When I first heard that there might be a National Park on Bowen Island; I had some serious reservations. Visions of the crowded streets of Banff jumped into my head. But the more I think about it the more I like the idea. Here’s my thinking. Continue reading ›
Tagged National ParkNow that the OCP (Official Community Plan) Update has moved into the realm of things too boring to try to explain it’s time to look at the next $100,000 that we’re going to spend on consultant’s fees. The new project is supposed to be the “Snug Cove Village Implementation Plan” (SCVIP). It’s not only one of the things that the OCP Update requires the Municipality to do it’s also a perfect vehicle for ensuring that nothing ever gets done in Snug Cove. Continue reading ›
Tagged Ferry, Housing, Snug Cove, Surplus LandsOur OCP Update Committee has released a draft of our new Official Community Plan and in most respects I think that it captures our collective aspirations quite well. The committee working on the Plan spent a lot of time consulting with community groups about what should be included in the update and they included a great deal of that input in this first draft. Of course you can’t have a document written by a committee and containing hundreds of recommendations without it containing at least a few things that somebody like me would find worthy of comment. Continue reading ›
Tagged Municipal Politics, OCP, Snug CoveThis week’s column is a summary of a submission I made to the OCP Update Steering Committee
This letter hopes to challenge some of the basic assumptions surrounding OCP density, density trading and future zoning.
The first assumption is that our OCP is our vision, as a community, of where we wish to go. Continue reading ›
Tagged OCPWhile the “Burning at Eddie’s Pit” story is quite an interesting tale of a classic Catch 22 it has also brought to the forefront a whole series of discussions about waste management and CO2 reduction. Continue reading ›
Tagged CO2 Emissions, green collar jobs, Island Life, Municipal Politics, waste managementIf Bowen Island was a business we would be having some pretty serious meetings right now. The business climate is changing and we’re stuck with too much inventory. In last week’s real estate paper there were over 70 houses listed for sale. Continue reading ›
Tagged Housing, Island Life, Snug CoveSeparating issues from distractions is sometimes necessary, particularly when dealing with Bowen politics. This week I’m trying to sort out a few of them. Continue reading ›
Tagged Island Life, OCP, Snug Cove, Surplus Lands, water“Addicted to Development” is a phrase that may describe our current municipal condition. Between 2001 and 2010 our budget will have grown by at least twice as much as our taxes have increased. Our island municipality is spending about 8% more every year than it did the year before – but our property tax goes up by about 3.5 or 4% as regularly as clockwork. Continue reading ›
Tagged Municipal PoliticsLast Monday night Municipal Council considered a proposal, prepared by staff, which outlined how we could provide the $712,000 that our municipality will have to invest in the Snug Cove sewer upgrade. Of course council didn’t approve it. They deferred their decision until after more community consultation. But this time the good old deferral trick wasn’t as straight forward as usual. Continue reading ›
Tagged Municipal Politics, Snug Cove, Surplus LandsThe committee steering the Official community Plan (OCP) update has put out a number of background papers.
Paper #1 asks why we’re doing an update instead of a full review. It’s kind of funny. Continue reading ›
Tagged OCP