Our new council has hit the ground running. At their first meeting Nerys Poole presented a notice of motion that would instruct staff to inform the Cape Roger Curtis (CRC) Development people that their Neighbourhood Plan will not be incorporated into our Official Community Plan. (It is, of course, much longer winded than that but that is the message that the developers took from it). Council is scheduled to vote on the motion at a special meeting of the Committee of the Whole to be held on December 18 at 2:00 pm so it has probably been passed or defeated by the time you read this.
Cape Roger Curtis is a 618-acre parcel on the southwest tip of Bowen. It is zoned for subdivision into 58 lots. Our Official Community Plan (OCP) allows for the possibility of it ultimately being divided into about 225 lots. There is currently a proposed bylaw amendment, which would allow for a comprehensive development that would create the equivalent of about 760 housing units. The proposal was an election issue and the new council has three new members who want to stop this process dead in its tracks.
Last Friday a director of CRC wrote a letter to mayor and council in which he wished (and I quote) “to reiterate that if in fact this council determines that they no longer wish to carry on with this process and the plan that is submitted, we will withdraw the plan. If that happens, we will have no choice but to regretfully revert to the simple 58-lot subdivision plan.” I mentioned this to several people and was quite surprised with the response which was basically “Good, this process has gone crazy. It would have been nice to do something more creative than 58 lots but they just want too much.”
I spoke to a couple of councillors to get a feeling for whether or not the motion would pass and every indication is that it will. But different councillors have very different reasons. One perspective is that if a development of this size went in next door to an ecological reserve it would be more damaging than spreading 58 houses over the entire 618 acres. Another was that there was no point in planning another village when we haven’t yet put any effort into improving Snug Cove. Still another perspective is that council has allowed itself to be drawn into a process that they can’t win. As long as the developer believes that council wants the amenities the price will be very high. Only by standing up and declaring that they would rather have 58 lots than the grand scheme can they regain a credible negotiating position.
Before I move on there are two other little twists that add suspense to this melodrama. The first is that the vote council took today is not actually binding. Today council meets as “the Committee of the Whole” but their votes only count at municipal council meetings. The next council meeting isn’t until January 12, 2009. So this vote serves notice on the CRC people that their proposal isn’t flying but it gives CRC plenty of time to make concessions that could entice council to reverse their position and let the process run its course. The other twist is that Mark Sager, former mayor of West Vancouver and point man for the developer appears to be out of the picture. The question now is, “who will become the developer’s new head negotiator?”
I know, on one hand, this entire issue is so important to our island that we really want to have some impact on the decision making. But, on the other it is so much fun following the moves and counter-moves that it is like watching a chess game or poker showdown. Or more accurately, it’s like watching two players who are constantly switching from chess to poker.
On a more whimsical note, the Cape Roger Curtis Neighbourhood Plan dated September 2008 has great potential for becoming a great local family game. To download your very own copy simply go to www.caperogercurtis.com. Then click on resources and then neighbourhood plan. Print out the entire game book and take the whole family for a walk on Boxing Day. The book is packed with fantastic detailed maps that show everything from streams and elevations to the locations of ancient trees. It goes on to show where all of the proposed buildings were going to go. See who can be first to stand in the four storey 80 room hotel or the 150,000 sq. ft. retirement campus or the new elementary school. Just one word of caution, some of the pretty pictures don’t quite mesh with reality. If you try to take the waterfront walk from Arbutus Point to Pebbly Beach don’t fall into the ravine.
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