Boat club reno would protect against persistent flooding

Halifax Regional Municipality tested the waters on their redevelopment plans for St. Mary’s Boat Club at an open house Tuesday night. 

The proposed upgrades are meant to protect the facility against rising sea levels.

“The St. Mary’s Boat Club was built around 100 years ago,” said HRM project lead Ben Schulman. “At that point, sea level was in a much different situation than it is right now, much lower.”

St. Mary’s Boat Club sits on the shore of the city’s Northwest Arm and features docks, a playground and a lawn bowling club. The public can rent stand-up paddle boards and canoes for free, and the upper floor serves as a rentable reception hall.

The lower floor of the facility floods substantially three to six times a year, during storms and high tides.

Officials plan to elevate the structure to avoid flood risks. They also plan to improve the boat house’s accessibility, because it is only reachable via stairs. 

There are no conceptual sketches and no details are finalized.

Schulman said the colonial-style character of St. Mary’s Boat Club will not change significantly, because it is a designated heritage area.

Anya Waite, former scientific director and CEO of Dalhousie’s Ocean Frontier Institute, said she attended the open house because she cares about public access to the Northwest Arm.

“We’re a maritime nation, but so often the coastline is covered with fancy houses and private ownership, so having public spaces that can access our local waterways is really important for the people of Halifax,” she said in an interview. 

Waite is an award-winning oceanographer. She and her team at the Ocean Frontier Institute focus their research on public education about how the ocean controls climate change. 

She said large retaining walls along the shore of the Northwest Arm create a rebound effect when waves crash against them. 

“If you’ve got a narrow area like the Arm, waves go right across to the other side and hit your neighbour,” she said. 

Waite says she is concerned about buildings and homes that sit right on the coastline, like the boat club. She says sea levels will rise significantly over the next century.

“We should be much more cautious than we’re being,” she said. 

Martha Radice is the president of the Halifax Rowing Club, which operates out of the lower level of St. Mary’s Boat Club. 

“One of the reasons we’re so involved is that it’s very challenging to move rowing boats out of the club downstairs and up to the parking lot when we have regattas,” she says. 

“We’re very happy to be involved in the early stages of the planning process because our needs are very specific.” 

Radice says her club members end up having to clean up flooding, even though they rent from HRM. To prepare for a storm or high winds, the club moves all of the gear to a higher level to prevent damage. 

She said it’s a lot of work to prepare for and clean up flooding, and that boat club members must manoeuvre boats around corners and up and down stairs.

Schulmann said the city wants construction to start  within the next year.

The rowing club is now moving to a venue at the Atlantic School of Theology. Building a boathouse at this location will cost $50,000, Radice said. 

“You would not believe the number of volunteer hours that have gone into securing another location,” she said. 

“We haven’t had any support from the city or anything so we’re still funding this as best we can.” 

The club hopes to move back to the boat club after the renovations are complete.