history
The First 100 Years
District Lot 489 was created in 1884 and subsequently sold by the Crown to Royal City Planing Mills from New Westminster as timber land.
In the period between 1910 and 1913 District Lot 489 was sold to Terminal Steamship, which was owned by the brothers Jack and John Cates. They also owned the land surrounding Killarney Lake and an additional 300 acres. The Cates brothers began to develop their land holdings into a resort operation.
The Cates brothers subsequently sold District Lot 489 and other land holdings on Bowen to the Union Steamship Company in 1920. The Union Steamship expanded their holdings during the next 20 years with a total buildout of 180 cottages, a hotel, camp grounds, etc. The highest number of visitors to the Union Steamship Resort was in the late 1940s with visits exceeding 100,000 per year. After that, the Union Steamship holdings slowly went into decline, and the operation of the resort started to deteriorate.
1988 to 1999
After the demise of the Union Steamship Company, ownership of District Lot 489 changed repeatedly until 1988 when the present owners acquired District Lot 489 (220 acres), and shortly thereafter adjacent Lot 3 District Lot 1347 (40 acres), with the intention of developing what has since become known as "Cates Hill."
Between 1988 and 1999 approximately 30 lots (minimum average size of 2.5 acres) in the southwest part of Cates Hill were developed and sold. These lots are accessed by Cates Hill Road and Berry Road.
During the same period, four different comprehensive plans were proposed to the Islands Trust, the agency which provided planning services to Bowen Island prior to the island becoming a Municipality. A comprehensive zoning was finally approved in June 1999 (Bowen Island Local Trust Committee Bylaws No. 155 and No. 156).
Comprehensive Zoning and Amenities
The comprehensive zoning for Cates Hill included the creation of 82 lots on the hillside facing east (now known as Cates Hill Village), and 24 lots on the hillside facing northeast (now known as Parkview Slopes).
The comprehensive zoning included the following amenities to the community (you can see the location of several of these amenities on the Land Use Information Plan):
- Dedication of almost 50 acres of land for passive park -- the remainder of District Lot 489, the remainder of Lot 3 (D.L. 1347), and Lots 2 and 4 (LMP49266A) near Terminal Creek;
- Dedication of Lot 6 (LMP44190) for a neighbourhood park (2.5 acres);
- Covenants to restrict over 21 acres for nature conservancy or green belts;
- Upgrade of the Snug Cove Sewage Treatment Plant to secondary treatment;
- Gifting of land for a pre-school and for a library;
- Zoning of land for institutional uses such as an independent school and a church;
- A covenant to restrict the rate of occupancy to not more than 10 residential market dwellings per year on the hillside facing east (now known as Cates Hill Village);
- A plan for an extensive trail network;
- Provision of 12 rental housing units at 15% below market rates.
1999 to the Present
Ever since the rezoning was finalized in 1999, Cates Hill has been evolving into the "village" it was envisioned to be.
To date 82 residential lots in three phases of Cates Hill Village have been developed. Since 1999, 61 houses have been built in Cates Hill Village.
Village Square at the intersection of Dorman Road and Bowen Island Trunk Road has been completed. It has five buildings with 18 commercial tenants (a pharmacy, post office, Sushi take-out, pet supplies store, book and toy store, video store, bakery, whole foods market, coffee cafe, mini-storage, real estate offices, hair dresser, doctor’s office, spa, local newspaper office) and 15 one- and two-bedroom residential suites.
In 1999 a preschool, a co-educational middle school, and a church were constructed in the area of Carter Road. (The land on which the middle school and the church were constructed had been gifted by Cates Hill Joint Venture to Smooth Stones Foundation.)
In 2002-2003 three buildings were constructed above Village Square to house 12 residential tenants in a mix of one-, two-, and four-bedroom suites, with rents subsidized 15% below the CMHC average for Metropolitan Vancouver. Shortly thereafter the nearby building which is rented by Bowen Island Municipality was expanded to provide space needed by Municipal staff.
In 2002 Rivendell Retreat was constructed at the top of Cates Hill. (The land on which Rivendell Retreat was constructed had been gifted by Cates Hill Joint Venture to Rivendell Foundation.)
In 2005 a building for use by Tir-na-nOg Theatre School was constructed on the property below Rivendell Retreat.
Cates Hill is a mix of residential homes, commercial/apartment complex, rental suites, schools, church, retreat centre, theatre school, municipal hall, park areas, green belts, and trails, all at the edge of Snug Cove.
Note: Facts regarding the early history of Cates Hill are taken from "Bowen Island: 1872-1972" by Irene Howard (Bowen Island Historians, 1973).
What's New
Preliminary designs for 7 homes are complete. For more details, see Properties for Sale.
Details about our Rezoning Application are available.
On July 9, 2010 we published an ad entitled "The Value of Real Estate on Bowen Island: Thoughts and Observations" noting that real estate values rise where people want to live. Vancouver is still considered a real estate bargain compared with other desirable places in the world to live. That simple fact will become the force that will ultimately shape real estate values on Bowen Island. The challenge remains to plan for housing forms for citizens with modest means. We are working on some models in an effort to break through the current barrier of non affordability. On April 30, 2010 we published an ad entitled "Living on an Island" in which we discussed some of the benefits and challenges specific to island living -- especially on Bowen Island which is so close to the City of Vancouver and its scenic neighbourhoods. On April 16, 2010 we published an ad entitled "A Call for Civic Pride", suggesting that civic pride would dictate that the first impression of Snug Cove, the gateway to Bowen Island, should reflect the soul and spirit of Bowen Island and its citizens. Unfortunately the Cove has lost much of its earlier charm -- something should to be done about that.
In 2009 and 2010 we published articles about Bowen's future, the current review of the Official Community Plan, land economics and affordability, the meaning of community, creating a sustainable community, local economy, the idea of density transfer and its relationship to sustainability - those articles can be found on the Media section of this website.
Photo Gallery (click to zoom)
The photos in this gallery are courtesy of Bowen Island Community Museum and Archives.