Bowen Bulletin

I have an update for you on what’s happening with our community lands (formerly known as the Surplus Lands.) Council is moving forward with plans to sell off the piece of property on the east side of Miller Road just beyond the RCMP buildings. It’s just over 3 acres and actually wraps around behind the RCMP.  The proposed rezoning bylaw currently being perused calls for up to 62 apartments, 20 townhouses and 8,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. For about $2.5 million some developer is going to pick up the whole lot and be off and running. Of course there are some serious strings attached. 12 of the units will have to be “affordable” and managed or sold within some prescribed guidelines and 47 of the parking spaces will have to be under the apartment buildings. To quote the planner “When the land is ultimately marketed, the request for proposals will also include a series of development parameters that are not typically included within a zoning bylaw that will include municipal objectives, sustainable design guidelines, and affordable housing details.”

I have several conflicting emotions when I look at this proposal. I’m impressed with council for getting on with the job of selling some of the land to recoup the investment. Most of us are well aware of the need for lower cost accommodation and a project of this size may even give us more than can be quickly absorbed. The commercial space proposed is desperately needed and will be snapped up if the ultimate selling price is within reason.

Of course there is also a negative side to a project of this size sitting right next to a main road.  A huge percentage of the people who drive Miller Road daily are going to lament the transformation of their little country road into an urban street, lined with three floor walk-up apartment buildings. A project such as this marks a turning point for Bowen. This will be a straightforward townhouse/condo development with some ground level retail thrown in. Project managers with development companies will go over the details of the Municipality’s offering with a fine–toothed comb. They will look at their tried and proven formulas for making the deal profitable. The one with the cleverest idea to maximize the profit will offer the most money and get the land. In two years he’ll have moved on to the next job in Squamish or Kamloops and the company’s maintenance man will make monthly trips to Bowen to attend to warranty claims.

I doubt that many people realize how lucky we have been on Bowen to have developers who valued aesthetics over maximized profits. From the Union Steamship Marina to Village Square to Artisan Square there is a level of quality that you won’t find in most strip malls and small town apartment complexes. Bowen has managed to be so contrary to developers that only those with a deep personal commitment to this island have had the stamina to eventually move projects forward.

We are about to move into a whole new ballgame. If a single developer does this entire project it will end up at a value somewhere over $20 million. For some this will mark Bowen as coming of age, taking our place in the Metro Vancouver community. For others this will be the day that Bowen got eaten alive by urban sprawl.

Here-in lays the dilemma. We know that some of the community lands have to be sold. We know that we need quite a lot of reasonably priced housing not only for seniors and service industry employees but also for small families of modest means. We also know that we have to encourage local business growth. The largest business sector we have is construction. Yet this project is so large that the company that builds it will almost certainly be from off-island.

Possibly council should rethink their plan. Instead of one mega project, maybe they should consider dividing the property into 5 or 6 or 7 lots. All of the lots would be along Miller Road. Instead of one 3 acre mega complex we would end up with a number of much smaller projects that add up to the same amount of construction.

There would be advantages to this approach. For openers the lots would be affordable for local builders and more profitable for the Municipality (six lots at $500,000 would generate $500,000 more than one lot at $2.5 million.) The lots could be sold and the build-out phased to match the pace of construction with the requirements of the community and the buildings erected could be customized to suit the businesses and residents moving in.

It’s good that council has persevered for the last three years, slowly working through a pretty comprehensive process to decide on just which lands to sell and what to use them for. Now we need them to hang in there a little while longer and back away from the quick fix of a big developer writing a big cheque in favour another longer, slower process which will allow our small community to retain its innocence just a little while longer.