Growth plan needed for islands that are being loved to death

 

By KATHY DUNSTER

At the September Trust Council on Bowen Island, a number of people, representing many groups and individuals on the islands called on the Islands Trust, local trust committees and the Bowen Island Municipality to place a moratorium on development, until we know without any doubt what we have, what we want to hold on to, what we need to preserve and protect, and how we are going to accomplish this.

We are islanders by choice and we live on rural islands in the Islands Trust Area. We value and seek inspiration from the unique natural and cultural environments we inhabit. We need peace and quiet, slow traffic, wildlife in our backyards, working farmlands, cultural events that celebrate our sense of place and community, and many other things that ensure that the social, environmental and economic well-being of each and every island, and islander (human and non-human) in the Islands Trust Area is cared for, now and in the future.

It is increasingly clear the Islands Trust and our island communities cannot keep up with the fast pace of development that has overwhelmed us for the past 10 years, and lot by lot, subdivision by subdivision, we are losing sight of the much bigger picture that is embodied locally in our official community plans, and collectively in the Islands Trust Policy Statement.

The word "moratorium," while possibly scary to some, simply means a suspension, freeze, time-out, delay, halt or pause until we can catch our collective breaths and find the legislation, tools, budget and governance model that will allow us to take care of our islands and preserve and protect the things we value, including the communities in which we live. We need time to remember and reflect on the reasons why we chose to become islanders, and why we chose to live on a specific island.

None of this can happen if development continues apace. I don't think any developer would like to advertise that one of the virtues of buying a new house on an island is so you can live in suburbia, just like on the mainland. I also don't think that the "scenic" viewing of new subdivisions parading across the landscape should be a tourism feature promoted by the islands.

The word development, while scary to many of us, is a fact of population growth, and people need to live somewhere. Where that somewhere is, is the issue. Can every person that visits our islands (because of our strategies to promote tourism), fall in love with them, and then expect to move here? Is that what happens in other parts of the world (and especially other islands) that are being loved to death?

We need to slow down now and find the answers. We have no idea what the full costs to a community really are, when a development is proposed and approved. There are new planning tools available that every island community can use to find the answers and select the best solutions. And every solution must be driven by a conservation ethic that respects and responds to the land, the waters and the human and non-human inhabitants that make up each and every island as they were, are now, and are envisioned in the OCPs for the future.

The islands do not have a growth management strategy that takes into account the things that define our limits to growth including a very small developable land base, infrequent water supply, the need to preserve and protect sensitive ecosystems and species, agricultural lands, the marine environment, infrastructure, as well as the ability of our communities to absorb new people and grow without compromising the things that we love and cherish.

Growth management is therefore essential if the islands are going to survive with any chance of ecological and social integrity (the way we want them to, because that's why we are here and not in a city). A moratorium is therefore not about stopping development, it's about making sure that we are really sure about why we need development, where we want it to go, and what we need to do to be absolutely certain our distin ct island environments and cultures are going to survive and slowly evolve with their landscapes for the next 500 years or so.

Can the Islands Trust, local trust committees and the Bowen Island Municipality implement such a "moratorium". The answer is "Yes". The Courts have been very clear that the Islands Trust can prevent, or at least delay residential subdivision and other development in order to uphold the legislated Object of the Trust (preserve and protect). The Province created the Islands Trust, and delegated to it the powers to uphold the Object. So if ever there was a time for the Islands Trust to use its powers to slow down, using whatever word we are all comfortable with, in order to figure out what we are trying to preserve and protect, and how to do this, it is right now.

 

The writer is a Bowen Island biologist, former Trust Fund Board member and long-time Islands Trust observer.