Come April, the Cape on Bowen is planning to submit a rezoning plan for its 320 unsold acres on the southwest arm of the island.
The draft master plan proposes moving from the current zoning density of 32 ten-acre estates to about 430 living units (estimated at 750 to 850 people) with more than half of the land dedicated as park space.
The draft plan, available at envisionthecape.ca, comes after more than a year of community consultation from Cape on Bowen CEO Candy Ho and her team.
Last month, Ho sat down with the Undercurrent (over Zoom) to discuss the plan.
The background
The rezoning proposal comes as the four investors of the Cape on Bowen are hoping to sell their shares. “They don’t want to leave without securing something that they are proud of, for the community,” said Candy Ho. “They’re doing this plan as a way of ensuring that whoever takes on this project will do what we are proposing here.”
The alternative is sticking with the ten-acre lots and selling as-is.
While the investors include Candy’s father, Don Ho, who has a small, non-controlling share, they do not include Candy herself.
“What we’re delivering, it’s pretty unusual,” said Candy Ho.
“It’s not the highest return – the story of my work for the last 20 years,” she laughed. “When you don’t come up with something that is not the normal standard industry return, you’re not going to have an easy time finding that new capital and new investments.”
The entire Cape is zoned Rural Residential 1 under the Land Use Bylaw. You’re allowed to have low-density housing there and that’s about it. A rezoning would change the uses allowed in certain areas, essentially setting up a new owner with a map of how to develop the land with much of the community engagement work already done.
Throughout the consultation process, Candy Ho has acknowledged the painful local history of the Cape – the failed rezoning attempt of 2008, the docks controversy and leaked prospectus ahead of the 2018 municipal election – and is working on rebuilding community trust.
Ho has formed a community working group of local experts, leaders and members to examine and provide feedback on the draft rezoning plan. “They’re looking at our plan very deeply,” said Ho. They’ll have access to environmental and engineering reports, traffic and hydrogeology information and Ho has also invited the group to look at the financial performa with her.
While the draft plan puts a timeline of 15 to 20 years on the development, Ho calls that extremely aggressive given the pieces that need to fall into place: rezoning, new investment, infrastructure building, subdivision, sub-developers in the individual projects (ageing in place would need a different developer than a school), development permits, building permits and construction.
The plan
As the Cape properties have sold over the years, the company has released lots in chunks, meaning that the land left is a chunk on the southeast side of the development.
The idea is to put in about $35 million in infrastructure (this includes a water system with firefighting capacity) for a neighbourhood with a variety of housing forms. These include:
- Private estates with covenants to prevent development on swaths of the estate (including tree cutting). As planner Edward Porter explains on the Envision the Cape website, covenanted greenspace over private property would maintain continuous forest (or whatever ecotype is there).
- Single-family cottages
- Multiplexes that Ho hopes will not be “cookie cutter.” The number and size are yet to be determined.
- Row homes, which would be more cookie cutter as they’re next to the school, clubhouse and commercial area. These would be the most affordable homes, said Ho, though she adds it’s not a good use for return for a developer – the row homes’ inclusion is to add housing diversity.
- Ageing in place – assisted living, long-term care, with wellness and recreational amenities. This is the one housing development that would have a view, said Ho. And while the rest of the properties would cater to a lower to mid-range end of middle income, this one would likely be higher end mid-level income, she said.
- Long-term rentals
Other institutional and community amenities in the draft plan include:
- A school
- A neighbourhood clubhouse – public or something more along the lines of the Tunstall Bay Clubhouse
- A pedestrian-friendly almost European-style commercial core that could serve the west side of the island, “something like an Artisan Square.” The idea is to encourage different modes of transportation while limiting vehicular traffic, designating a parking area outside of the core.
- Public trails throughout the development, a mix of walking and multi-use, and a public waterfront along that entire south coastline. Some of these trails also pass through the private estates
- An eco-spiritual leadership retreat abutting the B.I. Conservancy’s new park on the waterfront
- A regenerative farm – as food resilience has gained prominence, the plan sets aside an estimated 15 acres for farm land. The Cape planner has a background in farming and conservancy, Ho noted.
There’s also the possibility of giving chunks of the land outside of the Cape’s serviceable area (due to water pressure capacity) to the municipality.
Community feedback
One of the large concerns is from the residents of Whitesails Drive, who are seeing more vehicles on their street as the Cape has opened up. The residents are particularly interested in traffic management. Ho has a traffic consultant looking at strategies.
Over the process of developing the plan and then workshopping it, Ho has spoken with many, many Bowen Islanders, offering walk-throughs and detailed Zoom sessions. But, she wants to hear from more people.
“Right now, this draft plan is not very prescriptive. It’s very conceptual,” said Ho. The details are open to input. While Ho and the planner can draw from their professional and personal experiences for ideas, Ho wants to hear the island’s ideas.
“I hope that people will, even if they don’t want to participate, at least be aware of what’s happening,” she said. “That if they don’t give comments, [they] at least take a look at it and know what’s going on.”
