welcome to

Flat Iron JunctIon

This document is an excerpt from an historic document included in the 2013 Community Lands

Strategy and the March 2016 Community Lands Council workshop.

communIty landS deVelopment propoSal

oVerVIew

Subject to the approval of our Municipal Council a Craftsman’s

Village called Flat Iron Junction will be created on the east end of

Parcel #1 of the Community Lands, facing Grafton Road. It will

consist of live/work loft units and large footprint, high ceiling

buildings housing light industrial spaces. The entire complex will

be 80,000 square feet and built as required to meet the community’s

need for workshop and warehousing space.

BackGround

The recent Official Community Plan Update contains the following

direction regarding “Light Industrial Land Use Management”.

(Page 54)

Objective 73 To encourage light industrial activity serving the Bowen

Island community, provided it has a minimal impact on nearby uses.

Including noise, dust, glare and traffic, and is visually well screened from

adjacent uses.

Policy 187 Current and future owners or operators of industrial land

uses are encouraged to work with the Municipality to find a suitable

location where industrial uses serving local needs can be located together,

instead of scattered across the island, giving consideration to the criteria

established.

The Snug Cove Action Plan (Phase 2, July 2007) contains this

reference.

The Surplus Lands Working Group presented its report to Council

in May 2007 entitled Bowen Island’s Sustainable Future: A Strategy

for the Use and Disposition of Municipal Lands in Snug Cove. The

report recommended that Council pursue the disposition of Site

1 (triangular parcel on the south side of Mount Gardner Road) as

the mechanism to generate revenue in the short term to retire the

municipal loan that was used to acquire the Surplus Lands from

the GVRD. In June 2007, Municipal Council passed a resolution

supporting that recommendation.

(RES #07-135 THAT COUNCIL ENDORSE IN PRINCIPLE RECOMMENDATION

6.6.1 OF THE SURPLUS LANDS WORKING GROUP REPORT, DATED MAY

2007, INCLUDING THE POSSIBILITY OF ACCOMMODATING MIXED USE

OPPORTUNITIES)

GoalS

This project will:

• include loft style units designed to provide live/work space for creative entrepreneurs and craftspeople. These residential/work units will provide an opportunity for an affordable alternative for those who cannot do their work in a conventional single family residence.

• provide large interior spaces with high ceilings to accommodate small scale manufacturers and trades people.

• provide warehouse, office and assembly space for the support services so critical to the economical functioning of the building trade, retail and service businesses already located on the island.

• use the Community Lands for a purpose consistent with Municipal Council’s undertaking to use this land to foster the economic, social and environmental health of the community.

The first phase will relieve the current pent-up demand. As additional demand arises appropriate accommodation will be constructed. Our assumption is that this site will meet the community’s needs for many years to come.

oBJectIVeS

Phase one of Flat Iron Junction will consist of initial site servicing

and construction of a ten thousand square foot building. This first

building will house five loft units and five shop and warehouse

spaces of one thousand square feet each. Each unit will have a

separate strata title and the owners will form the strata corporation

which will thereafter enforce the bylaws of the new development.

Additional buildings will be built as demand dictates. It may well

be ten to fifteen years before the project is complete. However, for

the duration of the build-out period the light industrial needs of

the crafts people, building trades and businesses of Bowen will be

met.

Flat Iron Junction will be designed to fit into the landscape and

protection of the surrounding natural forest will be a priority.

The form and character of the buildings at Flat Iron Junction will

be practical and functional but with an appreciation that the final

design statement must reflect the aesthetic sense demonstrated in

the other commercial and public buildings on the island.

Many green building processes, such as geo-thermal heating

and waste-water recycling only become economically viable in

larger projects. Our objective is to explore and utilize these new

technologies whenever economically viable.

clIentele

This project seeks to serve not only the business and crafts people who will build, buy or rent space at Flat Iron Junction. We are also serving the greater community of Bowen Island by supplying homes for those businesses which will provide local goods, services, jobs, tax revenue, investment opportunities and construction employment. In order to attract the broadest possible range of users automotive repair will be specifically excluded from permitted uses. Further, no outside storage of materials or unlicensed vehicles will be allowed.

enVIronmental Impact

The site is second growth mixed forest surrounded by main roads and built-up institutional development. The major ecological feature is Terminal Creek, at the west end of the site. All building envelopes will be positioned to ensure the perpetual conservation of the Terminal Creek riparian zone thereby providing a greenway for wildlife to pass from the Crippen Park and Snug Cove areas to the Grafton Lake valley. Building will also be positioned on the south side of the site to maintain a continuous forested area along Mount Gardner Road. Storm water will be dispersed into this natural forested area.

communIty land Value and ImplIcatIonS

The Surplus Lands Working Group felt that this type of development

would be uneconomical due to the lack of immediate demand and

the time that it would take to absorb these units into the real estate

market. Certainly no private land owner would consider utilizing

property for light industrial use when residential building lots are far

more valuable. However, every community of our size requires light

industrial space, as acknowledged in the OCP Update. Since private

land owners will not provide land for this purpose it behooves the

Municipal Government to step in, acknowledging that the ultimate

sale price will be lower than that anticipated for residential use.

The area under consideration is seven acres of Parcel #1 which is a

total of 21.6 acres. Part of the remaining acreage will remain natural

forest to preserve Terminal Creek and Guild Creek. However the

balance of this parcel (approximately 10 acres) remains available for

other uses or land banking.

next StepS

We have reached the point where our Municipal Council must decide if a light industrial area is desirable for Bowen. If it is, then the OCP Update provisions can be adopted and planning for a project such as Flat Iron Junction can begin.

Usage allocations must be made for a portion of the Community Lands and a decision made to move ahead with an appropriate OCP amendment and rezoning.

Thank you for taking the time to review this proposal.

Yours truly,

Murray Skeels

Mount Gardner Road

Preschool & Teen CentreArtisan

Septic FieldGrafton Road

Carter Road

Term

inal C

reek

Presen

t Nat

ural B

oundary

500’

Green & Septic(min 50’ setback)

Green

Green

APPROXIMATE R

IPARIA

N ZONE

BUILDINGS 40’ x 125‘ - 2 STOREY - approx 80,000SQ.’

COVE

BAY

WAT

ER M

AIN

Studio Drive

Loft Lane

This document is an excerpt from an historic document included in the 2013 Community Lands

Strategy and the March 2016 Community Lands Council workshop.