Shelter Bay boat ramp to get $2.4 million facelift

The Shelter Bay boat ramp will be expanded and revitalized for next summer to keep up with increasing demand, and to revitalize the aging launch area.

Currently it has just seven car parking spots accessed by a narrow roadway, and the area gets congested in the summer, particularly on long weekends.

The revite plan was presented by BC Hydro at an Aug. 17 open house in Revelstoke. The plan is to expand the existing road, add an additional 32 spaces, create a one-way clockwise traffic movement through the site and put in a new floating walkway.

“The improvement is to take out that existing gabion walkway that’s derelict now,” said project manager Paul Hoo, the contract engineer company Moffatt & Nichol.

The preliminary cost to the province, through BC Hydro, will be about $2.4 million. The work will be done in early 2016.

“We do construction during the winter and spring months when the water levels in the reservoir are low,” Hoo explained.

“We have a lot more access to the ramp to do the improvements, and we can use land-based equipment, otherwise we have to use more expensive, water-based equipment.”

The plan of the new Shelter Bay boat ramp. Photo: From BC Hydro plans.

The Shelter Bay boat launch is a popular destination for local and visiting fishers; the Shelter Bay/Galena Bay area has some of the better fishing in the Upper Arrow Lake.

At the meeting, we asked about upgrades to the boat ramp in Revelstoke’s Centennial Park. We heard there is no expectation it will be improved in the future, with discussions between the City of Revelstoke and the Comptroller of Water Rights (CWR) on that topic closing in 2012.

At the presentation, we learned the plans came to an end that year, and we were referred to the Columbia River Water Use Plan.

The 2012 Columbia River Water Use Plan for the Kinbasket & Arrow Reservoir states it was, “recognized boaters launching from the existing ramp at Centennial Park in Revelstoke face a number of hazards, including high currents when Revelstoke Dam is releasing large flows and hazardous low water conditions when Arrow Lakes Reservoir is low.”

It also states that, “In 2011 the Revelstoke City Council in a letter to the Comptroller of Water Rights indicated that the Centennial Park ramp was not recommended because of safety concerns associated with the ramp.

“In a responding letter to the Revelstoke City Council the Comptroller of Water Rights notified the city that due to the concerns raised … BC Hydro would not be ordered to proceed with the planned upgrades to the site. Subsequently, the Comptroller of Water Rights instructed BC Hydro not to proceed with the planned upgrades to the Centennial Park ramp.”