunnel Bluffs or the west Lion in the fall sunshine will have to wait to access popular trailheads in Lions Bay.
In a split 3-2 vote, the Village of Lions Bay council decided Tuesday to keep municipal trailheads and parking areas closed for at least two more weeks. That’s despite recent rain and cooler temperatures that have dampened fire risk on the coast.
The decision to keep the trailheads closed is the latest in a series of decisions by the village council that have been characterized by some as standing up for the community in the face of wildfire risk and by others as NIMBY-ism determined to keep outsiders away from the village bordering Howe Sound.
The decision was a reprise of a council vote last week to keep trailheads closed despite comments from the village fire chief that there is currently no exceptional fire risk in the forest around Lions Bay and no particular risk posed by hikers.
Trailheads to several popular hikes, including Tunnel Bluffs, the west Lion, Centennial Trail, Brunswick Mountain and Mount Harvey start in Lions Bay.
According to the Ministry of Environment, BC Wildfire is responsible for closing areas due to wildfire risk - including Crown land and parks.The trailheads and parking areas, however, are on Lions Bay municipal land.
Lions Bay Mayor Ken Berry was one of two members of council who had supported re-opening the trails this week.
He called the decision “disappointing for a lot of people.”
“When you look at the other Metro Vancouver communities, no one else has closed their trailheads,” he said, adding the position of Lions Bay is “definitely an outlier.”
Berry and Coun. Michael Broughton said the village fire chief had already given his opinion that there was no reason to close the trails because of fire risk.
But three of the five councillors said there hadn’t been enough rain to warrant opening the trailheads.
“I think we've had .1 millimetres of rain in Squamish and zero in West Van, so I don't see anything has substantially changed,” said Coun. Marcus Reuter.
A number of outdoor advocates have criticized the decision to close the Lions Bay parking and trailheads on social media and online discussion groups.
One member of the public, David Shore, called out Reuter at this week’s meeting for describing hikers promoting ‘unrest’ about the trail closure as people who “couldn’t think their way out of paper bag.”
Reuter said his comments referred to “threatening and intimidating messages” including “calls for personal intimidation” that had been directed at councillors in favour of closing the trails in emails and on Reddit.
Lions Bay resident Pieter Dorsman, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said there’s been a lot of online debate about the closures over the weekend.
He said he thinks the issue has to do with wider political divisions in the community.
Berry pointed to council’s decision to move forward Tuesday with a plan to bring Fire Smart initiatives to Lions Bay under the direction of the fire chief as a positive step.
“It’s something that’s been lacking in the village for many, many years,” he said, adding plans to mitigate wildfire risk have existed for a number of years but have never been acted upon.
The trail closure decision will likely be reviewed again at the next regular council meeting Sept. 19.
