PLASTIC PURGE: looking for a plastic-less future
$1
PAGE 8
inc. GST
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019
WRECKCONCILIATION
VOL. 45, NO. 16
BIUndercurrent
Highlights from latest Nature of Home talk
BowUndercurrent www.bowenislandundercurrent.com
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Lot 3 projects’ land changes BIRCH AND THE HEALTH CENTRE OFFERED SMALLER LOTS
BRONWYN BEAIRSTO
Editor
residents across Vancouver and the Lower Mainland currently enjoy,” said Shaw president Jay Mehr in a press release Monday. The cable passes through the island as part of its route from the mainland to Vancouver Island. Shaw says that islanders will now be able to upgrade their internet plans to access download speeds of up to 600 megabits per second and that current internet plans should see more consistent speeds.
A local housing project is on shaky ground following a decision from a municipal committee last week. Bowen Island Resilient Community Housing (BIRCH) and Bowen Island Health Centre Foundation recently learned the results of the Mayor’s Standing Committee on the Community Lands assessment of Lot 3. In meetings closed to the public, the committee recommended that the rental housing project, BIRCH, receive 0.11 hectares on the eastern edge of the land parcel, just under a quarter of the previously committed lands. The committee recommended that the health centre receive approximately half of its previously allotted land, 0.08 hectares. The two land parcels are adjacent to one another. While Mayor Gary Ander said that the Health Centre Foundation accepted the committee’s recommendation (the foundation declined to comment directly until after next week’s council meeting), BIRCH said in a letter to council that it is rejecting the offer. The non-profit said that due to a rocky outcrop on their allotted parcel and parking requirement of 10 spaces (possibly underground), the proposed project would be cost-prohibitive. Last November, council instructed staff to enter into an agreement to lease 0.48 hectares of Lot 3 to BIRCH. The non-profit’s conceptual plan mapped out approximately 40 rental units, built in phases, on the parcel. In February council “paused” the agreement to lease directive until after the steering committee came back with its findings. The standing committee is comprised of three community members, three council members, three staff liaisons and one consultant. Its mandate is to, among other things, develop “a high-level overview of the best uses of the Community Lands,” to assess marketability and to identify lands that should be held for future use. Lot 3 was its first priority.
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BRONWYN BEAIRSTO, PHOTO
Bowen Waste employee Andrew McKay stands on the back of the garbage truck beside Bowen Waste owner and operator Louise McIntosh. McIntosh says three times in one shift last week her workers feared for their safety while doing their jobs collecting the island’s garbage. Read the story on page 3.
Bowen’s Internet speeds up SHAW’S SUBMARINE FIBRE OPTIC CABLE IS LIVE AND ISLANDERS CAN SIGN UP FOR FASTER INTERNET
BRONWYN BEAIRSTO Editor
A different kind of blue wave hit Bowen Monday as Shaw representatives and trucks flooded the island to sign people up for their new and improved internet service. The communication company’s submarine fibre optic cable went
live earlier this year, and Shaw says it should give island Shaw internet subscribers service comparable to that they would receive on the mainland. “Our teams on Bowen Island have been working tirelessly over the last year-and-a-half to upgrade our broadband network, and today we’re excited to give residents access to the same fast and reliable internet speeds that
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