Bowen Island Municipality will look at turning part of its land on Cowan Point into a permanent home for Loggers Sports – if not quite as quickly as its creator might like.
Gary Anderson, who created the inaugural Loggers Sports show during this past summer’s Bowfest celebrations, made an impassioned presentation to municipal council Monday night (Dec. 14), urging lawmakers to give him the go-ahead immediately so he could start work in January for next year’s show.
This year’s show came together on only two weeks’ notice in a temporary location but was a popular success. But in order to thrive as a continuing event, Anderson said, the show needs to be in a permanent place.
Anderson and other private contractors are prepared to put in the materials and labour in order to convert about 1.5 to 2 acres of the 20-acre municipal space off Athletic Park Road. The space, which was dedicated to the municipality about 10 years ago, was intended to be converted to a municipal athletic park in the future, is currently mainly used, with part of it serving as the municipality’s public works yard.
The improvements would involve leveling a portion of the site and seeding it with grass and creating parking, which would allow other community use outside of the annual show. In response to a question from Coun. Alison Morse, Anderson confirmed the poles could be off to one side of the site to allow for other uses like mountain biking, horse riding and trail running.
The climbing poles in particular need to have a permanent location. “Taking them in and out again is not an option,” said Anderson.
Anderson also suggested the site could be named Veterans Park if it did not already have a name.
Coun. Michael Kaile was supportive of the plan: “It really would be an ideal location,” he said. “Going forward, if it’s all private dollars going into it I think it’s worth taking a look at.”
Coun. Sue Ellen Fast noted the municipality’s parks plan update was coming up in 2016 and suggested the plan could be considered during that process, but Anderson urged quicker action, noting that there are no riparian or other environmental issues with the site.
“We want to get cracking in January,” he said. “Just make a decision. It’s meant to be a park, not a municipal works site.”
Coun. Maureen Nicholson said she attended the show this year and enjoyed it, but said that timeline “unrealistic for council to consider,” noting that residents living in area would need to be consulted.
“I don’t want to discourage you or put a damper on your enthusiasm,” she said. “I’d like for us to figure out a way to go forward.”
In response, Anderson pointed to a petition supporting the project he started last week which had already garnered 300 signatures.
Other projects could potentially be located there.
Mayor Murray Skeels echoed Nicholson: “What we want to do is establish a process where we can deal with this stuff…we can’t do it this way,” he said.
“This is public land, everyone on Bowen Island has a stake in it…it doesn’t mean we’re not supportive.”
Anderson’s persistent urgings led to some exchanges with the mayor.
“You bring with you a lot of baggage about dealing with government,” said Skells. “You really don’t expect we were going to approve this right here?”
“I kind of hoped so,” replied Anderson. “We could get this approved and all go down to the pub.”
Morse ended up moving that municipal staff work with Anderson in his group and bring a proposal back to council. The motion was carried unanimously.
