Bowen Bulletin

Cape Update

The Cape Roger Curtis (CRC) development people have unveiled their much anticipated proposal for how many houses they would like to build on their 630 acre parcel on the south-west corner of Bowen Island. In round figures they think that about 1,000 would work well. Considering their current zoning allows for no more than 58 you might think they are being a bit optimistic.

They proudly proclaimed that they had a proven water supply of 37.5 gallons per minute. That would take care of the first 147 houses but they don’t appear to have figured out how to supply water to the other 853 units. One assumes that they haven’t wasted too much time on this because they realize that the final build out isn’t going to exceed 250 units.
The 250 number represents the maximum number of units that could be considered under our Official Community Plan. The real debate centers around how much parkland they will ultimately dedicate and how many units over 58 they can squeeze out of council. The 1000 unit proposal was a poorly conceived and poorly executed attempt to move public perception towards the possibility of a high-density community at the Cape. What they accomplished was to remind us that we are dealing with developers who want nothing more than to maximize their return on investment. Looking out for the best interests of Bowen Island is not their job, it’s ours.

To figure out how many houses would be good at CRC we have to do a bit of an analysis. The first thing we have to look at is how many housing units we need to accommodate our projected growth. Currently we build about 30 new houses every year and our population increases by an average of 83 people. Our current inventory of lots and approved rezoning gives us enough lots to last for the next decade or two. When you add to that the number of residential units that will be approved for the surplus lands you realize that we don’t even have to consider developing CRC until at least 2030.

On the other side of this debate is the feeling that we have to get our act together and start creating some local employment. Every job created on Bowen and filled by somebody who lives on Bowen eliminates one commuter. Very few people complain about how many people live on Bowen until you start talking about ferry line-ups. We sit just below the population threshold where a number of retail and service businesses would be feasible. We need about six hundred more full time residents but we need about a hundred fewer commuters.

One small part of the CRC megaplan (and I quote) “provides integrated campus of care facility for increased medical services on island”. Their earlier conception plans included quite a large senior’s facility. If the CRC people can deliver medical care for senior citizens as part of a destination senior’s care home their proposal takes on an economic development aspect that may generate some local interest.

Simply put, we don’t need any more high-end low density residential developments right now but we could use a major employer that satisfies social needs and helps us to build the sustainable community we keep talking about.

Bowen Freight is shutting down 

First the local taxi closed down. Now the freight company is gone. With the loss of one more essential service our sustainability takes another hit. During the last few days I have been asked repeatedly if we are going to expand our Artisan Express services to pick up the slack. While we anticipate an increase in business within our limited range of services we will not be buying larger equipment or employing more people.

It’s counter intuitive to think that business people would not take an opportunity to expand their business, but the fact is that the ferry (both fares and waiting times) increases our costs to the point that we need to charge the rates found in an isolated community, but our proximity to Vancouver means that numerous companies are always trolling for any profitable jobs. So a local company has to compete with Vancouver prices even though their volume is comparable to that of a very small town.

There are three things that will rebalance our business environment. Our population will increase, we will create some affordable housing and we will begin to realize that we either have to support our local businesses or we will slowly lose them.