The message is cordial but the intent is a warning: if Metro Vancouver wants Bowen Island council to seriously consider the impact of 100 proposed campsites at Cape Roger Curtis, then Metro Vancouver is going to have to take the island’s concerns a lot more seriously.
At Monday night’s meeting, council directed its staff to meet with Metro Vancouver’s staff “to explore a collaborative approach… to share aspirations, concerns and perspectives on the extensive list of issues raised in the materials presented [by Metro Vancouver.]”
Representatives of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) will also be asked to attend.
The tone of what that conversation might sound like was summed up by CAO Liam Edwards.
“It’s very clear there are numerous inaccuracies” in Metro Vancouver’s assessment of the impact of allowing camping on the 24 lots it recently bought at Cape Roger Curtis, he said. “Based on that, it’s difficult for us to accept the report.”
Later in the meeting Edwards said, “It’s very clear they don’t actually understand the environment they’re talking about…. The report is flawed in data collecting.”
That viewpoint is partly shaped by Metro's assessment of the impact on ferry traffic., a major concern from islanders’ perspective.
Particularly damning is that the regional authority partly based its expectations of summer ferry travel numbers on statistics from the weekend in May when BC Ferries cancelled all Saturday afternoon and night sailings because of staff shortages.
Metro says says campers will likely access the new park in the same way they get to Crippen Park, which it also owns. About 21 percent of off-island park visitors are ferry walk-ons.
However, the entrance to Crippen Park is a few hundred metres from the ferry dock. To get to Cape Roger Curtis, campers and daytrippers will have to travel roughly eight kilometres across the island.
Metro has proposed a shuttle for May to October, with pick-up in Snug Cove. But it hasn’t said how big the shuttle will be or how often it will run, raising council concerns that there will be more passengers than spaces. (Its report uses a photo of an electric bus at Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond.) It also says it can limit the day-use parking spaces to 30 to 50 to mitigate people arriving at the same time and Metro will “explore options” for a day-use reservation system.
Verbally, Metro Vancouver has said it will continue to work with the municipality on the remaining length of the pedestrian and bike path across the island but in its report, staff say Metro will pay for the portion of the path within its property. Council wants a commitment in writing and has only committed to helping pay for the portion to Adams Road. This path would be key if Metro Vancouver plans to reduce vehicular traffic by encouraging bikes.
Metro expects 163 vehicles arriving and departing on a Fridays and 186 on a Saturday. Peak travel time would be Saturday afternoons with 52 two-way trips.
It says that measures can be taken to control when campers arrive by ferry without stating what those measures will be.
“These strategies aren’t fully fleshed out,” said director of planning Daniel Martin.
Metro notes there is lots of ferry space on the very early morning ferries and late-night Sunday ferry, however Mayor Andrew Leonard said that BC Ferries’ previous attempts to get people to travel during non-peak hours by adjusting rates have failed. If people want to camp on a weekend, it’s going to be hard to convince them they should arrive on an empty 6 a.m. ferry on Friday or go home on a 10 p.m. ferry on Sunday night.
Council has the ability to restrict vehicle-access campsites to one-third of the total. And while council has relatively little control over how Metro Vancouver uses the regional park land, it can say that overnight camping is not allowed.
In further discussions, councillors said that the Metro report is wrong in saying there is 800 metres of two-lane ferry trafficking in Snug Cove. It’s single lane through most of the Cove and then it doubles near the top of the hill. Councill also disagrees that there’s enough ferrying space for a two-ferry wait.
Leonard says that as a single voice on the 41-member Metro Vancouver board, it’s challenging to ensure Bowen’s voice is heard.
“The challenges with the transportation studies aren’t being validated to politicians in the room by their staff. Which makes it difficult for me to say, ‘This isn’t accurate.’… I’m a bit of a leaf in the wind," he said. “People at Metro Vancouver are accepting the reports. [We need to] make more of an assertive thrust. If not, the voting members in the room aren’t going to see any different.”
Leonard said all the Metro board sees is "their vision."
"There doesn’t seem to be a lot of appetite to move off that…. If we send a long list of demands, I don’t know how that's going to play… We have to make our ask and if we want to change the vision, we need to say that. If we want out of this project, we might have to say that as well.”
It was Coun Tim Wake who suggested that a collaborative approach having all the players in a room together would be more effective than back-and-forth responses to reports.
“How do we get to the answers we need? We need to find what works for everyone,” he said.
Coun. Judi Gedye noted that Metro Vancouver is considering an application for neighbouring Crown lands (Block 6.).
“I don’t think we should rush this,” she said. “I don’t like playing card games without all the cards on the table.”
In the end, council passed a motion to request a collaborative meeting between staff, including an invitation to the Squamish Nation. It also broadened the list of local committees and organizations which will be asked to comment on MV’s report. Given the August hiatus, those responses aren’t expected until September.
