July 30, 2009
There have been numerous statements over the past few months suggesting that the owners of CRC have the “legal right” to a 58-lot subdivision at Cape Roger Curtis. None of these statements can be attributed to a person with knowledge of municipal law, and appear to be simply a strategy to gain support for the CRC development. We now have a legal opinion on the matter.
Legal Opinion on CRC Subdivision Application (PDF)
Through a coalition of two Bowen organizations, the Bowen Island Eco-Alliance and the CRC Trust Society, a group of concerned citizens has come together to seek legal information about the subdivision process, specifically as it relates to CRC and the subdivision application that has been submitted by its owners. We have, through our own internal resources, retained the services of Don Lidstone, Q.C. who is considered by many to be one of the preeminent municipal lawyers in BC. (His biography is available online.) Mr. Lidstone has created a review of the subdivision application, which you can download as a PDF.
Mr. Lidstone’s review leads to some significant conclusions:
1. There are good grounds for the rejection of the most recent subdivision application relating to the CRC lands, arising from the application itself and from the applicable law.
2. If the approving officer does not reject the application, then opponents of this particular application would have good grounds on which to challenge his decision in court.
We think it is important for accurate legal information to be publicly available and we are are hoping that you will agree. We would appreciate it if you could draw other people’s attention to this as soon as possible.
As most people on Bowen already know, the CRC Trust Society has worked tirelessly for over 5 years to preserve and protect the lands of Cape Roger Curtis as stated in the mandate of the Islands Trust. The Trust Society is a group of people who would have preferred that the whole Cape be preserved as a park. In reality, this now appears not to be a possibility.
There are people on the island who think that the Trust Society would sacrifice anything to have part of this land preserved as a park. There are others who believe that the Trust Society is putting in jeopardy the possibility of any parkland at the Cape by taking a stand against the proposed “CRC Neighbourhood Plan”. To all those who hold either of these views I would say the following:
A park at Cape Roger Curtis would be a wonderful gift for those of us living on this island and an important legacy for future generations but we are not willing to sacrifice the quality of life of the rest of Bowen to preserve a small portion of the south west corner of this beautiful, rural municipality. As much as we care about the Cape lands, value the ecological uniqueness of it and recognize that compromise may be necessary, we also have a responsibility to consider the well-being of the island as a whole. We are not willing to put our interest in the preservation of Cape Roger Curtis ahead of our concern for the rest of Bowen Island and the diversity that it represents: its seniors; its low income residents; its business people; its commuters. It is for all these reasons that every member of the Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society Board has endorsed the “100 for Bowen ad.”
Ellen Coburn, on behalf of the Directors of the Trust Society
Letter to Bowen Island Municipality, Attention: Michael Rosen, 81 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island BC V0N 1G0 dated February 11, 2009
Re: Cape Roger Curtis - Neighbourhood Plan - September 2008
The Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society has been asked to comment on the development options for the 631-acre Cape Roger Curtis Lands (“CRC”) entitled Neighbourhood Plan (“NP”), dated September, 2008.
CAVEAT: The Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society has always worked in the hope of preserving all the CRC Lands from development in the belief that this is a unique, regionally significant coastal/marine area and that not preserving it as a park will have serious consequences for future generations on Bowen Island, and that its loss to development of any kind seriously compromises the “preserve and protect” mandate of this island.
Our overall goal continues to be to preserve as much of the CRC Lands in their current wild state as is possible. In recognizing the determination of the current owners to put housing onto the CRC Lands, we continue to argue for preserving as much of the property in its wild state as is possible. At a minimum, we look to retain 50% of the land as wild, contiguous, marine-based forest; this would most likely be in the form of a park and/or eco reserve.
We consider that many of our ecological concerns and recommendations, put forward in our last referral response to council dated January 29, 2008, have still not been adequately addressed, leading us to repeat many of the same concerns that we expressed at that time.
by Eric Sherlock - March 7, 2008 — Bowen Island Undercurrent
Nowhere is there a greater need for a broad new community consensus than with the twin challenges facing Snug Cove village and Cape Roger Curtis.
Just over 10 years ago, I was elected as a trustee on Bowen Island as part of local government under the Islands Trust. We received a clear mandate from voters to implement the Island’s newly created Official Community Plan (OCP) and during that term, I was also part of overseeing Bowen’s transition to becoming the province’s only municipality within the Islands Trust.
The Island’s OCP has been modified since that time, most recently in 2005, to lay out a new Snug Cove Village Plan (SCVP). That new vision for Snug Cove resolved a desire to densify the Cove, while at the same time to retain the planned island-wide limit on number of dwelling units that is prescribed in the larger OCP. A density transfer mechanism that rewards developers who shift building rights from the rest of the island into the Cove was central to that resolution. The SCVP envisions townhouses and row housing, including extensive non-market housing, all with ground-level entry.
But the current municipal council seems to be preparing to rip up that plan, and to replace it with some version of their own, favoured Snug Cove Master Plan (SCMP), prepared by a consultant. This new proposal has some valuable aspects, but the plan’s call to construct four-storey apartment blocks, no doubt requiring elevators and special aerial-lift fire fighting equipment, directly attacks a long-held consensus about community character that has guided Bowen’s development for over a generation. Most seriously, the new proposal ignores the island-wide limit on housing density that is fundamental to the vision of the OCP.
Council is heading for a crisis because under Bowen’s Letters Patent, as an island municipality any rezoning that exceeds the OCP residential density limit requires approval of the Island’s Trust executive committee. And why should the Islands Trust approve a radical deviation in scale and character from the Snug Cove Village Plan that Bowen’s own municipal council formulated as policy less than three years ago?
This conflict over Snug Cove is directly related to the challenge at Cape Roger Curtis. There, council has lost the initiative it once had. Density transfer from the Cape into the Cove, no doubt, is key to some sort of solution. But the proposed SCMP does not contain this provision. And by favoring densities in Snug Cove that exceed the OCP, council’s authority to demand that the Cape Roger Curtis developers themselves adhere to the OCP density is critically compromised.
The fact is the current council has surrounded itself with building industry professionals who, not surprisingly, are advocating big city solutions and urban projects for Bowen Island. Many of these ideas are disconnected from the smaller scale and environmentally focused policies that have been inspired by the Islands Trust and are reflected in the existing OCP.
Originally, there was hope that an island municipality would combine greater local autonomy with a ‘slow island, small footprint’ approach to development. And although that hope has never been fulfilled, it still can be.
At this crucial time, council should issue a moratorium on development, as was done in the early 1990s by the Island trustees Graeme Dinsdale and Claus Spikermann, and engage the community in creating a comprehensive renewed vision for this beautiful place.
Letter from the Directors of the Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society
to Bowen Island Municipality, Attention: Michael Rosen, 81 Artisan Lane, Bowen Island BC V0N 1G0
Re: Cape Roger Curtis — Preliminary Neighbourhood Plan and Implementation Options (dated January 3, 2008)
The Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society has been asked to comment on the three development options for the 631-acre Cape Roger Curtis (CRC) set out in maps on pages 22-23, 24-25 and 2627 of the Ekistics brochure entitled Preliminary Neighbourhood Plan & Implementation Options, dated January 3, 2008.
by Nerys Poole
February 10, 2008, submitted for publication to Bowen Island Undercurrent
I have just reviewed the Cape Roger Curtis (CRC) Comprehensive Transportation Impact Study prepared by Opus Hamilton for the CRC owners, dated February 2008.
There are a few glaring errors that lead me to question the extent to which the authors analyzed our island situation. In addition, there is a blatant manipulation of numbers that results in a totally misleading calculation of the actual impact of any CRC development on the island roads and ferry. Read more
by Don Maclean
February 08, 2008, Bowen Island Undercurrent
Yes
Editorial by Lisa Shatzky
February 08, 2008, Bowen Island Undercurrent
Ian Fry’s and Marion Moore’s letters in last week’s Undercurrent raised some important questions about the direction in which we are going as a municipality in terms of balancing the needs of the community with the delicate and rural atmosphere of island life. The following are my personal thoughts and not necessarily that of council.
by Bruce Russell
February 08, 2008, Bowen Island Undercurrent
I commend Ian Fry’s suggestion in his “developer’s should be held to task” letter (Feb. 1, 2008) as to the vision of a south island passenger ferry. This is not an overly new concept. From the outset of the Bowen Island Properties’ Cowan Point development, provision has been made for a passenger only dock in
by Bill Granger
February 08, 2008, Bowen Island Undercurrent
Thanks for publishing Ian Fry’s letter about the horrible state of Bowen’s roads, especially targeting the heavy traffic of eighteen-wheelers coming and going, taking our precious forest logs and bringing tonnes of concrete, gravel, fill, milled wood and building materials to the far reaches of the island. Read more
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