Flat Iron JunctIon - CivicWeb · Flat Iron Junction will be designed to fit into the landscape and...
Transcript of Flat Iron JunctIon - CivicWeb · Flat Iron Junction will be designed to fit into the landscape and...
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.