Unsung Bowen Volunteers
Dear Editor:
Thank you, Alex, for including articles and photos of some of our volunteers on Bowen in the April 20 edition. We are very fortunate to have so many residents willing to step up and do what is needed to make our community a better place. Thank you to all who do this.
The Bowen Island Conservancy is grateful to its many volunteers as we are a totally volunteer organization without any paid staff and could not operate without them. I am writing to mention one unsung volunteer and to express gratitude to him for all he does.
Mark Edmonds, who many of you may know as he is often seen driving the local bus, is our volunteer extraordinaire with the Bowen Island Conservancy. Since the Conservancy was fortunate enough to buy three lots at Cape Roger Curtis - thanks to donors extraordinaire - Mark has been our volunteer “Operations Lead” in implementing our management plan for the lands, coordinating the volunteers who monitor the lands and arranging for placement of fences, signs and pathways, usually doing a lot of the heavy lifting himself.
For Mark, all this is a labour of love, as he spends about an average of 60 hours a month working on issues that may arise related to the Wild Coast Nature Refuge (WCNR), as well as doing physical work at the WCNR. For the Conservancy Board and our various committees, we are the grateful beneficiaries of his dedication to these lands.
We so appreciate you, Mark!
- The BI Conservancy Board of Directors (Ellen Coburn, Allie Drake, Joyce Ganong, Jennifer Hall, Paula Hay, Louise Loik, Owen Plowman, Nerys Poole, John Rich, Bob Turner, & Peter Williamson)
Quilting Time
Missed last year’s community sewing project? Well, you are in luck – “Fabric at Play” is back! Come join the Bowen Island Fibre Arts Guild on Tuesday, May 9 at the Hearth Gallery for another community project.
This year’s quilt for raffle is in support of the Colin Ruloff Community Field House at Island Pacific School. Two sessions are being offered: 2 to 4 pm or 7 to 9 pm. Classes are FREE and no sewing experience is required – sewing machines and sewing mentors are available to help you create your own unique block – open to all ages!
Contact the Hearth at [email protected] or 604-947-2454 to preregister.
- Bowen Island Fibre Arts Guild
DCC ASAP
Dear Mayor Leonard & Members of Council:
The public engagement sessions to discuss proposed increases and new Reserve funds from general municipal taxation were interesting but seem to have only increased the tax hikes proposed for 2023 and four years to follow. All of the proposed new revenue to operate the Municipality and build Reserve funds is from one source only - the local property tax payers.
A recent article in the Bowen Island Undercurrent suggests there will be a net increase of $20 per average household for a net municipal portion of the property tax increase of $400. With projected increases of 9.5% for each of the following four years in the Five Year Financial Plan, there will be an actual increase of over 52% for the general municipal portion of our property tax bills.
The assessed value of properties increased in January 2022 by 6%, based on sale prices as of July 1, 2022. The mil rate for 2022 (general municipal) was 1.8784, or $1.84 for every thousand dollars of assessed value. If the mil rate stays the same, the general municipal portion of my own property tax bill will rise from $2,280 in 2022 to $3,747 by 2027! And all other areas of local property taxation are rising as well.
Bowen Island has collected a Community Parks Acquisition Development Cost Charge (Bylaw No. 905, 1998) since inception, carried over from Greater Vancouver Regional District days, but this only brings in $1,100 for each lot created by a new plan of subdivision, plus $1,100 for each additional dwelling unit on a parcel created by subdivision.
As tax collectors, Bowen Island Municipality since 2022 has also collected a Regional Transportation DCC for all Building Permits and subdivisions approved on behalf of TransLink; $2,990 per single family house, $2,485 per duplex unit, and so on. This money leaves Bowen.
A Finance department Report to Council April 20, 2015, indicated “Council has initiated the creation of a development financing strategy as a key priority for 2015” with a workshop led by Urban Systems following. Eight years and many subdivision approvals later, there is no strategy.
Mayor and Council, please initiate a Development Cost Charge Bylaw to collect funds for Bowen Island to cover parks development, road, water, and sewer infrastructure. The City of Surrey recently adopted a Bylaw to increase their DCC’s by 10%, netting almost $40,000 per new dwelling unit to pay the infrastructure costs related to new development.
We have the background studies and documents to justify these new charges (Bowen Island Parks Master Plan, Cove Bay Water Treatment Plant, Snug Cove Sewage Treatment Plant, Bowen Bay, Eagle Cliff, and Tunstall Bay Water Storage Tank studies among others).
I trust that we have a professional staff and dedicated Mayor and Council ready to take action to get our municipal operations back on a firm footing. Please take the next necessary steps to ensure that sustaining our critical systems will be done on a fair and equitable cost sharing basis.
- Bill Granger
