Bowen Island Undercurrent February 15 2018

Page 1

THURSDAY FEB 15, 2018

VOL. 44, NO. 06

$1

including GST

Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

The Pub

Hondro digs for answers on opening of new building

Babysitters’ guide

Names and numbers of keen kids to help you out

Kindness shines through

A few of the smiling faces at the grades 5 -7 dance

Lot 1 land inches closer to light industrial

MARIA SPITALE-LEISK CONTRIBUTOR

Mike Shannon stands with his water taxi, The Bowen Guardian, docked in Snug Cove. Tracey Wait, photo

Bowen water taxi has nowhere to dock in Vancouver

MARTHA PERKINS CONTRIBUTOR

Michelle de Cordova works for a financial institution that believes in making socially and environmentally sustainable investments. She tries to walk the same walk when it comes to how she gets to work every day — only she does the commute by boat. As of this week, however, the former diplomat will no longer be able to get from Bowen Island to downtown Vancouver in 25 minutes on the Bowen Island Land and Sea Taxi. Last Friday afternoon, the Vancouver Park Board told the water taxi’s owner that its dock at Coal Harbour needs repairs. An engineer had said the Harbour Green dock is unsafe so, as of Shannon’s last run at six o’clock that night, he could no longer pick up and drop off

passengers there. That leaves about 35 daily commuters without a quick and convenient way to get to work every day. “It’s wrong what they’ve done,” says Murray Atherton, the chair of Tourism Bowen Island. “What Mike has done for the quality of life for commuters is phenomenal. (The park board) doesn’t understand the necessity of this — the quality of life you have when you can leave downtown and be on the island in 25 minutes.” The availability of the water taxi was one of the reasons de Cordova decided to move to Bowen Island a year ago. She has a five-minute walk to get to work from the Coal Harbour dock. Ironically, when she lived in Kitsilano, it would often take her much longer to get home from work because of traffic and construction. continued P3

“Lot 1” of Bowen’s community lands is one step closer to getting a light industrial overhaul. Currently zoned as rural residential, council on Tuesday night gave first reading to bylaw amendments to pave the way for development and divvy up into distinct areas the eight-hectare site, which spans the public works yard on Mt. Gardner Road. In November 2016, council directed staff to prepare amendments to Lot 1 to allow eight rooms for tourist accommodation on the north side of Guild Creek and up to 20 detached or attached primary living units at the southwest corner bounded by Carter Road. Proposed for the southeastern portion of Lot 1, meanwhile, is light industrial and artisan uses with secondary components such as retail and residential. Since 2016, Bowen Island Municipality has undergone a public consultation period on the proposed Lot 1 plans, including an open house. Some public feedback was received, along with recommendations from various BIM committees, before draft bylaws for Lot 1 were crafted in the fall. Area 1, which is slated for some light industrial use, elicited the most community feedback, according to BIM manager of planning and development, Daniel Martin. Staff presented council with a couple of options for allowing residential units to be melded with light industrial uses in this area, including either having the residential as an accessory or principal use. How to incorporate residential on the site drove most of the lively council discussion. Pleading for flexibility, Coun. Melanie Mason said she was stumped at why five acres would be allocated to one use “when we have such a need for diverse housing.” “… I’m not even sure where our BC Housing is going to be located on Lot 2 and how much,” said Mason. “To me that seems to be the priority and not light industrial. I’m not against light industrial I just don’t see where it fits in within our priorities when we

have people who are struggling to find affordable housing.” Coun. Maureen Nicholson countered by saying they are waiting for the provincial budget to be presented before having more fulsome affordable housing discussions related to Bowen. “At the point when BC Housing is able to say more, there will be more to talk about,” said Nicholson. Mason remained adamant, saying she wanted to have the discussion now, at which point Mayor Murray Skeels interjected. He said conversations have been had internally in regards to the community lands, with the highest priority given to affordable housing. Bowen has started a reserve fund, added Skeels, and identified a large area of land available with a sewer line to service it. Lot 1 is a “totally different” conversation “from our perspective,” said Skeels, adding Bowen has “far, far more land than we have money to build diverse housing.” Coun. Alison Morse made reference to Artisan Square, where there’s a building with four different commercial uses on the bottom and four different apartments on top, as a good model. Coun. Sue Ellen Fast said she is in favour of live-work units, where both spaces are occupied by the same person, as long as no one cheats the system. Creating a sub area within Area 1 to set the light industrial and residential apart was another option on the table, of which Skeels was very much opposed to. Adding residential, he said, defeats the purpose of having a light industrial zone and creates safety hazards for children and noise from trucks and other traffic. “And the beauty of this area is that it doesn’t infringe on any other residential areas,” added Skeels. In the end council voted in favour of allowing residential units as an accessory use above commercial spaces in Area 1. In Area 2, where the primary housing is proposed, council approved an increase in the maximum unit size to 1,500 square feet, with an average unit size of 1,200 square feet.

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