On April 18th, Bowen Island Municipal Council received the revised Steep Slopes Land Use Bylaw from BIM Planner, Hap Stelling. It was discussed and passed. Next up on the agenda was the first reading of the 2011 Municipal Budget. It was the first budget presentation for the Municipality's recently installed CFO, Karen Blow. Both the Steep Slopes Bylaw and the Budget will have a significant impact on the island going forward.
The Steep Slopes Bylaw places impediments if one plans to develop or renovate property and/or buildings that are on land with a grade of 30 degrees or more. This will not only have an effect on the larger developers but also the so-called mom and pop developers who have land they intend to develop and sell as part of their retirement strategies. Historically, the mom & pop devs. make up about half of the development that takes place on the island.
The 2011 Budget proposes a modest increase in taxes that is proposed to be below 3 percent, however, there will be a reduction in service and it will be a year of transition where in subsequent years, the tax increase will increase significantly. Next year's newly installed Council will be faced with a targeted tax increase around 9%, however, this is still under discussion amongst existing Council members. There is much more to the proceedings. Councillor Hooper towards the end of the budget portion of the meeting addressed some of the more weighty concerns about our island's long term financial picture with the most notable item being to plan for infrastructure replacement cost. However, long term planning and attempting to arrive at a fix for the cascading revenue shortfall was not part of the discussion in a meaningful way. The emphasis was placed on trimming expense, cost recovery and latterly mentioning the proposed 9% tax hike in 2012. There will be additional "kicks" at this budget before it is passed within a couple of weeks but the majority of what is presented here will stick.
You can Download the video here [QuickTime - 433.13 MB] ( with Internet Explorer use right-click > save target as, on a Mac use control-click > save link as... ) or you can watch online you can view after the break.
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