Denman East Terminal Upgrade

May 6 - 10

We have consulted an arborist as part of our efforts to care for the trees impacted by the work at Denman East terminal. Following their recommendations, we will apply organic fertilizer to help promote vitality and enhance the trees’ resistance to stress and disease. An arborist will be on site to care for the trees the week of May 6.

Summer 2023 Service Enhancements Survey

April 22 - May 10, 2024

In May 2023, our teams travelled to Denman and Hornby Island to hear your input on summer service enhancements and the Denman East Terminal Upgrade. We've received many positive comments from staff and passengers on the service improvements. Now, we are looking for your feedback on how these changes impacted your travel experience.

Service enhancements included:

• Two-ship service between Buckley Bay and Denman West, adding an additional 21 standard vehicle spaces per sailing during the peak season
• Doubling the capacity between Denman East and Shingle Spit by replacing the Kahloke with the Quinitsa, adding 23 additional standard-sized vehicle spaces per sailing from May 18, 2023 - January 19, 2024
• Adjusting the vessel shuttling policy to reduce congestion at terminals
• Updating digital boards at terminals, onboard announcements, and website travel tips to encourage travellers to respect the legal speed limit
• Increasing the number of terminal staff to help with marshalling and ticketing

Please provide your feedback in the online survey here. A printable version of the survey can be found here and dropped off at Buckley Bay terminal before May 8, 2024.

As an essential public service, it is our job to keep people moving safely and reliably. We review our capital plan regularly to ensure it’s helping us achieve those goals. Inevitably, that means some tough decisions as we must work within our budget.

During this year’s annual review, we prioritized two main aspects of our capital investment plan:

1. The work required to ensure the maintenance and continued reliability of our infrastructure
2. The delivery of vessels to replace our aging fleet and meet the growing capacity demands of the communities we serve, and the replacement of berths required to support new vessel introductions.

As a result, we have had to defer or adjust the scope of some of our previously planned projects to work within available funds. For more on project impacts for Denman Island and Hornby Island, please read on.

Although some adjustments have been made, our plans continue to include $356 million in capital investments this year, and approximately $2.2 billion over the next four years (Performance Term Six). We also plan to pursue additional funding opportunities that would allow us to re-evaluate capital expenditures before the end of the next performance term (March 31, 2028). We will keep you updated as we continue to re-evaluate.

What does this mean for Denman East and Shingle Spit terminals?

As we note above, we have prioritized the work required to ensure the maintenance and continued reliability of our infrastructure for Denman and Hornby Island residents. As a result, the terminal upgrades planned for both Denman East and Shingle Spit have been deferred for the foreseeable future.

We’ve heard from the community the importance of safe vehicle travel across the islands. For that reason we will continue to stay connected with our partners including Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Islands Trust, and other stakeholders to work on operational improvements for vehicle staging, traffic control and communication.

In addition, the intention is to provide year-round increases in service beginning in 2026, once a vessel is available to be deployed full-time to route 22 (Denman East – Hornby Island). In the interim, we will continue to provide increased peak-season service as we did last summer; utilizing the Kahloke alongside the Baynes sound connector on route 21 (Buckley Bay – Denman West), and positioning the Quinitsa on route 22. These adjustments showed considerable improvements in service and decreased wait times last summer. We remain interested in the community’s feedback on changes to summer service and will provide an online survey in the coming weeks.

At Shingle Spit terminal, we continue to work with K’omoks and Qualicum First Nations on remediation measures for the archeological site. We will continue to keep the community updated as these efforts progress. In addition to this remediation work, we are aware of the hatching on the trees surrounding the Denman East terminal and have contacted an arborist to explore means to ensure that the ecosystem remains healthy.

We thank you for your understanding as we make the challenging decisions required to ensure the maintenance and continued reliability of our infrastructure. We will reconnect as plans for these terminals evolve should funding become available.

The engagement summary report is now available for the Denman and Hornby engagement sessions held in late May.

• View the report HERE.
• View verbatim comments from the online survey HERE.

Once we are able to resume in-person engagements, we'll be back out to the Denman and Hornby Island communities to continue our discussions on both the Denman East terminal upgrades and the evaluation of this summer's increased service. Stay tuned to this page for more details.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our engagement sessions and online over the past several weeks. We heard from:

• 170 people at our round table conversations on Denman Island
• 90 people at our round table conversations on Hornby Island
• 399 people through our online engagement

Our online engagement is now closed and our third-party facilitators are busy compiling all the feedback we’ve received into a comprehensive report. You can expect to see it in a few weeks’ time.

The team has already started to review the feedback, and while we explore longer-term changes, we’re working on some immediate changes in response to what we’ve heard, including:

Supporting safe travel on Denman

In the coming weeks, you will begin to see messaging on our digital signs at the Buckley Bay and Hornby Island terminals, in BC Ferries’ social media feeds, and in the travel tips and advisories we issue for routes 21 and 22 asking all our customers to please drive safely and respectfully while on Denman Island. This is just one way BC Ferries can support safe travel on Denman, and we are exploring other opportunities to work with partners and stakeholders in the longer term.

Getting ready for the busy summer season

We clearly heard about the challenges of peak summer season for Denman and Hornby travellers. Here’s what we’re doing this season:

• We have enhanced sailing schedules with two-ship service on Route 21 Monday-Friday, and have placed the Quinitsa on Route 22. During the round-table conversations you asked us look at the Monday to Friday schedule for two-ship service, more on that below.
  
  
• We have doubled the support staff available at terminals this summer season to improve traffic management. We need to ensure our staff are safe and in compliance with WorkSafe BC regulations, so traffic control off of BC Ferries’ property will occur only during daylight hours and from the shoulder of the road/passenger side of the vehicle as much as possible.
  
  
• We will not shuttle between Hornby and Denman when there is only one ship sailing between Denman and Buckley Bay. This is to help prevent major back-ups at the Denman West terminal.
  
  

Planning our next conversations with you

Denman East terminal project. We will be back later this year to discuss options for the Denman East terminal design. We will look at these options together and discuss the benefits and tradeoffs involved with different terminal layouts, including how designs will impact the environment and terminal safety. You can expect to hear more detail about these sessions later this summer.

Hornby Island terminal project. We are looking ahead to upgrades at the Hornby Island terminal and would like to walk the site with community members as a starting point for this work. We will be using the Terminal Development Plan that was created for the Hornby Island terminal as an initial guide, however we need to better understand how these plans fit with current community needs. The site visits at the terminal will bring us together to discuss plans and how to adjust them to mitigate impacts and preserve community character in the work we do. You can expect to hear more about this work in the fall.

Answering your top-of-mind questions

Once again, we thank everyone who has taken the time to participate. The changes above are initial steps, and there is more work to be done. We look forward to being back out with the Denman and Hornby Island communities this fall to continue our conversations.

Update July 7, 2023:

An information board including a diagram of the work is now available in the documents library on the left hand side of the page or by clicking below. This information board will be posted at the Denman East Terminal.

Denman East Shore Stabilization Information

We wanted to let the community know of a remediation project they will see happening at the Denman East terminal in the coming weeks. This work is unrelated to the terminal upgrades and will not involve the removal of trees at any point.

We need to remediate 70 metres of shoreline at the terminal to keep our structures safe. Work is expected to begin mid-August and continue through to mid-September. You’ll see big rocks (called rip rap) being placed along the west side of the terminal. Work is focused only on our current shoreline structure.

There will not be any operational impact or any changes to traffic patterns while our contractor works. Work will be completed during the day and in accordance with the regulations and bylaws of the Islands Trust and Comox Valley Regional District. The use of equipment means there will be some additional noise during the day, and we will do everything we can to minimize impact to our nearby neighbours.

If you have any questions about the project, please email us at engagement@bcferries.com.

Thank you to everyone who attended our round table conversations on May 26 and 27^th.

Eighteen BC Ferries staff and two professional facilitators were joined by 170 people on Denman Island and 90 people on Hornby Island to have open dialogue on the Denman East terminal project, summer schedules, and other topics of importance to the community.

Participate online

We continue to listen through our online engagement, which is open until June 16^th for those who were not able to attend the sessions, or those who wish to contribute additional feedback. Share your thoughts here: https://www.bcferriesprojects.ca/denman-east-terminal/survey_tools/denman-hornby-feedback

What we heard

We are grateful for the input we received. A detailed ‘what we heard report’ will be coming, but some of the key themes we heard were:

From Denman Island:

• The impact of Hornby Island-bound traffic on safety and quality of life for Denman Island residents, e.g. speeding, road safety, environmental impact
• The desire for a direct Buckley Bay – Hornby Island route
• The importance of taking a full-system view, including the potential to make changes at Buckley Bay to mitigate the traffic concerns created by Hornby-bound traffic, e.g. allowing only one Hornby Island sailing of traffic onto Denman Island at a time
• The desire to retain as many trees as possible and the rural feel of the Denman East terminal
• The desire to be re-engaged on plans for the Denman East terminal

From Hornby Island:

• The importance of travel certainty for residents, and the desire for priority for medical travel and school children
• The desire for Hornby residents to have equal shared deck space with Denman residents on the sailings between Denman Island and Buckley Bay
• The desire to proceed with the Denman East terminal project
• Requests for clarity on operational procedures, e.g. loading/unloading procedures, livestock policies etc.
• Requests to reassess the Monday-Friday two-ship schedule from Buckley Bay – Denman Island, and realign sailings to include weekends

Our next steps

Using the feedback we heard through our sessions and online, we will prepare a ‘what we heard’ report for publication to communities this summer.

Our teams are already busy discussing how we can respond to what we heard. We will be back to the communities later this summer/early fall with our next steps. This will include an update on our plans for further engagement on the Denman East terminal project for both Denman and Hornby Island communities.

Once again, thank you to everyone who attended the sessions. And thank you for hosting us in your community halls. We greatly appreciate the use of these amazing community spaces and we look forward to continuing our work with you in the near future.

The review of the Baynes Sound Connector is now available in its entirety. View it here.

Report Summary

Our four-year plan submitted to the BC Ferry Commissioner on September 30, 2022 included a proposed expansion and repowering of the Baynes Sound Connected in 2026. The bigger ship was proposed to move additional traffic and better support a higher capacity vessel on Route 22, the connection between Denman and Hornby Islands.

Since submitting the report, we have completed a review of vessel operations to date and assessed alternative ways to accommodate future demand. The review considered multiple options including replacing the Baynes Sound Connector with a conventional ferry.

Upon review, it was decided to accelerate upgrades to the vessel machinery and hull coatings while deferring the proposed expansion of the vessel. Instead, we will be deploying the Kahloke alongside the Baynes Sound Connector this summer and bringing the Quinitsa into service on Route 22.

Starting June 22, the Kahloke and Baynes Sound Connector will operate together Monday to Friday on Route 21. This service is scheduled through to September 4. In addition, the Quinitsa, which began service earlier this week between Denman and Hornby Islands, will continue on the route into December.

This fall we’ll review how the summer went and collect feedback from customers and crew to inform a final decision on the proposed expansion of the Baynes Sound Connector.

In the link above, and in the sidebar on this page, you will find the report comparing the options that supported our decision. This report has been shared with the BC Ferry Commissioner, the BC Ferry Authority, and our operations board.

We are hosting two large community events next week (May 26^th and 27^th) to discuss medium-term plans for the Baynes Sound Connector, evaluation criteria for summer service and safety-related upgrades at the Denman East terminal. You can learn more about the sessions here.

Session Format

For these sessions, BC Ferries is working with third-party facilitators from Spur Communication who help organizations and communities hold meaningful conversations on challenging topics.

These events will be facilitated circle discussions allowing you to sit in face-to-face conversation with fellow community members and BC Ferries staff. Drop in and join in the discussions most relevant to you. Agendas for each session are noted above.

There will be three consecutive circle discussions, each focused on a different topic of conversation:

• The Denman East terminal upgrade project and mitigating environmental impacts of the project
• Evaluating enhanced summer schedules for Routes 21 and 22, and vessel plans for both routes
• Other topics the community would like to discuss

Conversations will be hosted by two facilitators and relevant BC Ferries experts. We value respectful dialogue and participation, and will be actively creating a space in which all voices can be heard. We look forward to meeting with you.

Send us your questions ahead of time

Let us know what questions you’d like answers to by leaving a note on our virtual ideas board.

Click here to visit the virtual ideas board and add your questions

To learn more about the project, visit the documents library on the right hand side of the page.

Meet our facilitators

Spur Communication is a strategic communication consultancy. Since 2015, we have helped partners build better conversations. We specialize in communication planning and implementation, as well as the design, execution and evaluation of engagement programs. Our services include facilitation, public and stakeholder engagement, communication strategy and crisis communication.

We have a breadth of experience helping our clients engage meaningfully through constructive dialogue. Our clients include Capital Regional District, BC Hydro, the Government of BC, Transportation Investment Corp., the City of North Vancouver, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and a wide range of non-profit organizations providing integral community supports.

Spur operates on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples.

On January 18, 2023 we advised the community of the next steps for the Denman East terminal upgrade, a project that was originally scheduled to begin shortly after the 2017/18 community engagements but was delayed by the pandemic.

After listening to the communities concerns this past week, we understand and acknowledge that the community feels the engagement work done at that time, no longer reflects the community as a whole, and residents are clearly divided on the project.

As a result of this feedback, we have made the decision to not proceed with the Denman East terminal expansion project at this time, and to plan further reengagement with the community later this year as part of our regular FAC and community engagement schedule.

We recognize safety concerns at the terminal, as well as on the residential road approach to the terminal, were identified as top priorities by those who responded and as we are unable to address these concerns given the project’s delays, due care and attention by motorists and pedestrians is imperative.

We will continue to update the community on next steps and engagement opportunities for this project.

Please continue to visit here for further updates.