Unfortunately, you can't participate in this project anymore because it has been archived

Community Economic Development Plan

Bowen Island Municipality is finishing up the Community Economic Development Plan. The idea is to ensure an island economy that is diverse, sustainable, innovative, and serves the needs of residents, businesses, and visitors.

Funded by the provincial Rural Dividend Fund, the plan discusses a range of short and long-term issues, needs, and opportunities to enhance existing and new businesses and associated employment. The plan is complementary to the objectives of the Bowen Official Community Plan.

We'd like to thank the Bowen Island residents, businesses, and community members who participated in planning for our economic future.

Consultation activities and plan creation were coordinated by Hill+Knowlton Strategies, who worked with local community engagement expert Vince Verlaan, Principal of OD4Impact, and community economic development expert David Van Seters, Founder and President of Sustainability Ventures.

Frequently asked questions

What is community economic development?

Community economic development is “a community-driven process where communities identify and initiate their own solutions to economic, social, and environmental issues to build healthy, economically viable communities. It contains principles and goals based on a grassroots approach to development, where communities choose deliberate actions to influence the local economy and improve the quality of life for its residents.” (Source)

What is the purpose of creating a community economic development plan?

The purpose of the community economic development plan for Bowen Island is to provide strategies by which local organizations can ensure that their community is economically sustainable, resilient, and innovative in keeping with the Bowen Island Municipality Official Community Plan. The plan will also address ways to manage and adapt to COVID-19 from a community economic development perspective. The plan is designed to serve the needs of island residents, businesses, and visitors, ensuring that no one gets left behind.

Does this mean more businesses or tourism on the Island?

The goals of the community economic development plan are to create employment opportunities for all who want it; strengthen the local economy while improving social and environmental conditions; enhance quality of life, and build a healthy vibrant society.

For some residents, this might mean attracting more tourists or more off-island businesses. For others, it might mean fewer tourists spending more money, and a focus on growing and supporting existing local businesses.

It will be important for residents, businesses, and other community members to participate in the consultation process to create a community economic development plan for Bowen Island that is beneficial to the whole community.

When did this project take place?

Initial planning for the creation of a Community Economic Development Plan for Our Sustainable Future began in 2019, with a Phase 1 report being completed in March 2020. Work was suspended for most of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed in February 2021 with a series of community consultations. A completed plan will be presented to municipal council for their final consideration In November 2021.

How did people participate in this project?

There were three major community input activities.

In the first activity, a questionnaire covering 14 sub-topics garnered over 185 responses, providing feedback and opinions about current economic opportunities on Bowen Island, as well as our economic future.

For the second activity, invited stakeholders and as many community members as possible had the opportunity to discuss five specific topics in Focus Groups designed by Hill & Knowlton Strategies. The topics, including cross-cutting themes for these workshops were:

Health & Wellness
Food System
Knowledge Sector
Strategic Tourism
Commercial & Industrial

In these workshops, we focused on areas of great potential, but we also discussed the cross-cutting priorities and other topics and ideas you've provided.

The third activity was a Digital Town Hall on Wednesday, June 23, that provided everyone a chance to comment on emerging directions for a new Community Economic Development Plan.

How were the topics for the focus groups and town hall determined?

In March of 2020, Council received a Phase 1 Findings Report for this project based on research including existing BIM plans, surveys and studies, along with census data, comparator community research, and other references. Based on this report, in January 2021 our H&K consultants created an online survey featuring 13 themes. 185 Bowen Islanders completed the survey (link to survey summary). From the input gathered, five topic areas to focus on were identified, along with five cross-cutting priorities. Each topic was briefly summarized in a backgrounder provided to participants prior to the 90-minute online Focus Group. After analyzing the comments from the Focus Groups, our consultants determined that the next engagement event, the Digital Town Hall, would focus on three areas that particularly needed further exploration: Responsible Tourism, Light Industry, and open-ended feedback-gathering from participants on their priorities. Substantial time for questions and comments from residents on their priorities will also be a part of this Town Hall. Find more project information on the CEDC page.

A lot has changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. How do we think about the future when we’re trying to get by day-to-day.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us on Bowen Island. As we start to rebuild, it will be important to think carefully about how we can create a more resilient Bowen Island with opportunities for economic development that benefit the entire community.

How will the new CED Plan address problems created by COVID-19?

Community Economic Development is a way to plan and act over a long period of time to empower a community to take charge of its own future. While it is not a quick fix to solve an immediate crisis, COVID-19 has created new challenges and opportunities to build a resilient Bowen Island economy that benefits all residents.

Who coordinated this project?

Hill+Knowlton Strategies was selected through a competitive process to run Phases 2 and 3 of the project titled “A Bowen Island Community Economic Development Plan: Community Engagement and Formal Plan Development”. Hill+Knowlton worked with local experts from OD4Impact.com and Sustainability Ventures.

How was this project funded?

This project was funded by a grant provided by the provincial Rural Dividend Fund.

What happens to the information I provided?

The consulting team for the project collected and summarized participant input shared online, by paper, or in-person as the project progressed. Comments were anonymized.

I would like to speak to someone directly. Who should I contact?

Please contact Stef Shortt, Community Economic Development Liaison at sshortt@bimbc.ca or 604-947-4255

Download everything on Citizenlab in a PDF.pdf

(1.0 MB)

Phases

Phases overview

Phase 1: Background

Background

Phase 2: Public Engagement

Public Engagement

Phase 3: Plan Development

Plan Development

Phase 4: Public Feedback

Public Feedback

Phase 5: Plan Completion

Plan Completion

Public Engagement

February 18, 2021 8:00 AM - June 25, 2021 7:00 AM

Creation of the Community Economic Development (CED) Plan needed the active input and support of Bowen Island residents, businesses, and other community members. Your participation was key to creating a relevant, sustainable, local community plan for Bowen Island. Between June and September, there were many opportunities for you to share ideas, talk to your neighbours, and contribute to the plan. Check out the ideas submitted by islanders below!

Phases 1-3 of Public Engagement Complete!

Phase One: Community Questionnaire

Phase One of the Public Engagement Plan comprised a survey that contained 13 themes which had been pulled from the CED Plan Findings Report. Here is a link to the survey (now closed): Community Economic Development Plan Questionnaire (MS Word). 185 residents completed the survey which included both rated questions and extensive room for explanation. The H&K Team generated an informative summary assessment which may be found here: Summary of Survey Results.

Phase Two: Focus Groups

The H&K Team generated five topics to inform as many Focus Groups with the following cross-cutting priorities threaded in: Housing, environmental stewardship, economic leakage (off-island spending), training & education and demonstration projects. You may find background information in the following topic papers:

Over 60 Bowen Islanders participated in the Focus Groups between May 12th and 19th. The facilitator asked participants the following questions:

Why is this sector important to Bowen?
Name a Bowen success story.
How does this sector relate to the cross-cutting priorities?
Share a "Big Idea".

Opportunities, challenges, success stories, cross-cutting priorities, and big ideas for the future were brainstormed and then discussed within each focus group. Answers were collected on post-it notes and will be used to inform the next step of public engagement. Notes from these sessions are being compiled into a summary report that will be available shortly. Thanks to all of our participants for your time and ideas!

Phase Three: Digital Town Hall

The final engagement event for the Community Economic Development Plan was on June 23 at our Digital Town Hall with 58 participants. Building on the findings from our survey and focus groups, this was another opportunity for residents to provide feedback before the project team drafts the plan over the summer.

Two of the topics focused on were responsible tourism and light industrial, and there was lots of time for open-ended questions and comments.

Everyone had an opportunity to comment on a draft Community Economic Development Plan document.

210712 Summary of SLED Engagement Findings.pdf

(211.7 KB)

27 ideas

unknown author5 years ago Good Neighbour BylawThere is opportunity to support more people working from home and small home-based businesses, as well as the opportunity to spread small-scale commercial operations throughout our island neighbourhoods. It is essential that this be done in a way that does not negatively impact all that we now value on Bowen – the peace and quiet, the natural environment, and the sense of community in our neighbourhoods. What we most value on Bowen, as defined in our Branding Exercise, must be protected in our neighbourhoods for any economic development plan to succeed.We need to develop a “Good Neighbour” bylaw/policy (suggested by Richard Helm in the March 22 Council meeting). It would provide a consistent set of protections for all residents of Bowen Island; so that they can live with the confidence that as their neighbours pursue new opportunities, the resulting changes in landuse/zoning/permitting etc. will not negatively impact the experience of Bowen Island for other residents of the neighbourhood.Rosemary Knight, April 5, 2021

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago Most businesses on Bowen Island do not offer public washrooms, or if they did, they have since stopped during COVID. Many have even stopped offering washroom services for guests. I know if I am running errands in Vancouver, I can not find a place 'to go' unless I buy something from a restaurant or cafe, or fill up my vehicle with gasoline. Those are all examples of businesses that are required by law to provide washroom facilities. Simply suspending usage of washrooms in private business has not stopped the human need to go.If there were public washrooms available, this would offload the commons of the ferry washrooms to the newly created public washrooms.For those that want to encourage visitors, this gives a nice way for local businesses to stay safe and point to the public washrooms.Additionally, I think we all want to discourage visitors "going" in public parks.Some of the main concerns I've heard about the ferry washrooms are overuse, and businesses that point to the ferry washroom instead of trying to pay for their own. I too would like to have somewhere for my guests to bike to and go, instead of piggybacking on the ferries facilities. Additionally, what will the situation be like short term in 2021 when the updates are made to the ferry terminal in Snug Cove. I don't believe there will be any washrooms available?Where the placement of these new washrooms, would be up for a community debate, but for now just the idea of having public washrooms on Bowen would be great for everyone here, and visitors.In short this is a great idea for businesses to welcome visitors, but can not provide washrooms for them. This is great for visitors who need to 'go' while exploring Bowen's beauty, and do not want to defile it. This is great for locals who will also need to 'go' once in a while, while abroad from Snug Cove. This is great for ourselves to 'pay our way' instead of treating a the ferry's facilities as public grounds.Please comment below, constructive criticism and ideas welcomed! The Best - Brendan

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago An idea that I have had for a number of years. The idea is to link together beds, meetings spaces, restaurants and recreational amenities through a single booking site that allows for a group to book a retreat that is hosted by the entire village. To do this takes a concerted effort of different service providers but it does provide an opportunity for new businesses (co-op laundry, housekeeping, retreat hosting). The idea is that a retreat of 100 people for example could be hosted using a distributed network of providers working together. It would mean that we could attract larger groups for longer stays and have the entire village pull together to do it. here is the concept paper: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s13/sh/7fc73814-df63-4229-836e-627cc4fe5fc0/

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago Everyone knows that housing is the biggest problem on Bowen. Any talk of sustainability if it is to include local residents must address this issue. The alternative is hundreds of mainlanders coming to Bowen each day to service the residents. This was predicted 30 years ago so I do not have much faith in this solution. My wife and I waited 10 years to find a sustainable accommodation so we could age in place. We know live in West Vancouver, the closest we could get.

unknown author5 years ago We have many teen artists on Bowen who would LOVE a legal art wall to unleash their creativity on. Anywhere close to the Cove would be ideal.Interested young artists would apply for their own spot on the wall (divided into sections) that they can design and change at any time, creating an ever-changing gallery of art. Ideally, each teen would receive a supply budget ($100 - $150? - paints are costly!) for their creation. An alternative for a municipally owned wall could be individuals/business-owned walls that would be offered for this project.

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago Given the number of seniors living on Bowen there is a need for a large scale aging in place facility, or community, that goes beyond the scale of Snug Cove House. At present the only option for seniors is to move off island. It would be very desirable If there was an alternative for seniors to downsize. This would free up their existing properties into the housing market and enable a move into a specialized facility that offered the option of rental or purchase.

unknown author5 years ago Can the community, and perhaps the municipality, work together in running a Community ISP?Rather than paying far away large corporate entities, take control of improving digital connectivity on the island, and pay into a locally run business.With Shaw potentially getting acquired by Rogers, there is less competition than ever in Canada.With the amount of money that people already pay on a monthly basis for an Internet connection, cellphone service, and even some digital cable services, this could add up to a sizable amount of recurring revenue, leading to a sustainable business that could even generate revenue for the municipality.Nearby islands that have cobbled together service might also be serviced and join forces (e.g. Gambier).

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago Bowen could support economic development that is environmentally sustainable for the long term by engaging in projects that ensure Bowen remains ecologically viable for future generations. For example, supporting community power generation capability. Bowen is very vulnerable to lengthy power outages - what if communities had the ability to generate use, and store solar or other green energy in our small areas and contribute back to the grid. It could make us more energy independent while generating higher paid jobs for islanders, than what is currently available via tourism etc.

unknown author5 years ago If the community desires better jobs on island, then we need to set up an industry hub where inputs can be developed into secondary and tertiary products for local and export development. That sounds very grand. Yet it is already happening on Bowen. There is a quarry. It supplies rocks and gravel that we would otherwise have to import from off island. There is an apple orchard that now wants to produce a product for sale on island. Food grown by local farmers is packaged and sold to restaurants and the public. Beauty and body products are made here from raw materials imported from elsewhere. We need to think about the resources we have and how they could be further processed into other goods. From there we can map out the supporting businesses that can be built to support that industry hub. This is a more advanced concept than just have a random group of businesses rent space in an industrial park. It is a planned cluster of interdependent businesses. There is a hub and many spokes. As many resources (inputs) as we can would be acquired on island. I don't have an idea for what the hub business could be. And to be resilient, you would want to set up more than one hub at the same time, ideally that share similar spokes so no one has all revenue coming from one business. But a place to start is to help owners of resources expand their scope of what's possible with their resource. Does the quarry provide all materials to all building projects? With a different grinder, can it make a variety of products suitable for other uses? Is there enough supply to service other islands? Can local truckers and marinecraft ship the quarry's products without using the ferry? What about the marine repair industry? Many boats in the region, not so many places to have them repaired without a lot of hassle. Economic development thinking means working through many scenario (gold can be found where there are hassles, challenges, complaints and uncertainties) to find the interdependencies and help those interested entrepreneurs become engaged in building the spokes. This is the work many states undertook (Clean Washington Center for example) to generate secondary uses for waste materials. They facilitated the birth of many businesses. Today there are solutions for many waste streams and many new jobs and entrepreneurs.

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago All this talk about business development will be in vain if there is no place for working people to live on the island. If you cannot afford to buy a home you will ultimately be forced off the island. We have been watching good people leave this island for almost 2 decades now, and sadly nothing has changed. Except possibly that more homes are being sold out from under renters faster and now they are leaving the island in droves. People do not want to commute to work on Bowen in the service industry. So, over time the services that the community enjoy will shrink and disappear without the necessary work force.

unknown author5 years ago So many of the healing options currently available on the Island, from retreat centres to complementary health services, have a cost entry level that excludes large parts of the population. As an example of addressing this issue, health care practitioners on the Island could hold a free or low cost health clinic once a month where Island practitioners could assess, treat and refer people who might not normally access our services because of cost. This could come under a health plan for the Island as part of its vision of being an island of healing, and could be sponsored by the Health Clinic. Another example of economic inclusivity could include a proposal to charitable funders on the island to have a pool of money available that would partner with providers of retreat and treatment centres to subsidize a percentage of people to attend Bowen treatment or events. This would help raise the image of Bowen Island as a healing community that was ‘walking the walk’ of inclusive care. These are 'softer' approaches to demonstration projects that deepen the economic viability of our vision.

unknown author5 years ago This idea addresses the following issues from the report: economic leakage, connecting business owners, on-island jobs/income, business resilience.Supply-demand relationship in economies (especially in dense communities) form complex webs which recent science and tech (past 1-2 decades) can surface in a network-based form that clearly reveal economic interdependence in a community, and allows it to shape it to their goals. (See references throughout this solution, which is just one example)As the "Industry hubs" idea also describes, economic participants on Bowen Island could better connect their supply-demand points within their existing capacity, and further, they could create additional supply or demand offerings if they were more aware of clear gaps that would complete economic flows which could stay more within Bowen and affect other nodes on Bowen.The type of solution this entails is much more than another marketplace. In conventional marketplaces (digital or physical) economic transactions are a direct line from a supplier to a consumer, i.e. 2 nodes. On the other hand, these emerging network-based marketplaces of the future consider economic flows that affect many nodes in between the supplier and the consumer. Such algorithms can run without affecting the privacy of any intermediary nodes. All the new complexity can be completely hidden from those buying and selling, and exposed only to the admins and engineers of the local economy.With such a solution, a local economy can start to sponsor its own economic growth with much less dependence on outside capital or monetary conditions, and to explicitly connect internal job creation with internal spending and investing power. It's a direct answer to economic leakage and business resilience.While this multi-stakeholder network-flow approach is novel in economics, and has yet to be proven in an full-scale economic environment like the one on Bowen Island, it has been proven superior in specialized sub-economies (the latest inter-bank liquidity markets, resource matching networks, the most successful commercial cryptocurrency (XRP)). There are multiple groups innovating on scaling it to general economies. Myself and another founder of one of these (a non-profit) are Bowen residents. Ours may not be the right one for Bowen, but the CED plan's longer-term view could consider this class of solutions in general.

unknown author5 years ago An idea of a Tourist Code of Behaviour is being developed by other communities dealing with the increasing and sometimes overwhelmingnumbers of tourists.Day tourists don't spend money, so if the goal is to support business and VRBO then overnight vacations could be promoted.This may bring some responsibility to tourism, perhaps freeing up our few public beaches, and easing the strain on our parks.This would also assist with the dreaded discussion of ferry overloads.

unknown author5 years ago

unknown author5 years ago Yes, this is a position at the Muni, but it is intended to REDUCE the administrative work across departments, while at the same time leveraging grants and partnerships with nonprofits to reach climate targets and optimize climate mitigations that have a direct economic benefit (like farming: farm stays, agro-tourism, regenerative farming, buy-local, to create a robust local food system that supports biodiversity). Resources & Resilience ManagerBackground: finance/grants administration, communications skills internal & external, and/or Degree in planning, climate science, organizational development, science and mapping, or business communications.Role: Provides Goal Monitoring and Across-Systems Support to various committees of the municipality: Climate, Econ Development, Emergency Preparedness, Natural Resources & Agriculture (protection, mitigation, and restoration including monitoring of compost, recycling and waste, eco-forestry).Responsibilities: Representing Bowen at regional climate forums (MetroVan Climate Action Plan) and aligning economic goals and climate measures in the OCP, advocating best practices in planning and zoning (agriculture, building materials, catchment), grants sourcing and administration to leverage not for profit and volunteer energy to meet climate targets, analysis and reporting on progress toward goals (forestry, transportation, compost, water management), identifying and communicating rebates, energy conservation programs and small-scale infrastructure projects, supporting local initiatives like energy fairs, community agriculture, agri-tourism, and neighbourhood scale infrastructure projects to build resiliency.

Filters

Total posts: 27

There are 27 projects available.

Selected zero tag filters.

Upcoming and ongoing events

0 events have loaded.

No upcoming or ongoing events are currently scheduled.

Past events

Digital Town Hall
Event date: June 24th, 2021 from 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM.
Online via Zoom
Read more
Focus Group: Commercial & Industrial
Event date: May 19th, 2021 at 11:00 PM to May 20th, 2021 at 12:30 AM.
Online via Zoom
Read more
Focus Group: Strategic Tourism
Event date: May 19th, 2021 from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM.
Online via Zoom
Read more
Focus Group: Knowledge Sector
Event date: May 18th, 2021 at 11:00 PM to May 19th, 2021 at 12:30 AM.
Online via Zoom
Read more
Focus Group: Food System
Event date: May 14th, 2021 from 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM.
Online via Zoom
Read more
Focus Group: Health & Wellness
Event date: May 13th, 2021 from 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM.
Online via Zoom
Read more

6 events have loaded.

Community Economic Development Plan

Frequently asked questions

Phases

Public Engagement

Phases 1-3 of Public Engagement Complete!

Phase One: Community Questionnaire

Phase Two: Focus Groups

Phase Three: Digital Town Hall

27 ideas

Good Neighbour Bylaw

Bookable Commercial Kitchen

Public Washroom on Bowen Island

A Shared Work Space for Telecommuters and Work from Home

Village as a Venue/Hosted by Bowen

High End Modular Home Park

sustainability

Legal Art Wall

Boat launch

A Training/Retreat Facility for Residential Programs

Aging in place facility

Community ISP

Discussion Forum

Renewable Energy

Green economic development

Industry hubs

Boatyard space

Children’s Playground

Affordable rental housing for families and the workforce that the island needs

Accessibility

Network-based solutions for economic interdependence

Tourism, how do we preserve our community and conserve our natural environment?

Tourist tax

Resources and Resilience

Filters

SORT BY

TAGS

STATUS

Upcoming and ongoing events

Past events

Digital Town Hall

Focus Group: Commercial & Industrial

Focus Group: Strategic Tourism

Focus Group: Knowledge Sector

Focus Group: Food System

Focus Group: Health & Wellness