The owner of the Bowen Island Pub, Glenn Cormier, introduced his off-island business partner Nicholas Shaw prior to briefly presenting his plans to re-develop the corner of Bowen Island Trunk and Dorman Road. An eager and supportive audience listened, and almost all of the people who spoke following his presentation expressed their feeling that the project was an important step towards revitalizing Snug Cove. Many people also said that, as someone who has proven to be an adept business person and committed member of the community, Cormier is the right person to undertake the job. However, for all the accolades council heard about the project they also heard major concerns about how the development would affect parking in the Cove, whether it would fit within the density provisions of the Official Community Plan (OCP), and whether any developer cost charges would be added to the project.
The two lots that Cormier and Shaw intend to re-develop currently house the Bowen Island Pub building and the parking lot in front of it, on Bowen Island Trunk Road. If the rezoning proceeds as planned, a new building will go up on the current parking lot. This would include retail space on the lower floor along, the pub on the second floor, and three studio-style rental-housing units on the third. Cormier called this “phase one” of the project. The so-called “phase two” of the project would involve tearing down the current pub building and replaceing it with up to nine housing units, and one retail-unit.
The most prevalent concern about the plan involved the changes to available parking in the Cove that are inherent in this plan. Cormier says that the plan includes 24 parking spaces on the lot as well as seven on Dorman Road and two on Bowen Island Trunk Road.
Jan LeRoy, the owner 983 Davies Road (just beside the pub on the Dorman Road side) said that while she welcomed the idea that the pub would move away from the residential part of Dorman Road for the sake of noise, she was concerned that the Davies Road would itself become a parking lot – making the current experience of residents having to listen to people chatting as they exit the pub late at night even worse.
Merrel Dyson expressed her fear that parking would become severly limited during phase 2 of the project, when the current pub building is being torn down and re-built.
By far, though, the most vocal objections to the parking situation came from Wolfgang Duntz, who said that while he supported Cormier’s efforts, the municipality has failed to deal with the parking crunch in the Cove. The pub development, he said, will only become worse with the increased traffic. He went on to say that the municipality had set a precedent with this rezoning in terms of parking requirements that future developers in the Cove will want to abide by, and had “disabled” current businesses in the area from operating because they will not have parking for their customers.
Both Peter Frinton and Nerys Poole questioned the fact that the re-zoning of the lot was being put forward as a Land Use Bylaw amendment, as opposed to an OCP [Official Community Plan] amendment.
“Although the planner seems confident that the density requirements meet complaince with the OCP, I would recommend they take another look at that,” said Frinton. “All Snug Cove housing is subject to section 3.”
Section 3 of the Official Community Plan puts a density cap of 17.5 units of housing per acre of land.
Nerys Poole made a similar request. She says that while she considers the plan a great opportunity for the Cove to move forward in the spirit of the OCP, if the plan is not compliant it could leave the project vulnerable to being stopped entirely, or could open the door to a lawsuit.
Nerys also stood in agreement with Bill Granger, who earlier, had expressed his general agreement with the plan but who recommended a number of “refinements” to the bylaw ammendment before passing it. Among those recommendations, was the suggestion that council establish Development Cost Charges to ensure that in exchange for the benefit of property development on Bowen, Cormier and other developers help to pay for community amenities such as a new fire hall or a new water system.
Due to the regulations surrounding a public hearing, Cormier was not able to respond to the concerns raised. However, he says, should the re-zoning pass, he intends to hold a public information session in order to recieve input regarding the design of the development.
