BOWEN INCORPORATION- A 20 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE
Bowen incorporated as an Island Municipality in 1999, holding its first elections in November of that year. It remains the sole municipality within the Islands Trust, and appears to be unique in Canada in its governance.
The driving forces which led to the 60:40 vote in favour of incorporation may still be debated, but among the top issues were relations with Metro Vancouver (then GVRD) and an ill-defined desire to be ‘masters of our own destiny’. Some people saw it as an opportunity to ‘slip the yoke of rule by the Islands Trust’, yet the Articles of Incorporation clearly stated that Bowen would remain within the Trust, and that on matters such as changes to the OCP (Official Community Plan), the Trust would continue to provide final assent (with an optional Ministerial appeal). As well, all land use decisions on-island must not be ‘at variance’ to the I.T. Policy Statement.
In reality, the impacts of incorporation have tended to be more ‘nuts and bolts’ than sweeping changes to how policies are developed, demographics, rate of buildout, or ‘direction that the island is headed’. Bowen was, and remains, an increasingly affluent exurb of Vancouver, though again some might argue we are functionally a suburb with over 40% of islanders commuting for work, school, medical services, shopping and social purposes, many on a daily basis.
It is not the purpose of this piece to closely analyze island changes or measure the success of incorporation, other than to highlight some of those notable changes and their real or perceived impacts. What has not changed is that Bowen remains highly fractious and politically divided. The 2018 mayoral contest results illustrate this; only two votes separated two very different candidates. Also enduring is a wry humour about island affairs that belies any sense that these differences are intractable. We all laugh at Ron Woodall’s cartoons, and many pitch in to help individuals or families in distress. We show up close to 900 strong for Remembrance Day ceremonies, probably one of the highest percentages of population to do so. And we still do not have a community centre, despite over thirty years of effort.
A very useful fact sheet is put out annually by UBCM, which answers many questions about cost and jurisdiction:
Authority
Bowen has almost all of the authority conferred to any of the 162 incorporated entities within BC under the Local Government Act and Community Charter, with the caveat that Islands Trust provides an additional level of government. As such, we set our own budgets, build and pay for our roads, fire, water and sewer infrastructure acquire and maintain parks, deliver various social services from recreational and art/cultural programs to providing core funding for the likes of our archives and service groups.
What remains unchanged
The RCMP still provide policing services. The formula for contribution to the costs has changed from that hitherto applied to unincorporated areas. We pay approximately half the cost; the rest is bourne by the province and the federal government. Prior to 2007, municipalities under 5000 population had their contributions waived. Because BIM encompasses the entire island, there is no relief for ‘rural areas’ outside the municipal perimeter as in many other jurisdictions.
Ambulance service costs are covered by BC Emergency Health Services plus nominal ($80 for ground transport) usage fees. There are no changes for other health services provided by the province in association with Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
BC Assessment levies an annual small fee as part of our municipal tax requisition. Other line items include Islands Trust, Metro Vancouver, Translink, Municipal Finance Authority, and the infamous ‘School Tax’ which actually is a provincial levy that goes into general revenues.
BC Wildfire Services oversee and pay for the cost of fighting interface fires. Given that these would tend to originate on Crown or Park lands, it is reasonable that this is so. However, risk management comes partly under municipal purview, and Bowen commissioned a detailed interface fire strategy some years ago.
BC Ferries may have changed its name but still provides the island’s core transportation service. The Queen of Capilano has grown by 15 cars and up to 200 passengers on its operating license. After years of backsliding, car and passenger counts are way up, partly due to increased tourism visits, but also greater discretionary travel. We still do not have a decent heated waiting facility despite almost thirty years of promises. Cars and passengers embark/disembark Snug Cove just as they did in 1958 when the car ferry first arrived. Again, a broken promise that a separated walkway would be installed.
Metro Vancouver directly manages and pays for Crippen Park operations, as well as 911, air quality regulation and some ancillary functions (not sewer or water). Bowen taxpayers pay a fixed mill rate as a function of assessed values, which is an exceedingly good deal.
Crown Lands, constituting the largest land mass on Bowen, remain a provincial responsibility, including the Ecological Reserve. While very little money is spent on their management, the Province does permit trail development, and a number of Crown Leases are maintained, primarily for telecommunications on the top of Mt. Gardner, but also in favour of the municipality (top of Hiker’s Trail Road) and for industrial/commercial purposes (Twin Isle aggregate operation)
Schools are still managed the same way. BICS is within SD #45, secondary students go to West Van. or elsewhere, though IPS extends to Grade 9. IPS is private, the ‘home schooling’ Island Discovery program is part of S.D #40 (New Westminster)
Septic system and public health inspections rest with the Health Authority, and costs are covered by applicant fees.
Fishing license are provincial; hunting would be as well, but municipal prohibition of firearm discharge and severe restrictions on bow hunting have essentially curtailed hunting on Bowen.
What has changed
Well, lots! We now elect a Council of seven, including two who concurrently serve as Island Trustees every election cycle (now four years). We employ a unique ‘double direct’ system wherein Trustees are elected from willing municipal office candidates and garner sufficient votes to obtain a Council seat plus come in first and second for Islands Trust.
There is no longer a ‘Local Trust Committee’. For the purposes of the Trust, the entire Council is the de facto LTC, although the two elected Trustees have dual authority at the quarterly Islands Trust Council meetings and contribute to any assigned committees. One of the current Trustees, Sue Ellen Fast, is a Vice-Chair of the Trust.
The Approving Officer transitioned from a Provincial appointee to municipal staff- usually the CAO with assistance from the senior ranked public works operative and/or senior planner. The AO approves such things as subdivision and driveway access, and acts independently of council. Staff also approve Development Permits, sometimes to the chagrin of council.
Except for 1999-2002 when the I.T. continued to provide these services, Bowen now does all of its own planning (often with contractual assistance, but reporting directly to BIM). Recreational service went from Metro Vancouver to Bowen Island.
The Director for Metro Vancouver is appointed from Council (in our case by secret ballot among councillors/mayor).
The delegate to Translink defaults to the mayor, who at his/her pleasure may assign the position to a councillor. This has happened on several occasions in BIM’s history. Translink operates our on-island public bus system, plus the vital #257 and #250 buses into Vancouver. That remains the same, but the addition of the Peter King commuter bus has fundamentally changed the options. Combined with Cormorant Marine water taxi service that is timed to the minute as the bus arrives at Horseshoe Bay in the afternoons, it shaves over an hour off commuting times and is a godsend for its users.
BIM can and does own land, borrow money, impose Development Cost Charges (DCCs) and park acquisition fees (currently $1200 for any new lot created). It also collects fees for water, sewer, permits, variance applications, etc.
What were previously Metro Vancouver or local board LSAs (Local Service Areas) for water and sewer are now under municipal control. BIM sets annual fees and crafts such things as Latecomer Agreements to control hookups. There are in addition privately held water and sewer systems. Private wells are not controlled but private surface water licensing is vested with the provincial government.
Roads come completely under municipal control, including their size and format. For five years after incorporation, MOTH (BC Ministry of Transportation) were to continue to provide maintenance of roads, but after year four, BIM took them over completely, receiving ca. $500,000 in lieu for the final year’s work.
Building inspection services were once under GVRD, and are now part of BIM’s responsibilities. With that has come full liability for errors and omissions. Our longest serving staff member, Sandy Laudrum, began as an assistant to the GVRD building inspector and still carries out those duties.
The Library is now a municipal asset and responsibility, as is bylaw enforcement and animal control (though the province helps out with wild animals such as bears and the very occasional wolf)
BIM has acquired (usually as part of amenity zoning) numerous neighbourhood parks. Prior to incorporation, there were limited means to do such a thing. A trail network has also been pursued, aided by the ability to impose their siting and construction as part of rezonings.
Community grants-in-aid and permissive tax exemptions are also at the pleasure of Council. Groups such as the children’s theatre school Tir-na-Nog and many others have received funding as a result.
Success Stories
The following list is not exhaustive and is simply one person’s subjective views….
- Parks acquisition- aside from Crippen, Apodaca Provincial Park, and the first local park at Cates Hill, there was a dearth of neighbourhood parks before incorporation. Now they are a Bowen hallmark.
2. Road standards- we allow single lane roads with pullouts for small subdivisions, as well as steeper and more curvy roads than MOTH would permit. Turnarounds on cul de sacs are smaller. These maintain island and rural character.
3. Amenity and Snug Cove upzoning- not just parks, but cash, land set aside for special needs housing, whole lakes (Grafton) and their foreshores, trail networks, community gardens and orchards have been creative and successful.
4. Alternative housing- There is still an obvious need for more affordable/accessible/non-market housing. But the introduction of permitted secondary suites, floating accommodation at the marinas, ‘novel’ small lot freeholds (below Bowen Court) has done a bit to ease the housing crisis. Still, much more needs to be done- eg permitting ‘tiny houses’ on rural lands and allocating some municipal property specifically for entry level and emergency housing.
5. Infrastructure maintenance- for all we complain, the roads are generally in good shape. There have been repavings, centre line cat eye installation, rebuilding of dangerous sections. Replacement of major culverts along Mt. Gardner Road was an undertaking that went off flawlessly. The Cardena Road rock wall is a piece of art…Our water systems generally deliver sufficient, safe water (with a few notable exceptions).
6. Net worth- Bowen (BIM) is far wealthier than it was twenty years ago, not unlike the majority of its inhabitants. Our ‘accumulated surplus’ is pushing $67 million, far higher than projections. We own land, have ‘performing assets’, collect not just taxes but fees from utility companies on down. Businesses such as the Orchard employ upwards of sixty people, probably unimaginable in the year 2000.
Some Deplorable Deficiencies and Abject Failures
- Lack of progress on environmental bylaws- nearly a decade after being researched and wordsmithed, neither a hazardous slope nor a sensitive ecosystem development permit area has been enacted. This after a seven figure negligence lawsuit in North Vancouver and multiple slope failure incidents on Bowen. It is actually unconscionable that excuses such as poor LIDAR mapping are trotted out; the reality is that successive councils have been either ideologically indisposed to more controls on private property, or have simply pushed the file down the priority list. An adjunct to this is excessive site alteration. The area north of Rivendell, now coming on market, was subject to sixteen months of drilling and blasting in preparation. The disruption and loss of quiet enjoyment of existing homes extended far beyond the immediate neighbours.
2. Lapses in procedural fairness- these come in all sorts of guises, but include illegally convened closed committee meetings, different standards for different applicants (eg municipal land rezoning vs Parkview slopes), construction of the Library annex without due public process. It is to be expected that some public processes might be abridged, or conversely, strung out to avoid uncomfortable decisions, but a pattern of negligence and denial shows deep flaws in administration and the workings of Council. I still fail to understand why angle parking was not allowed on Dorman Road to expedite denser development of ‘the overflow lot’ south of Village Square. The result was loss of the original health centre site, and with a second building, the opportunity for below market housing.
3. Capital project mismanagement. I refer to the Community Centre primarily, but the Fire Hall and even Cove Bay Water and Sewer projects could be included. Since incorporation, and for over a decade prior, there have been designs, siting and costings for a new community centre. Well over a $1 million has been spent. A fund raising campaign, including purchase of ‘seats’ in the performance hall, engendered little interest. We now await major grants from senior governments, and the silence is a bit deafening. Perhaps I will be surprised, but the likelihood of successfully cramming all the proposed functions (city hall, assembly and performance, recreation) into the chosen site east of BICS is low. Added to that are the genuine parking and circulation issues (32 parking stalls for an 180 seat hall?), and synergy with adjacent developable lands, that simply have not been addressed.
A Tunstall Bay boat ramp has been on the to-do list for decades. Monies were spent to mollify DFO by doing work to restore Explosives Creek. The project was an approved budgeted action. Yet no-go. To this day resistance from the locals, no nearby storage for boat trailers, cost escalation have all been reasons cited, but the reality is that there is no emergency marine island access/egress from the west side of the island.
4. Financing and disposition of community lands. Council gets points for assigning land for BIRCH, the Health Centre and a fire hall on Lot 3. But only this year have we started paying down the mortgage. The money was borrowed in 2006; we would be more than half ways done had we taken out a 25 year mortgage. The possibility of sale of Area 1, lot 2 for rental housing is encouraging, but the $800,000 price tag is far below the expectations of a couple of years ago.
5. LUB updates- The Land Use Bylaw was adopted in 2002. Left out were a number of niggly add-ons that were to be straightened out post haste. It never happened. We have one definition for residential density, so a rambling $20 million estate property is counted in the same way as a studio above a storefront. Such things as defining permitted home occupations keep getting pushed down the line. The fact that AirBnB and other short term vacation rentals is becoming such an issue stems from failing to lay out clear guidelines nearly two decades ago. The recently imposed stricture of 120 rental night/annum is a good start.
6. Infrastructure maintenance- Notwithstanding the successes under this file, there are wretched failures as well. The condition of Mt. Gardner dock, taken over with a dowry at incorporation, has deteriorated to the point that an entire rebuild might be necessary. The cost will be frightening, and there will be pressure to tear down this defining Bowen asset. The Cove wharf and floats are at least in better shape, but did get beaten up in storms this year, with the repair looking decidedly sub-par. The bridge over Terminal Creek on Carter is also near collapse. The permitted GVW has been halved, and the hairpin coming up from Mt. Gardner precludes larger trucks. We have a school, church and 30 unit co-housing development with tenuous access.
7. Fragmented water districts- different standards and historical construction stem from pre-incorporation. However, in two decades there are still internecine battles and incomplete connectivity between neighbourhood systems.
8. Waste management- the Mcintosh enterprise, Bowen Waste Services, is beloved and routinely underbids other competitors. BIRD, and add-ons such as the twice annual junk days plus paint/hazardous fluids are very popular. However, the cost increases have been way higher than for other services, and it begs the question of a service delivery review. That organics need to be sent to Pemberton point to a lack of on-island imagination and initiative. Given that we almost all take in recycling to BIRD, there is a good case to be made for no home pick-up at all, which is what Whistler does. Perhaps we do not need a Cadillac service.
9. Over reliance on consultants and contractors- the firm McElhenny was retained in 2001 (with BC Ferries) to improve ferry marshalling and traffic flow. Their resultant five-lane monster design became an apt metaphor for off-islander ill thought out interventions. Undeterred, we have hired consultants to assist in planning (sometimes successfully), coordinate an OCP review, write an unadopted air quality strategy and bylaw, review corporate and Council remuneration, resolve personnel difficulties, design our not-yet-built civic facilities. Each time we spend astounding amounts of money to get reports that echo our pre-held perceptions, yet usually fail to resolve the issue needing resolution. What we really need to do as a community is to do less, and do it better, without a lot of outside help.
10. Related to 9. is the overuse of volunteers and deficient public process. Committees have proliferated almost as quickly as the annual budget. The basics- planning and recreation commissions, board of variance, have been supplemented by a plethora of others. In fact, there are currently twenty-six of them:
The results are patently predictable. Their work is not properly appreciated and sometimes ignored. Those sitting get sick and tired of it all and move on. Every week the muni. advertises for replacements in the Undercurrent. This same disaffection applies to the general public as well.
11. Failed partnerships and negotiations- Bowen relies on BC Ferries. There have been endless consultations on everything from marshalling to capacity, pricing and passenger facilities. In 1992, Bowen was promised a proper enclosed waiting room and separate passenger access to the ferry as part of the 1993 budget process. In a belt-tightening exercise handed down by the provincial government, it was put on hold. In 2003, BC Ferry Corporation became BC Ferry Services, no longer a Crown Corporation though publicly owned. All agreements were suddenly off the table. Now 16 years later, a massive reconstruction of Horseshoe Bay facilities is undergoing public review, but not a peep about Snug Cove. Bowen is the only terminus in our size category without a proper waiting room. Compare this to, say Quathiaski Cove on Quadra:
Similar litanies could be examined for Metro Vancouver Parks. Why no swapping of lands to provide access to Community Lands west of BICS from Mt. Gardner Road? Or expansion north for Bowen Court?
The downside list is bigger than the upside list, and that is to be expected. (I could easily have listed some more perceived failings) After all, governments chronically disappoint.
Value for Money
More information about Bowen Island can be found in its annual reports and on CivicWeb:
It is axiomatic that everything costs too much; there are missteps and glaring deficiencies under all regimes.
The incorporation study anticipated 12 FTEs (full time equivalents) for Bowen after incorporation. We hit that even before taking over roads and planning. Now we are well over 40, plus contractors, and our total annual budget is approximately four times what it was in 2000. Waste management has escalated in complexity, regulation and cost. Construction costs are literally out of control.
But the question remains: “What about the alternatives?” Had we not incorporated, the surcharges imposed by Metro Vancouver would have stymied all other attempts to be frugal. We would still have two Trustees and a Regional Director working for different masters and often at cross-purposes. It may have been a bit cheaper but we would not have received the benefits as outlined above.
Conversely, negotiating an exit from the Islands Trust would save us $300,000 a year, or about 2.5 % of our budget. That would leave us outside the federation at a time when ‘Preserve and Protect’ is an ascendant value, not just a slogan. The UN Biosphere initiative for Howe Sound
dovetails with many of our collective aspirations for Bowen.
I personally feel incorporation was more than worth it, and wonder what a workable, beneficial alternate structure might look like. That said, we ought to be doing much better with what we have. Instead of endlessly redoing our municipal ‘strategic plan’, we should be vigorously ticking off old projects as they are completed.
Peter Frinton
November 19, 2019
Bowen
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