Open House: CRC, OCP, & OPA

JUDITH GEDYE

Bowen Island Municipality Councillor

My open house on February 4 had more neighbours than ever, including fellow councillor Tim Wake. Maybe it’s the tea and cookies. (I made sugar cookies and someone donated some extraordinary chocolate chip cookies), or chairs around card tables, or the tablecloth, or simply people wanting to talk, whatever, the atmosphere was friendly and the conversations were heartfelt and very interesting

The topics this month ranged from the creep of industrial activities in residential areas, the need for industrial zoning, our de facto industrial zone beside our fish hatchery in Crippen Park, what about community lands, the state of the public works yard as a contaminated site, wanting more information on the composting initiative, and updates on the proposed park at Cape Roger Curtis (CRC)

I commented about the limitations of the “public comment” time at council business meetings, and encouraged people to bring their concerns and ideas to the attention of council by letter or delegation. The Open House is like sending up a trial balloon but not a matter of record

CRC: Metro has published its “public engagement timeline” and February 3 it posted a “Chair Update” , with a one line mention that on February 10 “Engagement period begins for proposed new regional park on Bowen Island” There was no description of that launch, but in the past, if Davies Orchard is a precedent, Metro posted an online survey which was poorly advertised and replete with self-serving questions, so please pay attention

It is important to remember that Metro’s mandate, first and possibly only, is for “regional interests” and, in my opinion, it persistently fails at meaningful local engagement While it’s been a year since Metro started closed meeting discussions with Bowen council, four months since it first made public their park proposal for CRC, last week it delivered a 171 page rezoning application with an expectation it will have a decision by Fall, 2023 Our planners are reviewing that application for technical deficiencies, and to my knowledge, no one else has seen it As of this writing, it has not been provided to council

In addition, for the last month, there have been considerable efforts to find a date when Metro’s CAO & Park Manager can meet with Council on Bowen. Bowen Council wants the meeting to be open and on zoom, so, while the acoustics and microphones have not improved, there will be an attempt to have as much community involvement as we can accommodate It is unlikely there will be much information to share about the application, or if there is, that anyone will have had time to understand and consider it

There was an inspiring, to me, description of a vision of the future of CRC with a strictly limited and protected camping experience but I don’t have space or recollection to do it justice. There are some great ideas amongst us That’s the bare bones of our discussions, but it has sparked more ideas

First question: How much does it cost to rent the BICS gym? And while we are all curious, there is a real and pressing problem of capacity Bowen recognized this from the moment of Metro’s announcement just before the election.

We have a long list of problems that need time and attention (in addition to money) – water treatment, sewage outfall & lack of building permits for the Cove, Westside & Eaglecliff waters systems, failing culverts, the public works yard, the Community Centre, composting, an OCP review, BC Ferries cancellations and overloads, tourism impacts across the island PLUS pressing macro issues of climate change, housing and ultimately, the sustainable capacity of any Gulf Island.

And finances: there is a budget cycle that needs to happen now and we need considerable public involvement in that process – how can we live within our means and what is reasonable in terms of what “ our means ” means?

In my opinion, the first thing Metro must understand is how unrealistic its timeline is It’s not just planning time, it’s organizing significant community information-sharing and opportunity for all of us to work through the complexities of camping in that space. Plus, how do we ensure the effective engagement of other levels of government, including First Nations, and corporations (BC Ferries & Translink), all with their own capacity issues

And what if we decide we need to update our Official Community Plan (OCP) before we embark on such a large and long-lasting project? An OCP review can take two to four years, and it’s not without an expense of time and money. Such a review should have been done earlier, would have been impossible during the worst of the pandemic, and may still be difficult, nevertheless, such a process would be a very helpful locally determined foundation for such a massive proposal Metro has advertised and got headlines, that they plan to have camping on Bowen That alone is a problem with poorly prepared visitors poised to explore our sanctuary. And there has been no backing down or slowing down of their timeline.

What will that mean on the ground? Who can predict? Let’s ask OPA

(*Editor’s Note: You can find the Sugar Cookie recipe mentioned earlier on Page 7)

Peter Ryan grabbed a well timed shot of this Bull Orca s u r f a c i n g to expel air right in front of his boat in Snug Cove last summer.