On Monday evening, Bowen’s council chamber hummed with the sound of children doing their best to sit still and stay quiet. The packed audience, alongside council, heard from Jennifer Henrichsen about the vision for a bike park on Bowen.
The Bowen Island Bike Park group envisions a “pump track” and an intermediate level trail to be built in the portion of community lands behind the BICS outdoor classroom. This plan envisions all structures to be made of earth, while keeping the forest intact aside from the removal of alders.
The proposed site is currently designated as part of a land bank for development at some point, but the municipality has no plans currently under consideration.
The motion to council, put forward by Councilor Melanie Mason asked that council approve the site “in principle.”
However, councilors Alison Morse and Maureen Nicholson were not happy moving ahead with that for procedural reasons, they said. In the end council voted in favor of a motion giving staff the go ahead to investigate the suitability of the site and work with the Bike Park group on a preliminary design.
Council will decide whether to go ahead with the site and the park following the creation of a report by municipal staff.
