Does everybody remember the Neighbourhood Plan? The one where Bowen Island gets a massive park, over 300 acres of some of the best land Cape Roger Curtis has to offer, and other amenities, while the developers get an increase in density?
That plan is dead in the waters off the Cape, right?
Maybe wrong.
In an interview with Don Ho, one of two owners of Cape Roger Curtis, Ho said that if the Bowen public and new Bowen council to be elected in November were to desire "open and honest dialogue" with a view to altering course at the Cape, then a variation of the NP could be created.
Ho did not bring the matter up. In fact, at the opening of the Roger Curtis Seawalk last Friday he said the Cape on Bowen was satisfied that "the powers that be" had made their decision and, despite the Cape's best efforts to give Bowen what they felt it wanted, they had no quarrel with council's will.
However he responded to an email question from the Undercurrent the following day about the possibility of the NP being resurrected with the new council, should that council prefer to see something other than 59 10-acre lots built on the 631 acres, with very little in the way of amenities.
"We will respond accordingly should the new council wish to encourage us to revisit the Neighborhood Plan," Ho wrote. "As long as the outcome meets both the public's wishes and makes good business sense for us as developers, we are always happy to accommodate."
Ho and Lee stated throughout earlier debates over the CRC lands that any outcome would need to include a density that enabled The Cape on Bowen to see an adequate return on their development dollar.
They have stated in the past that the current development plan gives them a greater return than the NP would but they created the NP because community consultation suggested many Islanders preferred it.
To date 14 10-acre lots have already been developed to some degree and at the opening of the oceanfront Seawalk, gifted to Bowen from the Cape on Bowen, Ho and co-owner Edwin Lee said that eight of those lots had been sold and deals on another two could soon be finalized.
"There has always been immense interest in the unique waterfront properties from potential purchasers," he later
told the Undercurrent. "It is very likely that phase 2 will commence next year."
Edwin Lee said the intention is to sell phase 1 lots before constructing more lots and roads so the timetable for phase 2 is not yet set.
Lee added that he, too, is confident they'll continue making sales. "We know it's a great product," he said. Phase 2 will be a mixture of about 10 waterfront and inland lots.
Presumably the drafting of a variation of the NP would not be an easy task given lots have already been sold, but if the Bowen public and a new council should ask to revisit the issue then it appears some kind of park, and other items such as beachfront and seniors housing, could return to the table.
"We have always been willing to work with the community," Ho said. "And we have never closed the doors for an open and honest dialogue."
