Bowen Island: the bylaw audit
3 findings: 3 in bylaws in force. Read on 2026-09-19. Every quotation is a link to the words themselves.
Bowen Island is a municipality with its own council. Land Use Bylaw No. 57, 2002 is a MUNICIPAL bylaw, made and amended by Bowen Island Municipality, not by an Islands Trust local trust committee. The Islands Trust's say on Bowen is over the municipality's official community plan. Nothing here is a finding about a local trust committee. The municipality's 2026 council business was out of scope and was not researched.
The bylaws, and where each one stands
- Bowen Island Municipality Land Use Bylaw No. 57 (in force). Municipal bylaw, in force. The copy read is the municipality's consolidation of November 2025. What Bowen's council has in progress in 2026 was not researched.
In bylaws in force
A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force
The CD 12 zone (Greenway West) sets a smaller detached suite despite subsections 3.54.4 and 3.54.5. Section 3.54 is the rule about survey plans and has no subsections.
The size limits for suites are in section 3.57, at .3 (detached secondary suite) and .4 (secondary suite). Section 3.57 has no .5. A reader of the CD 12 table is sent to a rule about what a building permit applicant gives the building inspector.
“Despite subsections 3.54.4 and 3.54.5, maximum size of detached secondary suite”
Read it: Bowen Island Municipality Bylaw 57, s-4-25-2-area-2
“Every applicant for a building permit must provide to the building inspector a plan signed by a BC Land Surveyor”
“.3 a detached secondary suite shall not exceed a total floor area of 65 square metres plus 0.625% of lot area”
A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force
The CD 10 zone (Ruddy Potato) allows an accessory dwelling subject to 4.24.1(2) and 4.24.1(3). Section 4.24 is the gas station zone. The conditions are 4.23.1(2) and 4.23.1(3).
The two conditions (the dwelling is in a building with an artisan industry use, and is subject to a housing agreement) sit directly under the table, in section 4.23.1. Section 4.24.1 belongs to the CD 11 zone and has one subsection.
“Dwelling, subject to 4.24.1(2) & 4.24.1(3)”
“(2) Accessory dwelling use shall only be permitted within a building that contains a artisan industry use”
“(3) Accessory dwelling use shall be subject to a Housing Agreement.”
“4.24 COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT 11 (CD 11) ZONE (GAS STATION)”
Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force
In Part 3 the number 3.24 is printed beside item .4 of section 3.23, the rule that should be 3.24 has no number, and there are no sections 3.14, 3.25 or 3.26.
Section 3.23 lists what may project into a setback. Its fourth item (exterior wall thickness) is numbered 3.24. The next rule, that setbacks do not apply to drainage ditches and small landscaping ponds, starts in the middle of a line after the word vapour with no number of its own. The numbers then jump to 3.27. Part 3 also goes from 3.13 to 3.15. Checked on the rendered PDF pages 36 and 37: it is printed this way, it is not an extraction fault.
“3.23 No building or structure other than the following projections beyond the face of a building may be located in the area of the setback”
“3.27 Stairways and walkways not exceeding a height of 2.0 metres”
“3.13 The total floor area of all buildings used for a use accessory to a dwelling use”
“3.15 Any of the following may exceed the height limitations”
What we checked and found sound
- All seven auditor leads were opened. Four are false: See Section 3.12 (twice; 3.12 exists), Despite Subsection 3.3.5 (item .5 of section 3.3 exists and is the recreation vehicle rule the words mean), and Despite Section 3.57.3 (item .3 of section 3.57 exists and is the detached suite size). Bowen numbers its items .1, .2, .3, so 3.57.3 means section 3.57 item .3. The auditor does not model that.
- Three leads are real and are recorded above as two findings (3.54.4 and 3.54.5 are one finding).
- The rendered PDF was looked at for the 3.24 finding (pages 36 and 37).
- Not checked: the other 132 cross-references for wrong subject, the definitions against the zones, the municipality's community plan (Bylaw 282) against this bylaw, and anything council has in progress.
Open questions
Things that looked worth a second reading and that we could not prove. They are not findings.
- Two definitions (floor area and height) say See Section 3.12. Section 3.12 exists: it is the average grade calculation, printed with its number alone on a line. The reader gives it no anchor, which is why the auditor called it missing.