Sustainable living
Water taxi service - Granville Island Water Taxi Services driver Simon Fawkes welcomes passengers aboard the 9:45 a.m. run from Bowen to Granville Island on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
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Updated: October 30, 2009 8:39 AM
Bowen continues to play host to community meetings which have as a goal the creation of a healthier and more sustainable future for the island; three held recently were no exception.
There was a gathering at Cates Hill on Sat. Oct. 17 put on by a consortium of groups headed by local developer Wolfgang Duntz. More than 100 people attended and heard from architect James W. Tuer of JWT Architecture and Planning, who said “we are thinking outside the box” as he presented plans to create affordable housing at Parkview Slopes.
The Bowen Island OCP Update Steering committee, led by chair Dave Witty, hosted an Ideas Forum on Thursday, Oct. 22 in the BICS gym on Bowen and more than 100 engaged islanders attended that.
At the behest of the committee, volunteer organizations who serve Bowen submitted discussion papers and those papers were a focus of discussions at the gathering. Over 20 organizations submitted, including the Bowen Youth Centre, BIHORA (B.I. Horse Owners and Riders Assoc.), Bowen Island Ourselves, the Bowen Island Yacht Club and Bowen Island Conservancy.
Witty called the meeting “successful” and said it stimulated “a good discussion around volunteer aspirations and group discussion of those ideas.”
He also reports that feedback received since the meeting “was very positive.”
The municipality struck the eight-member OCP committee – OCP stands for the Official Community Plan – last spring. The website for the committee says the OCP is “a statement of objectives and policies to guide municipal decisions on planning and land use management in a community.”
The materials submitted and notes from meetings will be utilized during the creation of the new OCP.
The document has not been updated for the past 15 years and this version is expected to be completed by the summer of 2010.
Finally. last Sunday, Oct. 25, the group Bowen Island Ourselves hosted their second meeting in as many months at IPS.
Group member Chris Corrigan said 12 islanders had discussions on aging while living on Bowen, population caps and what they mean, and density. He also said they “explored the ideas on what the meanings are underneath the language we use.”
Corrigan said the group plans to “meet every month and we’re just gonna keep doing this” in order to have “face to face conversations that actually help build community.” They have a website at www.bowegover.ning.com.
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