THURSDAY JAN 18, 2018 VOL. 44, NO. 03
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Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM
An update from the RCMP Crime statistics from 2017
Bowen Beat
The packed, but not overloaded Bowen Queen, p.7
Perspective
The size of the new fire hall, see p4.
Community Health Centre seeks location MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Meet the first Bowen baby of 2018, Wren Mary Blomberg born on January 4 at Lion’s Gate Hospital. Congratulations to her proud parents Carla Skuce and Lars Blomberg, and also to her big sister Lara Blomberg.
Meribeth Deen, photo
A year ago, it seemed like little could get in the way of plans to build a community health care centre on Bowen Island. DK Harris Properties had offered up a piece of land at the bottom of Cates Hill, with the plan to build housing on top of a firstfloor health services centre. In October 2016, Tim Rhodes, a member of the Community Health Services Society, told The Undercurrent that he expected rezoning for the property to be complete within nine months, and a community health centre to be up and running in 2018. This week, the Community Health Services Foundation confirmed that a new location was needed for the project. In October, council decided - narrowly - not bring the rezoning forward for public hearing. “If it had gone to a public hearing, council would have heard how supportive our community is about the idea of a healthcare centre, but I don’t think it would have changed the circumstances that led council and the developer to disagree about how to move forward on this,” says Rhodes. “In any case the site was not ideal, and I am optimistic that we’ll find something better for the community health centre.” Of course, this does set the construction time-line back. “I still am hopeful that we can get this done by late 2018,” says Rhodes. “There are a lot of factors at play.” Ninety-three percent of Bowen Islanders surveyed told the Community Health Services Foundation that if there was a clinic on Bowen Island, they would use it. The Foundation has already raised $750,000 in pledges towards the project.
Proposal aims to tackle affordable housing, quickly MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
In December, the high cost of construction led to the collapse of an offer to purchase the piece of community lands known as Lot 2 of Area 1, on the corner of Senior’s Lane and Bowen Trunk Road. A group of Bowen Islanders are hoping to present their vision for the lot to council in the coming weeks, and garner the support required to allow the project to move forward quickly. “We’ve met with several councillors and they love the idea, we’ve met with the planner, and he loves the idea,” says Tom Matzen, who has been working with Jae Mather and
Christopher Erikson. The plan is to build 22 units of housing, made up of one-bedroom apartments, a shared office space with highspeed internet for the whole community, and 12 short-term vacation rental units equipped with kitchens. “The best part is, it could be built within nine months of the building permit being granted,” says Matzen. “When we present an offer, we want to know that the plan is supported. We don’t want this to be a thing where we spend years working out the details.”
RIGHT: The vision for “Area 1.” Image provided by Erickson Associates