DEAR EDITOR:
We would like to compliment both Tim Misko and Gregory Pollard for their considered and thoughtful letters to the editor in last week’s Undercurrent on the subjects of Land Use Bylaw amendments and Grafton Lake water protection.
We fully support all the points that they have presented regarding the recent behaviour of the current municipal council.
Council’s dismissive and paternalistic attitude to Bowen residents who present submissions on such matters as the development variance permit affecting Ecclestone Beach; the creative staircase proposal to address the issue of access to Ecclestone Beach; the Official Community Plan amendment that extended the range of temporary use permits to all of Bowen Island (including residential neighbourhoods); and the current proposed Land Use Bylaw amendments is insulting and demoralizing.
With particular regard to the LUB Amendment process, what may have started out as an attempt at “housekeeping” has mushroomed into a huge omnibus bill encompassing many amendments that will have unknown, possibly unintended, and negative effects on the quiet, peaceful, rural Bowen Island that many of us moved here for. If this Council continues on its current path, we might as well stop calling it Bowen Island, and simply refer to it as “West Van West.” While it may seem easier for Undercurrent readers to read letters such as those of Mr. Misko and Mr. Pollard, and then just put the paper into recycling, we urge all Bowen Islanders to give serious consideration to the council’s current intention of a third reading and passing of the current proposed amended Land Use Bylaw, and to implore council and staff to stop the process, divide the omnibus proposal into smaller sections that can undergo more public consultation and public debate with all Islanders before any further action is taken.
Brian Buckingham and Margaret Underhill
