A second crack at determining whether White Rock’s landmark pier sets a national record was stopped at the gate Monday, when council voted against a motion by Coun. David Chesney to investigate if the pier is the longest wooden structure of its kind.
The city had earlier determined that it wasn’t Canada’s longest pier, after Chesney had brought forward the motion in January without specifying “wooden.”
In discussing the new motion, Mayor Wayne Baldwin asked city staff how much time had been spent investigating the original request, which Chesney told council at that time that the distinction could be another tourism draw for the city.
Prior to the vote, Chesney was optimistic that narrowing the search terms would prove more successful.
“Hopefully this time, by being more specific… we can finally dedicate the 100-year-old gal down on the beach to the rightful honour she deserves,” he said.
City manager Dan Bottrill said it took staff about a day-and-a-half to rule White Rock’s landmark out of the running for the title following the earlier motion. At least one other pier, in Quebec’s Marine de Portneuf, out-stretched White Rock’s, he said.
“We didn’t confirm (Quebec’s) was the longest pier, we just confirmed it was longer,” Bottrill said.
Baldwin and Couns. Bill Lawrence, Grant Meyer and Lynne Sinclair voted against directing staff to invest more time to the matter. (Baldwin and Lawrence had supported Chesney’s earlier motion.)
Following the vote, Baldwin noted Chesney did not have to simply let his quest go.
“Coun. Chesney, nothing to stop you from doing a quick research on that,” he said.
“You could check it out… and if you want to put forward a motion that says this is the pier, we’ll take a look at that.”