The development of Cape Roger Curtis took another step on Friday, Sept. 16 with the opening of the one-kilometre oceanfront trail called the Roger Curtis Seawalk. The trail is being gifted to Bowen by developers Cape on Bowen and runs from the Cape's lighthouse to Collingwood Point.
Owners Don Ho and Edwin Lee hosted a "celebration" at Lighthouse Point on the Cape to mark the opening and over 100 Islanders turned out for a ribbon cutting, speeches, music from Islander Shari Ulrich and food and drink. The crowd was a mixture of Bowen officials and grateful Island families.
The event also marked a completion of roadways in the area known as phase 1 of the development. With the work now completed, Cape Drive, which begins where Whitesails ends, winds along, passing lots and side roads, before reaching the lighthouse and the new trail.
Ho and Lee said they've each walked the trail many times. Ho told the Undercurrent that creating it and gifting it to the community was not a difficult decision. "We offered the trail to the Bowen community because we believed it was the right thing to do," he said.
"It would have been very unkind to the people who had been enjoying the beautiful views from the various spectacular look-out points like the Lighthouse, the Pebble Beach and the Arbutus Point, before our development. Hence we designed the trail to connect all these three distinctly remarkable locations for more people to enjoy than just the few who would own the waterfront properties."
The cost of building the trail was half a million dollars. The executive officer of sales and marketing, Candy Ho, said that "with value of lost waterfront land and some loss of privacy for waterfront lots, the value of the trail is at least a million dollars."
Don Ho called the occasion a "joyous" one and told the crowd they wanted to create a legacy for the Island. "This is a day of celebration," Ho said.
Among the Bowen officials were councillors Cro Lucas and Doug Hooper. One family with two young children said they simply took the opportunity to take the kids to a place they could run about while listening to great music and mixing with fellow Islanders over a meal.
Karen McGregor and her son Daniel went out to see the trail and give their thanks to the owners. She said not taking the owners up on their offer for a park in exchange for more density was a missed opportunity of "gargantuan proportions." McGregor feels the parkland offer would have been a great way to "preserve" a large parcel of land.
"I thought the owners put on a very nice spread to mark the opening of the new trail," she said. "Daniel thoroughly enjoyed his hamburger and juice, I enjoyed my grilled asparagus and glass of red, and as always, watching the sun go down on one of Bowen's many bays never disappoints."
The trail will be operated by the municipality.
