Owning a cottage. How about Sidney Island?

I awoke this morning to a CBC News story about a dispute in Cottage Country Ontario. It centers around a proposed 49-lot luxury cottage subdivision, "Rosseau Springs," behind existing waterfront properties in Seguin Township. The controversy has divided the local council, drawing fierce opposition from ratepayers and actor Martin Short, who called the development "silly" and "preposterous". 

Ratepayers and local environmentalists worry the subdivision will damage the local ecosystem, threaten the lake's water quality, and change the rural character of the area. Developers and some councillors argue that the majority of the land will remain untouched, and the project will create jobs while providing additional housing in the township.

The application requires rezoning and official plan amendments, and the council remains split as the debate continues. I predict the application will fail.

Growing up in Toronto

This story got me thinking about cottages. I grew up in Toronto, and although some of my friends' families had cottages in Muskoka, my family never owned a cottage.  Nor have I ever owned a cottage in BC, although I have often thought about it. Years ago, Sally and I decided we should buy a cottage on Saltspring. However, it was so difficult to arrange the ferry to get to the island to look at properties I soon realized that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Furthermore, we lived on an island.

That said, Sally and I have always enjoyed visiting friends who own cottages. Last year, a good friend with a cottage invited me to join him and some friends for a weekend on Sidney Island. Unlike other gulf islands, it is not well known, but as the name implies, it is very near Sidney BC. sidneyisland.com.

According to the island's website: "Unique in British Columbia, perhaps the world, Sidney Island offers the rare combination of ownership of superb waterfront property with a model of sustainable forestry, limited development of common areas, precious conservation zones and miles of sand beaches. 

It is blessed with a Mediterranean-like climate, warm summers, mild winters and less than 30 inches annual rainfall. Not only is it one of the most picturesque, but the last major undeveloped island in the Gulf Islands chain. 

The private lands of Sidney Island total approximately 1,760 acres which includes 111 bare land strata lots totaling about 300 acres. Ownership includes the strata lot and a proportionate interest in the common property of the Strata Corporation which totals about 1,460 acres, the common facilities and other assets of the Strata Corporation. 

The result is an amazing diversity of properties with low, medium and high bank oceanfront, virtually every possible exposure, varied topography, beautiful views, and differing levels of privacy and a range of prices that delivers the best oceanfront values in BC. 

The most brilliant aspect of the development is that there is no public access to the lands owned by the Strata Corporation, it remains private and the natural integrity of the island environment has been protected for those who share in its ownership."

Cottage For Sale!

The reason I am writing this is because my friends now need to sell the cottage they lovingly built over many years. While they always assumed it would pass on to their children, (which so often happens with family cottages), one daughter lives in UK and the other isn't that interested in island life. So they have reluctantly put it up for sale.

It is a lovely cottage on 3.32 acres, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open kitchen and dining/ living room with glass doors and windows framing a quintessential west coast view...ocean and forest. 

Wrapped around the interior are decks for hammocks and lounging. The basics of electricity, water, sewage etc are taken of. There is an outbuilding for guests or office.

According to my friends, the real essence of Sidney Island is the rare opportunity to combine off-grid living with all the safety and entertainment offered by a city about 20 minutes away.

There is a foot ferry that operates in the summer months that runs from the island directly to the town of Sidney. A twenty minute walk through the forest or along the beach to the foot ferry and then into town.  Today Sidney is a beautiful semi-retirement community of restaurants, shopping, a movie theatre and more. 

The island has a network of gravel roads from end to end and to the different beaches. As my friend asks, do you like sandy beach with tidal pools? Do you  like rocky beaches to look for green glass and smooth stones?  Do you like to collect creative driftwood pieces?  

Their 10 and 13 year old grandkids leave on their bikes in the morning with a lunch and return for dinner.  As children raised in Vancouver this is a rare treat. The kind of freedom we had in the 50's

The ocean provides opportunities for kayaking and canoeing and fishing and ocean swimming if you are so inclined.  But the island also has a swimming pond.  You can choose to swim alone or appear with your family at happy hour when many of the island residents congregate.  A great way to introduce your family to the other islanders which includes a wide variety of households from all walks of life.

For those interested in island living, but also seeking a community this is a good island.  Residents enjoy all sorts of groups and clubs.  One group looks after the trails and works on the trail app so that as you are walking one of the cleared trails you will be introduced to different species of vegetation, and of course the fairies that sneak around the island!  

There are groups that look after the historic orchard; there are the firefighters; the medical team; the newsletter group, etc. There is even a movie night, and a group that meets for morning yoga in the summer. There is the Tour de Sidney Island, and the softball game with teams from each side of the island.

There is an airstrip that is useful for all sorts of things, from flying in yourself or friends, or to call a medic.  My friends have had to make use of the medic a few times and they were surprised how quick the response was. There is also a full-time caretaker on the island who is employed by the strata and 'the best friend you would ever want'. 

The prohibition on Foreign Ownership legislation does not apply to Sidney Island. For people moving to Canada, the property offers an opportunity to own a home convenient to a welcoming Island community and minutes from a popular small town.

British Columbia’s first treaty with First Nations applies to and covers Sidney Island.

If you have an interest in buying in a cottage, or know someone who might be interested, I invite you to check out this property. 105 Mapleleaf Lane. Details can be found here: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/29793925/105-mapleleaf-lane-sidney-island

If I was twenty years younger, I would buy it for myself. But I'm not!

Wine and Fags make a good pension plan - an alternative approach to seniors' housing.

Sentinel Photo by John Clifford

As recently reported in the North Shore News, I have been retained to explore the feasibility of a seniors care facility on the site of West Vancouver's former Pierwell condominium development that has sadly gone into receivership. I was recently discussing this with some friends who asked why more seniors don't band together and build their own collective residence with a live-in chauffeur and care provider, rather than move into a larger facility.

This reminded me of a 2008 English article my dear friend Leonora Gaylor once sent me. I promised toshare it with my friends, but thought it might be of interest to some of you. After all, many of us are approaching our 80s and starting to wonder where we might be living next. 

While this article is somewhat dated, and the English references may be a bit obtuse, I think the message is as relevant today as it was in 2008. 

From The Times, August 14, 2008

Wine and fags make a good pension plan

By Carol Midgley

How very dreary that the staff of a Cornwall care home that granted a 90-year-old woman her lifelong wish to be served fish and chips by a man wearing a thong have been forced to apologize.

Apologize? What in God's name for? Where would you rather end up - the type of old folks' home where the staff respect that you are still a functioning being with a sense of humour, or the other sort where you're left to marinate in your own urine, your boiled mince just out of reach, while the “carers” stand around checking their eyeliner, waiting for you to die but preferably not on their shift?

We are always hearing about places where elderly people are addressed as if they were dribbling babies, made to share underwear and slapped if they don't go to the toilet at the required time. So, we should be cock-a-hoop that there's at least one - Woodland House, St Austell - where the staff are prepared literally to get their kit off to brighten their residents' lives.

Because everybody - absolutely everybody - dreads ending their days in a smelly, callous care home wearing someone else's false teeth. It's a definition of hell and an ever-looming spectre, yet we frequently push it away because it's too grotesque to contemplate.

Women worry about it more than men. They live, on average, seven years longer so will be stuck in that dreary day room with its ever-blaring TV for more interminable hours. Which is why people should do what Lorna Page has just done. Lorna, 93, recently had her first novel published and, with the earnings, bought a big house in Weare Gifford, Devon. Then she invited all her friends who are unhappy in their care homes to live with her instead, the plan being that they'll all look after each other. Unsurprisingly there has been an old-lady stampede. “Care homes can be such miserable places,” says Lorna. “You sit there all day staring out the window with no one to talk to... I've had dozens of offers. They are queueing up.”

I bet they are. I might even join the queue myself. Who wouldn't swap the constant reek of cabbage and Sanilav for a Golden Girls existence where you can get pie-eyed mixing your medication with gin and watching 60 Minute Makeover with your mates each day? It would be a bit like sharing a student house again but without the sex.

It's amazing that more of us don't do it (the living together, not the sex). People are surviving longer and often sitting on mortgage-free properties. Why not, if the need arrives, pool our resources and bow out of life to the tune of a continual party, surrounded by people we like, not resentful strangers? It would save your grown-up children visiting once a week to watch the vacant expression on your face as you answer that, yes, it was stew for lunch again and, no, you don't want any more Lucozade.

Yet we don't. We sleepwalk into the purgatory that we've dreaded for 20 years and submit to a fate of God knows what. I know some nursing homes are good, but many are bad. Worse than bad. The Commission for Social Care Inspection this year produced a report that said hundreds of care and nursing homes were so poorly run that they were a danger to residents. Investigators uncovered examples of residents being routinely tied to their beds and chairs, locked up or dragged around by their hair. Some were refused food to punish “bad behaviour”. One woman of 85 had her fingernails ripped off by a care worker, and a 78-year-old was covered in cigarette burns.

I must say that when I read things like this it makes me wonder why everyone is so obsessed with prolonging their lives into advanced old age, watching their alcohol units, wagging their fingers at an iced eclair and throwing themselves around a gym three times a week. We may as well say: “I must finish this 20k run because then I'll maximize the amount of time I'm alive to spend sitting around in purple crimplene trousers four sizes too big while a Nurse Ratched figure batters me with a wooden spoon.”

Surely the best policy if you hit 78 and look like you're heading for the Shady Pines Hell Hole is to quickly double your wine intake, up the fags by ten a day and if you don't already smoke, start. I am serious. I have friends who solemnly declare that their real “pension plan” is to drink themselves to death in a haze of tobacco and enjoy it. I see their point.

The OAP days could be some of the happiest and most hedonistic of your life, free from the middle-age checklist of constantly having to be somewhere, doing something, answering to someone. In Liverpool, where I live, pubs have “Mad Mondays” when pensioners pay £1 a pint and spend all day merry on the karaoke. Sometimes I peer wistfully through the window as I hurry past in my work heels.

Reports this week claim that care for elderly and infirm people could soon be stripped from local authority control to end the “postcode lottery” in which standards of care differ hugely across the country. Fine, but I reckon that we should take matters into our own hands. Make a pact with your friends to set up that commune and start stockpiling the sherry today. You may end your days half-cut but that's a far brighter prospect than wasting away on a wipe-down chair wearing a stranger's knickers.

If Gordon Brown has any holiday spending money left, he should send a big tray of piña coladas round to the Policy Exchange. Just when some in Labour's northern heartlands were beginning to thaw towards the Tories, up pops David Cameron's favourite think-tank with a report that suggests abandoning northern cities such as Liverpool and Sunderland and urging their residents to move south. Cameron has quickly distanced himself from the report, but it's no good. The scary ghost of Thatcher Past rises. Before this Mr. Cameron could have expected a slightly warmer welcome than usual when he visits Merseyside today. Now, judging by the reaction up here, he's more likely to get a Kirkby Kiss.

Missing Middle Conference Part Two

While I often prefer to show a lengthy PowerPoint presentation at conferences, at the suggestion of my fellow panelists I restricted my slide show to the following four images.The first slides were intended to highlight how the apparent density of a project is often a function of whether a portion of the FSR/FAR is in a basement or not. The next slide was intended to highlight the opportunities to improve the appearance of multiplex developments. The final slide was intended to send the message to politicians that if the appearance and 'fit' with adjacent buildings isn't improved, some may be looking for work after October 17th. 

The following were my key 'takeaways' from the conference.

1. Approvals are taking a lot more than anticicpated - often 6 to 12 months in Vancouver which is exacerbating the financial feasibility. (In Victoria approvals can be obtained in 6 weeks.)
2. The economics are much more challenging than most people think. While it is not necessary to achieve presales, in many parts of Vancouver a builder needs to sell for $1300 per sq.ft. or more to make any money. Rental projects do not pencil out at all.
3. Given the above, many builders are not buying extra density from Vancouver since the cost is $140 per sq.ft.on larger lots on the Westside. 
4. Another problem is BC Hydro which has a monopoly but often doesn't agree to hookups when required. Also, pad mounted transformers can be expensive.

Another Missing Middle Conference - May 8, 2026

There's no doubt that Missing Middle/Multiplex Housing is the flavour of the month. Or perhaps the year. After all, in Toronto, it was reported that more multi-family homes were started last year in multiplex developments when compared to conventional apartment buildings. That's because the purpose-built rental market is getting saturated, and there is little appetite for presale condos from empty nesters or even first-time buyers now that it is no longer assumed that prices will always go up.

Last Friday's conference was arranged at the elegant Fairmont Pacific Rim and organized by a Toronto-based Sustainable Development Group (SDG). It had organized a very well attended conference in Toronto and thought there might be a good opportunity in Vancouver. The program focussed on scaling up townhomes, multiplexes, and low-rise apartments. The speakers included politicians, industry leaders, policymakers, and developers discussing zoning reform, financing, and even modular construction. 

Key Program Highlights & Speakers (May 8, 2026):

• Speakers: Housing Minister Gregor Robertson was scheduled to speak but was a no-show. Former Vancouver Mayor and BC Premier Mike Harcourt was an excellent fill-in., BC Housing Minister Christine Boyle offered a most engaging talk, sharing with the audience that she and her husband and children live in a half duplex in East Vancouver, and her ex-husband lives in the other half with his new partner and an older child. Other speakers included Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto, who I had never met before; Prince George Mayor Simon Yu who I had met at a modular housing conference, and Vancouver Councillor Sarah Kirby Yung who is always ready to discuss housing.
• Another speaker was CMHC's Nadine Leblanc. She was most impressive in an interview with Vancouver journalist Frances Bula.
• Panels: I participated in a panel titled Making Missing Middle Viable after zoning reform with City of Vancouver Deputy Manager Armin Amrolia and former Vancouver Director of Planning Brent Toderian. Rather than make a typical powerpoint presentation, I restricted it to the following four slides:Networking:  in addition to the speakers and panels, there were numerous networking opportunities including an end of day cocktail reception.I enjoyed meeting the conference organizers from Toronto and other attendees, especially small builders who are getting into the business for the first time.
• A final comment. At the moment, there is a signficant difference between what is being built in Toronto and Vancouver. In TO they are generally building 6-8 rental units on a property, while we are focussing more on 4-6 condominium units. 
• The next conference will be in Toronto and it might be worthwhile attending to tell the Toronto audience about what works, and doesn't work in Vancouver.

Golfing at Victoria's Bear Mountain - it ain't what it used to be!

While I very much enjoyed staying at the Inn at Laurel Point during our recent weekend stay in Victoria, I was very disappointed with a golf experience at Bear Mountain. If you are not familiar with Bear Mountain is is a master planned community with a checkered financial past. But in recent years, a lot of development has occurred and the community is taking shape.

I booked there since there are two golf courses, each with significant changes in elevation. The facility has a reciprocal arrangement with my golf club in Vancouver and I thought my son-in-law's father would enjoy the dramatic scenery. (He lives by the sea in Chester NS.) 

I stayed at the Westin Hotel a few years ago and enjoyed the golf experience that was associated with the hotel. However, it seems that another receivership has impacted the golf course facility and it is no longer associated with the Westin Hotel. The new owner took over in April.

Our poor experience started when we couldn't even find the proshop. Eventually we found it tucked into the corner of a recreation centre. I assumed this was a very temporary arrangement but I was told it has been like this for a couple of years. I couldn't believe it, especially since the regular green fees are in the order of $265 (including cart), unless you are a Vancouver Island resident (or have a reciprocal arrangement) when they are reduced.

After the disappointment of not finding the proshop, our next disappointment was that there was no where to buy something to eat. But we were told there would be a beer cart out on the course where we could purchase some lunch. (in fact, when it did arrive it didn't have any sandwiches!)

As we were about to tee off we were confronted by a sign that said 'golf paths only' which meant these two old men would have to walk up and down the steep terrain. It was nuts, since the course was bone dry.(The starter explained the owner didn't want to allow carts on the fairway until later in the month.)

While the course was dry, it was too dry. The tee boxes looked awful and while the layout is dramatic, the overall experience wasn't very good. 

While I may go back later in the summer to see if the new ownership makes a difference, it may take a while before the wonderful experience I enjoyed in the past will be repeated.

Don't be fooled by the website. This is no longer an Ecoasis Resort. There isn't a fancy proshop, at least I couldn't find it.  

If you want to play golf in Victoria, there are many better choices. If the situation improves later in the summer, I'll let you know.

An early May Weekend at Victoria's Inn at Laurel Point

My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren live in Victoria and we like to visit as regularly as we can. While my wife often stays in a suite in their Fairfield home, I prefer to stay in hotels. (I would consider buying a pied a terre but refuse to pay the provincial Speculation and Vacancy Tax!). 

My favourite hotels are Oak Bay Beach Hotel, Abigails, The Magnolia Hotel and Spa, and Inn at Laurel Point. Ocassionally, I also stay at The Empress and The Union Club. For some reason on the May 1st weekend, hotel prices were signficantly more than we are used to paying - well over $700 at Oak Bay and Magnolia. But the Inn at Laurel Point was under $400 so we booked in. I have a fondness for this property since it was designed and developed by Stanley Kwok and John D'Eathe in the 70s. 

Arthur Erickson was commissioned to design the new wing of the Inn at Laurel Point in Victoria, B.C., in 1987. Known as the Erickson Wing (initially the South Wing), this 64-suite addition was completed in 1989 and it is very nice. However, the rooms in the original wing are exceptionally large and many (if not most) have been renovated. Just book a room with a view over the harbour with its ever changing scene of float planes, boats, and the Seattle ferry.

When you stay, I highly recommend the restaurant. While it was too early for the outdoor patio, we did enjoy fresh shucked oysters and a creative version of oysters rockefeller and some interesting happy hour cocktails at the bar where we met an English couple who have visited from Lancashire (my home county) six times. 

Breakfast was a special treat with many unusual items.Just check out this menu and let me know what you would choose. We had the Benny and Avocado Toast (Yes, even though we do own a house.)

There is also a small, but attractively designed indoor pool.

The hotel is easy to get to and there is a secure covered parking garage for $30 per night. They continue to offer mid-week deals and I highly recommend it for a stay. The Inn at Laurel Point will be the new hotel provider for the Lieutenant-Governor's Ball this November and all being well I'll be back. If not before. Check it out!

EXPO 86 - Forty Years On

May 2 marked the fortieth anniversary of the start of EXPO86, an event that changed Vancouver forever. Like most Vancouverites, I have vivid memories of the fair and its impact on the character of our city. At the time I was working as a real estate consultant and developer on several projects, most notably The Lagoons, on the South Shore of False Creek, directly across from the World Fair Site. I was also a consultant to BC Place, helping to get the first new projects underway. In this role, I also attended some of the EXPO planning sessions led by Jimmy Pattison. I remember this well since he was very obsessed with punctuality, and I got into a car accident trying to get to an early morning meeting on time.

At one of the meetings it was noted that during site preparation, a train locomotive had been discovered buried under the site. Mr. Pattison was most concerned that we keep this a secret to avoid people fearing that the site was contaminated and EXPO visitors might claim to have got cancer from visiting the fair. As we now all know, the site was very contaminated, but as the city's Health Officer John Blatherwick later told me, you would have to eat a lot of contaminated soil before you would get sick!

Yesterday there were numerous radio programs and newspaper articles setting out people's recollections of the fair and how it changed Vancouver and the Region. Fortunately, few, if any, will see the interview I did with Radio Canada journalist Dominique Levesque, since at her urging, I tried to do some of the interview in French. While there was a time I was quite comfortable speaking French, those days are long gone.

That said, I tried to tell Dominique that we were told to invite the world to EXPO, and they came. Not only to the Fair, but also to the region. Prior to EXPO, Metro's population increased about 1.5% to 1.7%  annually. Immediately following the fair, it doubled to over 3.0%.

The other major consequence was the decision by the provincial government to sell the site to Li Ka-Shing, rather than a consortium led by Jack Poole. This dramatically increased international interest in the city, especially from Asia, and the rest is history.

EXPO 86 also ignited my interest in World Fairs. Since then I have attended many, in Portugal, China, Korea, Kazakhstan, and most recently Dubai and Japan. World Fairs offer a glimpse into the future. And there's no doubt EXPO86 changed our future. While some think it was for the worse, I think it was most definitely for the better.