The site is close to Snug Cove and Bowen Court. It has an interesting topography and beautiful views. The lot of the community lands that borders Government Road and Seniors Lane has long been earmarked for the site of Bowen Island's future community centre but a new sketch reveals Bowen council's bigger plans. The sketch is rough and not to scale but it clearly illustrates the idea of a community campus, showing five different buildings that could potentially house a municipal hall, community centre, performing arts space, library, clinic, housing for seniors, affordable housing and more. Mayor Jack Adelaar and councillors Cro Lucas and Darron Jennings explained that this new approach has a number of benefits.
Jennings calls the sketch "an educational exercise" that was created to give people clarity. He added that that the property falls within the water district and that connection to the sewer lines is possible. "That is the only piece of property [of the community lands] that has that capability," he said.
One of the advantages of developing the concept of a community campus, is that it can start relatively soon, according to Lucas, who said, "It's council's job to enable it to happen. And by enabling, I mean that council is providing the space and ensuring that the infrastructure is in place and the zoning is done. What happens then is basically up to community."
The starting point was taking a look at the community lands to identify areas that could be potential building sites and Lucas sees those sites as "launching pads" for various projects. Such an approach would accommodate multiple needs and ideas that have been identified by the community.
Lucas said that the board of the Snug Cove House Society has already approached council to express an interest in being part of it. Lucas explained that the community campus project would trigger a huge economic stimulus. He also believes that it would revitalize the area and potentially open the door to developing additional community lands.
Lucas made it clear that including a municipal hall in the community centre was identified as a way of moving the project forward without having to solely rely on fundraising as the rent that is paid for municipal offices would be applied to a mortgage. "We've been paying rent for 13 years. And we have not applied those funds toward increasing our capital base. It makes fiscal sense to build a municipal hall we own as long as we don't pay more money out than we currently pay in rent," he said.
In addition to the mortgage, Lucas believes it will be key to secure grant money as well as private donor funding. And as well as providing community spaces, council could look at revenue opportunities, such as housing and commercial rental units.
One of the reasons to move away from a single building housing a combination of a municipal hall, community centre and performing arts space has to do with affordability.
"We reached a point where we identified that a community centre with a municipal hall of about 14,000 square feet would cost something in the order of $8 to $10 million," Lucas said, adding that the municipal hall components could provide the ability to raise almost $3 million. Even with grants and donations, he believes that this funding model is "tenuous."
"By breaking it into components, we look at a potentially much lower cost," he said, explaining that it is cheaper to build a structure with a smaller footprint and add more storeys.
Jennings said that the smaller buildings would allow local contractors to be involved.
"Constructing a sizeable building on Bowen Island can be very challenging," he said, adding that local builders could potentially offer a better price point, save money on operating costs in the future and limit the dependence on consultants and heavy equipment.
Jennings has done what is called "ground proofing" - he walked the site and identified opportunities. "That's the first step where you look at geographic constraints and gain an understanding where the difficulties lie and where the easy sites are," he said, adding that easier sites translate into lesser construction cost. He's drawn up the sketch to outline those opportunities but says that the availability of funds will likely dictate how big the buildings will be.
Jennings sees a lot of synergy between the ideas that have come forward and says that "the site can handle that and more."
"I feel that we are blessed as a community to have purchased that land. It gives us an inspiring and uniting opportunity to do something for the community," Jennings said. "It is a beautiful site all across. It has beautiful views and opportunities for interesting topographical uses."
Adelaar believes the community campus is a terrific idea. "It's gotten away from the concept of having one building," he said. "We realized that if we spread it out and have different use areas, we can build it incrementally and that is far less challenging."
Adelaar said that by providing the infrastructure, council makes the land available for different purposes.
"What we have done is opening up the thinking surrounding the community centre plan. There are five areas that will take buildings of various sizes," he said, adding that it will be up to community groups to evaluate what to build and how to fund the construction as well as ongoing operation.
Jennings added that the community campus concept owes much to the work of previous community centre committees and wanted to especially mention BIM's director of community services Christine Walker, CAO Kathy Lalonde and councillor Tim Rhodes for their contributions.
