Hired at the end of the summer, Municipal Planner Cari St. Pierre has settled in with a Bowen address and is, as she says, is getting her feet on the ground, literally. With a background planning for First Nations, sustainable planning, community planning and engagement, and development planning, St. Pierre brings both a breadth and depth of experience to her (relatively) new job. I sat down with St. Pierre to chat about her background and her experience on Bowen Island so far. When I entered her office, she was wrapping up work on Tuesday’s stakeholder engagement workshop for Bowen Island’s Parks Master Plan.
Q. When you say this is an “interactive” engagement, what do you mean by that?
A. The most common way to conduct an engagement is an open-house, but this tends to not be very effective in terms of getting feedback from the people who show up. This engagement is based on similar events I’ve hosted in other communities. I try to tailor-make engagements for each community or meeting, using what I have learned and what has been successful previously. The aim with this process is to get everyone working together and sharing ideas.
Q. I understand you’ve had experience working with the Islands Trust…
A. I was a Trustee for Hornby Island although I didn’t get to finish my term. I had been struggling for a long time to stay on Hornby and manage my career consulting as a planner. For family and career reasons I could no longer live on Hornby full time, which meant I could not finish my term as Trustee.
I hope that having lived and worked on Hornby, as a single mom and without a lot of money, does give me a more well-rounded perspective on island life and planning than the average urban planner.
Q. What do you think Islands Trust has to offer a community such as Bowen, especially considering we have been a municipality for more than a decade now?
A. I think we are very lucky to be in the unique position of benefiting from both the Municipal and Islands Trust systems and staff. I have always liked and respected the Islands Trust staff and am happy to work with them and our two Trustees. I am also really enjoying working with the great team of Municipal staff on Bowen as well as our new mayor and councillors.
Q. Your PhD was based on a comparative analysis of rural and remote BC communities, including island communities. Based on that research do you see a particular trend that binds the islands?
A. I should note that did I not finish my PhD thesis for financial and family reasons. I needed to begin a fulltime job as Planner for the City of Surrey. Island communities are all very diverse. There are obvious overlapping issues such as ferry prices, the challenges of aging, the challenges for the 20-30 age group to stay on the islands and make or find jobs, and when they leave the challenges this can create for the older population that lose their support and service sector. These are just some of the more obvious trends I saw through my research.
Q. Would you say that regulating docks is an issue that all the islands grapple with?
A. Geography, landscape, community history and priorities determine a lot in terms of a community’s perspectives on docks and moorage. A community’s Land Use Bylaw helps define its unique approach with regards to docks and moorage. Working for Port Metro on the Land Use Plan, gave me the unique opportunity to hear different Municipal leaders and community members speak about their diverse perspectives and approaches in regards to docks throughout the Port Metro jurisdiction. Being new to Bowen and given the complexities of this issue, I am still listening and learning from Council and the community about the many variables surrounding docks and moorage here.
Q. What do you think makes Bowen particularly unique?
A. For one, its history which I am really enjoying learning about. The fact that the Union Steamship Company brought such vitality and vibrancy to the Cove is very fascinating, as is the fact that many of the original Bowen families still have many relations living here, on some of the same properties. The feasibility of being more sustainable as an island while considering the size, lakes, and protected greenspaces, is exciting as a new planner. The other unique element is the proximity to Vancouver, West Vancouver and North Vancouver; specifically the unique challenges this makes in regards to transit, and the commuting culture on Bowen, which is not as prevalent on other islands.
Q. What do you think needs to happen on Bowen to make it a more ecologically sustainable community?
A. Let me get back to you on that in a year, I really have so much to learn about Bowen I don’t feel like I know enough yet to answer the question. My experience on Hornby was very influential, but I try not to let it colour my perspective too much as I learn a new community. Still, it does seem apparent right off the bat that Bowen is MUCH more sustainable than Hornby, which has major problems with water shortages, draughts in the summer and a population that nearly quadruples every summer.
Also, the approach to sustainable planning that guides my planning perspective is more of a four-pillar approach, and it strives to encourage an equal balance between the social sphere, the cultural sphere, the ecological and economic concerns. This is just one of models that guides my overall planning. I hope it will be of benefit when working with the Bowen community.
Q. You said you’ve recently been working on getting your boots on the ground here, where have you been?
A. I’ve walked from the bottom of the Cove all around Killarney Lake; climbed to the South Peak of Gardner and have explored most of the Island’s south shore, from Seymore Bay all the way around. When issues come up in different places, I’ve asked applicants, stakeholders and Councilors to take me out to the different sites, so that I can see things through their eyes. I like doing site visits so I can understand all the intricacies as well as the beauty Bowen has to offer.
