A small log-strewn beach is not enough of an incentive for Bowen Island council to enter into negotiations to create 21 new lots on Arbutus Bay, councillors said Monday.
“I am usually the last person to not support an application for parks and trails and beach access,” said Councillor Sue-Ellen Fast, who spoke against the offer of a small public beach, with road access, in exchange for allowing three more than the 18 lots that OCP currently allows. “I just wish there’d be a better proposal that didn’t include so many roads and so much development.”
The new lots are jointly being proposed by three separate but neighbouring properties: McGeer, Johnstone and the estate of the late Maggie Cumming.
Fast was a friend of Cumming and served with her on many island committees, most of which focused on protecting nature and restoring environmental damage, she said. She said Cumming’s dream was for three dwellings on that portion of the land, not the nine being proposed. “I don’t think it’s worth sending it forward until the proposal is more in keeping with [Maggie’s] dreams for the land.”
When the proposal first came before council, Mayor Murray Skeels said, council had an on-site visit and relayed concerns to the property owners.
Nothing has been done to accommodate those concerns, he said, so he was in favour of doing nothing in return until the owners came back with “more realistic” plan. He was also not in favour of getting around OCP restrictions one amendment at a time.
Councillor Melanie Mason also had concerns about the lack of public benefit in exchange for allowing the development.
Skeels noted that there was a larger, better beach on the property, but under the owners’ current plans, it would be surrounded by private lots and therefore not be accessible.
Councillor Alison Morse said she worked with Cumming on a parks and recreation beach plan that designated large public beaches, such as Tunstall and Bowen Bay, as places where there’d be sufficient parking, garbage cans and washrooms. The Arbutus Bay beach would qualify as a neighbourhood beach that people walk to, she said.
A motion was passed to direct staff to work with the proponents to address concerns about OCP density, roads and beach access. Councillor Gary Ander, who owns property on the land in question, had recused himself and left council chambers.
