ADVANTAGE
By Jill Sawyer Communications Manager Greater Victoria Harbour Authority
Conceptual renderings from the Ogden Point Master Plan courtesy of GVHA. It takes vision to see the future in an empty parking lot, but the vision for Ogden Point is just that: a re-imagining of a shoreline space that is mostly asphalt right now, but could become a vibrant commercial and community development, with the potential to be the largest economic revitalization project in decades for Victoria. For the past two and a half years, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) has been focused on this vision, building the Ogden Point Master Plan through multiple consultations with stakeholders and the public. The plan looks forward 30 years, through phases that build on each other and result in a cohesive waterfront community hub that mixes marine industrial, retail, commercial, hospitality, and events, centred on a renewed cruise ship terminal and a First Nations cultural space. Successful renewal of the Ogden Point site is critical to GVHA’s ongoing stewardship of all its harbour properties. As a not-for-profit, GVHA generates all revenue from licensing and fees, ranging from retail and hospitality businesses on the Inner Harbour and Fisherman’s Wharf, to passenger fees from cruise ships and transportation operators. Since GVHA was created in 2002 with a
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BUSINESSMATTERS | JULY 2017
divestiture of harbour lands and water lots from Transport Canada, it has invested more than $24 million in capital improvements in the harbour. The Ogden Point Master Plan builds on this. “Developing and improving capacity in Victoria is essential to maintaining British Columbia’s position as a key player in international cruise tourism,” says Ian Robertson, Greater Victoria Harbour Authority CEO. Cruise already brings an estimated $130 million annually to the region, per the 2016 Business Research and Economic Advisors study. As a first step, GVHA is looking to establish Victoria as a home port. Currently Canada’s busiest cruise ship port-of-call, with more than 240 ship calls planned for the 2017 cruise season (April through October), home port status would mean longer visitor stays and higher revenue for the city. Passengers would travel to Victoria, spend some time in local hotels, seeing the sights before beginning a cruise, and return to the city afterward. Home porting is estimated to bring $2 million to the region, per ship, per excursion, and will create an estimated 350 to 44 direct and indirect jobs.
Revenue from regular provisioning of home ported ships will also have a positive impact on the city as a whole. When Mayor Lisa Helps attended Seatrade, the international cruise industry trade show, in March with GVHA and the Victoria delegation, she commented on the potential boost for Island-made provisions that would come with home porting. It’s for this reason that the B.C. Chamber of Commerce policy resolution supporting the Ogden Point Master Plan has come at such a critical time. GVHA will seek federal infrastructure funding for redevelopment of the existing cruise terminal at Ogden Point, a cornerstone of the master plan, which will greatly enhance the region's prospects for home porting. With particular support from the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and the Nanaimo Chamber, the endorsement of the BC business community builds confidence in this project across the board. For Ogden Point, these steps will soon start to fall into place. GVHA has submitted the final draft of the master plan to the City of Victoria for planning input, one of the critical steps in the rezoning process for the section of the plan that reimagines the