Rarely, sitting down to write a column do I find that there is too much to write about. But I’ve just returned from holidays and find that there are a myriad of interesting things happening. This isn’t going to be a column per se but more a collection of random thoughts and a preview of things to come.
Tagged Cape Roger Curtis, CO2 Emissions, Ferry, green collar jobs, Island Life, Municipal Politics, National ParkAs we move along with the updating of our Official Community Plan (OCP) it is probably worthwhile to look back on how well the plan has served us to date and what we might to do to make it more usable in the future. The first thing that we have to acknowledge is that there were two very definite sides in the last debate. Continue reading ›
Tagged Housing, Municipal Politics, OCP, Snug Cove
Our Official Community Plan (OCP) update process is officially off and running. Looking over the existing plan, I realize that the world has changed a lot in the last 15 years but I wonder how many of the old assumptions that framed so much of the very earliest community plans will be accepted again without very much serious analysis. Many of the people who moved to Bowen Continue reading ›
Tagged CO2 Emissions, OCP
Crock of beans! Mule fritters! Monkey muffins! Buffalo bagels! Buffalo chips! Hot mustard! Hot sausage! Pony pucks! Beaver biscuits! Bull cookies! Pig feathers! Jumpin’ jompers! Suffern’ saddlesoap! Sufferin’ sheepdip! Great Caesar’s Ghost… Great Mother McCree… Hell bells! Busload of bushwah! Mule muffins! Road apples! Great balls of fire! Horse hockey! Pigeon pellets! Cow cookies! Great Caesar’s Salad! Horse hockey! Scuttlebug is as common as cooties in your skivvy!
What in the name of Sweet Fanny Adams… What in the name of Samuel Hill… What in the name of George Armstrong Custer… What in the name of Marco ‘BLESSED’ Polo… Where in the name of Carrie’s Corset… Holy hemostat!Jumping Jeosephat! What in the name of beelzibub is going on here!
Every summer, in the middle of July we are greeted with an announcement in the paper that water shortages are imminent and outdoor water use is to be sharply curtailed. On the face of it, one would assume that we are all on the same water system or all drawing our water from the same aquifer or that the potential shortage problems apply to at least most of the island. In truth, we have six major water systems with several smaller systems drawing from creeks, several small systems drawing from common wells, a number of properties drawing their water from creeks and shallow wells, numerous properties on individual deep wells that share small aquifers with their neighbours and a few homes that harvest rainwater. So the questions become; “Who do these water restrictions apply to and why are they really needed?” Continue reading ›
Tagged Municipal Hall, waterIn a world where more and more places are looking just like each other it’s nice to come home to Bowen and notice how distinctive our community looks. Looking from side to side as the ferry docks, Continue reading ›
Tagged Island Life, Municipal Hall, Snug CoveThe Cape Roger Curtis development saga has taken another bizarre twist. In 2004 the developers who had purchased the 630 acres at the south-western tip of Bowen Island applied for subdivision. Eventually their application was reviewed and the Approving Officer (AO) laid out a number of deficiencies, conditions and requirements. Subsequent to that rejection Continue reading ›
Tagged Cape Roger Curtis, Municipal HallLast week the Cape Roger Curtis (CRC) developers filed a subdivision application with the municipality. I haven’t seen it yet but I am very curious. As some of you may already know CRC is a 640-acre parcel of land on the southwest tip of Bowen. The developers who own it recently went to some lengths to have it considered for a very large comprehensive development. Since that proposal was turned down there has been some Continue reading ›
Tagged Cape Roger Curtis, Municipal Politics, Snug CoveMost communities fall into one of two camps. Either – we’re being overrun and need to enact policies that will curb undesirable development or – this town is dying, we need to attract some business. Bowen doesn’t really fit into either group. We’re considered in the wider world to be a suburb of metro Vancouver. Provincial and federal economic development initiatives deliberately exclude us and we’ve never had a very coherent strategy for attracting business so one could assume that we must be deliberately trying to discourage it. Continue reading ›
Tagged OCPOur Official Community Plan (OCP) update process is about to start. So I’ve been chatting with people who were involved in the process the last time around in 1992. Apparently things started off very well. Continue reading ›
Tagged OCP