Now in its 45th year, the Bowen Island Children’s Centre (BCC) can claim to have put 3,080 children through its pre-school program. On Monday, the organization’s board-chair, David McCullum, told council that the centre hopes to have an 850 square foot expansion up and running by the end of next summer.
The additional space will provide daycare spaces for eight children under the age of three.
BCC’s executive director, Ann Silberman, says she began hearing an inquiries about daycare spots for two-year olds roughly three years ago.
“I had a talk with Vancouver Coastal Health’s licensing, and they were very understanding of our situation as an isolated community,” she says. “They created a variance for us that made space for up to six two year-olds in our existing space.”
Silberman says that it was around this time that the Centre started looking for ways to expand and accommodate more children under the age of three.
One option was to expand into the lower level of the building, into the area currently used by Bowen Island Community Recreation. Bowen Rec’s lease on that space expired last year.
“Ultimately, we are partners,” says Silberman. “Here at BCC, it is our mandate to provide education and care for children on Bowen Island, but Bowen Rec uses that space for close to 90 percent of their programming, so it would be unfair to take that away from the rest of the community.”
With the lease on that space renewed to Bowen Rec, BCC started looking into expansion.
The new plan is to create another 850 square foot wing that from the current building into some of the existing outdoor play space. Silberman says they hope to begin construction this December.
Before that happens, McCullum told council, the parking area for parents dropping off their children needs to be made more safe.
“This is one of the two biggest traffic issues on Bowen Island,” McCullum said, explaining that there is technically only one parking space in the area, which is cut in half by the road connecting to IPS, Cates Hill Chapel and Belterra.
The plan to improve the safety and parking situation involves widening the shoulders of the road and stretching the parking onto the septic field.
McCullum said that the expansion project has a strict budget of $200,000 and asked for municipal help in carrying out the road work. He also asked that the municipality waive permitting fees, which planner Daniel Martin estimated would amount to less than $3,000.
Council agreed to investigate parking solutions on Carter Road, and referred McCullum’s request to Public Works. With regards to permitting, directed municipal staff to prioritize permits required for the new wing and look into the financial implications of refunding the permitting fees.
