Once a centre for heavy industry, the harbour, especially in the portion between Johnson and Bay streets, still retains a strong working component at businesses such as Point Hope Shipyard, airlines like Harbour Air and West Coast Air, and fishing boats and barges head in and out. Those businesses operate in a balance with recreational users, such as kayakers.

These days the harbour is also watched over by thousands of residents, many in luxury condominiums built in the past 20 years.

"We want to make sure whatever is built there reflects the goals of the community -- everything from height, use, access to water, environmental impacts," said Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin.

"Council has always envisioned a wharf there -- a community wharf for people in kayaks and boats. The mega-yacht concept is much bigger and beyond the scale ever envisioned and really doesn't fit within the community plan," Fortin said.

When the Songhees land was rezoned in the 1980s, with Evans taking the development lead, a marina was included in that zoning. In the 1990s, Pacific National Investments, then headed by an Alberta businessman, applied to build three-storey buildings along with a marina. Community opposition exploded. Residents convinced council to downzone Pacific National's two water lots to allow only one-storey buildings.

A court challenge followed, ending in the Supreme Court of Canada with a ruling the developer be compensated for more than $1 million. In 2005, Evans returned with a new partner and applications for the latest design.

Opponents say the public process to evaluate the proposed marina has failed them. The city held a public hearing when the two water lots were rezoned as part of the Songhees plan in the 1980s. While provincial and federal governments have accepted public comments, they have not staged their own public meetings. Those who oppose the marina say the impact of the plan is too great not to hold meetings at which citizens can voice concerns, and the project should be examined on a holistic basis.

Community groups have held their own public meetings, which have attracted hundreds of residents frustrated with a system that requires approvals from three levels of government and a process that they say is not transparent.

Irene Faulkner, a lawyer representing the South Island Sea Kayaking Association, wrote to the federal government last fall calling for an independent review panel to hold public hearings into the marina proposal. Others, including Victoria MP Denise Savoie, made the same request.

Opponents question the scale of the marina, they dispute its financial impact and they decry the esthetic effect it will have on the harbour.

Victoria Coun. John Luton said it appears the original intent of the 1980s zoning was for a small marina for sailing ships and kayaks. But the developer said under the harbour's traffic plan, vessels more than 65 feet long have direct access to the north shore as a matter of safety.

Brian Henry, Ocean River Sports owner, said: "I just think it is going to change the whole feel of the harbour when we go out that way. It's like putting a parking lot for super-yachts right in our front yard. To me it seems inappropriate to our beautiful harbour."

Former Victoria mayor Peter Pollen agrees, calling the existing harbour "exquisite." He disagrees with the developer's prediction that money will pour into the economy. Most of the time, the yachts would be empty and when owners do show up, they will sail away, he says.

"A mega-yacht marina is neither necessary nor will it be a financial bonanza for anyone but the developer," he wrote in an opinion article in the Times Colonist.

Paddlers are concerned their safety would be compromised by the project.

Gary Allen, president of the South Island Sea Kayaking Association, said he would rather see a smaller marina. He's not happy with the paddling pathway, which would have a minimum 1.5 metres of headroom at high tide below the ramps and buildings. "It still makes for a very narrow passageway."

Doug Linton of the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club echoes Allen's worries. He goes out in a 45-foot outrigger canoe with six people on board, often in the evenings with a running light for visibility. "Outrigger canoes ... are not what you call manoeuvrable. ... They are quite prone to yawing."

Henry is wary about the size of the opening or what it might mean for beginner kayakers. "I don't know how safe that would be if someone capsized in there."

The developer counters that the pathway was designed using Transport Canada criteria and protects paddlers from wind and waves. While the minimum width of the paddling route would be eight metres, that would only be under the buildings. The remainder of the pathway would be closer to 15 to 20 metres, Evans said.

When paddlers approach the buildings, they would be able to see each other from either end, he said.

He also questions the idea of taking inexperienced paddlers out. "If they can't handle that, they should not be out in the harbour."

Evans' position is backed up by Transport Canada, which is responsible for water and air operations in the harbour. Transport Canada examined the marina proposal and reported it is "not likely to compromise aviation safety," a department spokesperson said. Additional boats from the marina can be handled within the harbour's traffic scheme, although it would have to be altered to give them access to the marina.

Van Isle Marina president Mark Dickinson of Sidney does not see safety as an issue, saying the larger boats move at about one knot or so. "These boats are operated by paid professionals. They're not just some guy out there for a lark on a weekend.

"Going into the Victoria Inner Harbour would be a snap for them," he said.

But for Brian Hobbis, Victoria Harbour Ferry's director of operations, safety is a concern, especially if visiting boaters unknowingly cut across floatplane lanes.

"To me, you can't escape the logistics of choking off what is already a very packed piece of water and expect that you are not going to have some repercussions."

Every day in tourist season, 14 of the 20-foot ferries chug through the harbour, accounting for half of its traffic, he said. "We do thousands of movements every day."

Some residents also fear the proposed marina will alter the sights and sounds of the harbour. Views will be lost from land and water, and the familiar sight of birds and seals will be replaced by rows of big boats, they say -- not to mention the potential for greater noise.

Outrigger paddler Linton said: "You go out there on a calm night and you've got moonlight across the water and you can see all the way to Port Angeles. You are paddling through this absolutely sparkling environment."

The developers say the marina buildings are only one storey high and would affect a portion of the view only for nearby first-floor condominiums, and that the Royal Quays condominium buildings were designed to give residents views around the marina.

"They are not losing views. We are improving their views," Evans said. "They get to see beautiful yachts."

Linton is among critics who say the planned marina site is too exposed to the elements and unsuited for a marina. "That's one of the gnarliest places in the harbour." However, Dickinson, who recently returned from the West Indies, doesn't see weather as a concern. "Those boats survive in swells and winds down there you are never going to get in Victoria."

Other issues include emissions from vessels, potential debris in the harbour and the impact of dredging on the environment.

Victoria MP Denise Savoie has asked for a federal investigation into allegations of political insider lobbying over the marina. Evans replied that lobbying is not illegal and that all parties have been doing it.

It's hard to tell when or if the proposed marina will go ahead. Every level of government has a say over whether the marina gets built. The city has told the province of its concerns with the project and asserting its riparian (land bordering on a natural body of water) rights at Lime Bay Park. "We are prepared to defend those and we have done so by communicating with the province," Coun. Luton said Friday.

"If we don't like what they say, then we'll ask our lawyers, 'Do we have grounds to dispute this, that, or another element of what they're saying about what is or is not our riparian interest here?' "

Luton favours a smaller-scale marina, but not this design. "I don't think it fits our planning vision for the harbour, and for our waterfront walkway and our park space there ... This is just way oversized for Victoria's harbour. It is just so constrained and so narrow and so busy."

Meanwhile, the developer, marina opponents -- and everyone else -- are on hold.