By Julie Andres - Bowen Island Undercurrent - April 11, 2008
Mayor Bob Turner gave a round of compliments to The Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society at their AGM last Saturday. “You deserve credit for your professionalism and for seeking legal advice,” he said. (See ‘Fifty-eight-lot subdivision application for the Cape shouldn’t be on the table’, the Undercurrent, April 4, or go to www.bowenislandundercurrent.com and click on the Letters tab in the main menu.) “The outcome here depends on quality and respect, and I applaud the Trust Society for their approach,” the mayor added.
The Trust Society’s mandate is, in part, “To ensure that as much as possible of the the Cape Roger Curtis lands remain in their natural state”.
In audience handouts the Trust Society distributed a three-page, month-by-month list of their preservation activities for the Cape since January 2003, when they received a Certificate of Incorporation under the Society Act. Commenting on the list, Mayor Turner said, “Many more pages will be added to this list. Patience is everything, and the Trust Society will be an important player over the long haul.”
The CRC landowners’ plan for development currently proposes over 60 per cent – including all waterfront – as dedicated park, but a much higher number of units than allowed under current zoning. The starting number discussed at the AGM was 224 units, which, according to Community Planner Jason Smith, is the number envisioned for the property in the Official Community Plan.
Council has assigned the proposal to the Greenways Committee, the Civic Facilities Working Group, the Sustainability Framework Working Group, The Affordable Housing Working Group and the Advisory Planning Commission for review. Each group is charged with providing a report on the plan to council. In their minutes of Feb. 6, the APC passed a motion by unanimous consent that read: “The APC recommends that Council consider utilizing alternative approaches to calculating density in a creative manner, such as floor area limits and/or bed unit counts, recognizing that any alternative approach be cognizant of equating to a dwelling unit yield of 224 units.”
The other above-noted referral groups, which are appointed and funded by council, are either not represented on the www.bimbc.ca website, or their minutes are not up to date.
The owners of the Cape, (acquired by Don Ho, Edwin Lee, Wolfgang Duntz and others in August 2004) were represented by their project coordinator Mark Sager, who said they have a good working relationship with everybody involved. “We are optimistic that both sides are going to find middle ground. We expect to have another public information meeting in May and a formal public hearing in early September,” he said.
At their public information meeting in December 2007, the developer’s exhibits showed expectations that the process would move along much more quickly than it has. The timeline graphic presented then showed adoption of a rezoning bylaw by March 2008.
True to form, the Trust Society included a high quality educational component in their AGM. Research ecologist and Bowen Island resident Alejandro Frid gave a talk about predators and climate change as they pertain to CRC. Lindsay Coulter, a conservation policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation spoke about her work around the province “pleading the case for B.C.’s biodiversity and the need for change in policy to protect it”.
Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society’s website is www.caperogercurtis.org. Information on the Cape on Bowen Community Development (the developers) can be found at www.caperogercurtis.com.
April 4, 2008
Bowen Island Undercurrent
We urge council to exercise its authority to require the owners of the Cape Roger Curtis (CRC) lands to withdraw their application for a 58-lot subdivision for the following reasons:
The Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society (CRCTS) has received legal advice that it is highly unusual for municipal councils to enter into a rezoning process while there is a subdivision application on the table. The public continues to perceive the subdivision application for 58 lots as a real threat if municipal council does not agree with the rezoning proposals of the CRC owners.
Community groups (including CRCTS) have spent considerable volunteer time attending meetings and reviewing and commenting on the CRC proposals, with a view to ensuring that the rezoning of these lands meets the goals and objectives of Bowen Islanders.
The subdivision of these lands into 58 ten-acre lots does not meet the goals and objectives of the Bowen Island community as expressed in the Official Community Plan (including the specific requirements set out for the CRC Development Permit Area), nor does it meet the stated public interest as expressed in the council’s resolution of February 2006 (Municipal Framework for Planning the Future Use of the CRC Lands).
The fact that the approving officer has neither approved nor rejected the 58 ten-acre lot subdivision does not relieve council of its responsibility to make it clear to the owners that a condition of entering the rezoning process is withdrawal of its subdivision application.
Given the length of time since the initial subdivision application (September 4, 2004) and the lack of any response from the CRC owners to the conditions set out in the July 7, 2006 letter from Michael Rosen, there is considerable doubt as to whether the application would be legally protected by the one year time period under section 943 of the Local Government Act, despite the extensions granted by the municipal planners.
Without demanding the withdrawal of the 58-lot subdivision application, council appears to be acting from a position of weakness, which inevitably affects its negotiation strategy. This is not serving the interests of the community.
If the current subdivision application is not legally valid (also based on good legal advice), then why not remove it from the table?
Pamela Dicer, Peter Drake, Stephen Foster, Jean Jamieson, Marion Moore, Nerys Poole, Jan Wells
Directors, Cape Roger Curtis Trust SocietyZZZ
