Toilets had tongues a-wagging on Monday night as Bowen Island councillors passed a resolution that will see at least one porta potty go up at Pebbly Beach, in the same location it was last year on the northeast edge of Senator Place.
Bonny Brokenshire, manager of parks and environment, said that there were no complaints last year after the porta potty was moved to the discreet beach corner and a brown lattice façade was erected. Like last year, the fecal bouquet will be monitored and the potty pumped weekly.
There’s also the possibility of one or two mobile toilets being installed near Village Square for people in the ferry lineup. Councillor Maureen Nicholson says that too few public toilets puts undue pressure on local businesses’ bogs.
Ferry marshalling
Five to eight car spaces of ferry marshalling are being eliminated from Trunk Road east of Cardena Drive.
The current Cardena Road alignment in that portion of the road, which is closest to the dock, leaves the middle lane as a sort of no-man’s land, which community planner Emma Chow said that cars going in either direction tend to use. Once that portion of ferry marshalling is gone, there will still be more than enough lineup space, said Chow. BIM will communicate with the public before any action is taken.
Tourism numbers
Murray Atherton, chair of Tourism Bowen Island, told council that 2017 tourism numbers were up 79 per cent from the year before, with more than 14,000 guests at the visitors centre alone. He also unveiled a new mobile tourism kiosk, which will begin roaming shortly.
Kids’ wall
The wall along Cardena Drive, as you get off the ferry, will once again be adorned by children’s chalk art. Council approved funding for the Community Recreation Summer Camps to have kids decorate the space on a week by week basis for the summer months.
Logging
Defend Island Forests, a group founded last year
after some Bowen Crown land was zoned for logging, wants to extend Metro Vancouver’s Crippen Park onto Mt. Gardner and Mt. Collins. The group brought the idea to the Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Committee last week to a warm reception.
David Hocking and former Bowen mayor Bob Turner pre- sented the concept to Metro Vancouver as a fitting land addi- tion to their Vancouver 2040 plan, though the ulterior motive is to “get the allowable annual cut off Bowen’s lands,” said Hocking.
Though Bowen has gone through park debates before, Hocking says he’s not worried about it reaching the same level of controversy. “Having a regional park, an extension of Crippin Park, which we already have and we’re already comfortable with, is a very different prospect than having a national park.”
BIM councillor Maureen Nicholson was also at the Metro Vancouver meeting, and raised the issue Monday night.
“The committee was very impressed by the presentation,” she said. “They pointed out a number of issues to the group, including making sure First Nations were on their radar.”
Hocking says that Defend Island Forests is meeting soon to hash out a proposal to present the Regional Parks Committee.
Community centre
Council unanimously decided to move onto the fourth phase of the community centre project.
Construction drawings, the building permit application and fundraising are included in this phase, which is budget- ed at $155,000. The centre, which is to go in east of BICS, is to include a community living room, recreation spaces, and municipal offices.
