The Capital Regional District could try to improve safety around Thetis Lake through bylaw officers.

The parks committee had previously recommended no change to the policy of not stationing lifeguards at Thetis.

article continues below

But the CRD board decided Wednesday to kick the issue back to staff for a second look after an impassioned appeal by View Royal Mayor David Screech.

The majority of Thetis Lake Regional Park falls within View Royal boundaries, with a portion in Langford.

Some directors felt bylaw officers could help offer a solution.

“Honestly, we just feel like we’re being sloughed off,” said Screech, who noted his council objected to the removal of lifeguards in 2003 and has asked they be returned.

“This is a major regional lake facility that is getting busier every year,” he said.

There have been five drownings since 1999. This year, a girl was seriously injured and two other people nearly drowned.

Screech said it wasn’t good enough for the board to say “just deal with it, View Royal.”

“We’re members of the CRD,” he said. “We are your partners in the CRD. And we are saying we have a problem here and the status quo is not good enough. We want you to look at it.”

CRD staff said that since the use of lifeguards was discontinued at Thetis, there have been several serious water-related incidents, including two drownings in 2004, one in 2006 and one in 2013.

But it’s unlikely lifeguards would have made a difference, staff said, as incidents can happen outside guarded areas or when lifeguards are not on duty.

Several directors agreed that most of the problems at Thetis are related to people jumping into the water off cliffs far away from where lifeguards would be stationed.

CRD staff estimated the cost of providing lifeguards seven days a week the during summer season at $75,000 per beach — $68,000 for salaries and $7,000 for equipment and training.There is a main and secondary beach.

Screech argued other options hadn’t been examined.

“We didn’t ask for three lifeguards. I don’t know if that’s the answer. Maybe one lifeguard on the main beach is the answer. Maybe a mobile lifeguard in a watercraft of some sort is the answer. But there needs, in the busy summer months in that park, to be an official presence.”

Saanich Coun. Dean Murdock and Victoria Coun. Ben Isitt said they supported redeployment of lifeguards at Thetis.

Murdock pointed out Vancouver has lifeguards at 10 municipal beaches, “because they are popular destinations.”

Parks committee chairman Mike Hicks disagreed with posting a lifeguard at the beach, but supported the idea of an employee patrolling the area, watching for problems such as cliff jumpers or uncontrolled dogs.

Victoria Coun. Geoff Young said “the actual fact is people have to take the primary responsibility for their own safety and that means recognizing their abilities, learning to swim, not taking foolish risks.”

It might not be possible for the CRD to stop people from jumping off cliffs, Young said, but it is possible for the CRD to have bylaw officers confiscate liquor or call the RCMP if people are drinking and gathering on cliff tops.

However, Young said that having a lifeguard at the main beach might convey a message of safety that is not true.

CRD chairwoman Barb Desjardins noted that staff service plans had included additional bylaw enforcement for parks.

Parks manager Larisa Hutcheson said the plan had been to use bylaw enforcement for issues related to dogs and commercial dog walkers, but the position could be reframed to patrol lakes and address issues of lake safety during the summer.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com