Bowen already became a town. Its community plan still needs someone else's approval.
Bowen Island incorporated in 1999, elected its own council, and runs its own planning. It is the only test case in existence of what happens when an Islands Trust island becomes a municipality. This page is our published review of how that turned out.
The record, including the parts that cut against us
The 1999 restructure study projected Bowen's Islands Trust tax rate at $0.136 per $1,000. In 2026 it is $0.139355 — a difference of about 2.5% in 27 years. The levy's dollar growth tracks Bowen's assessment base, not a rising Trust burden.
In the cited comparison, Bowen pays the smallest Trust levy per resident, alongside its municipal and other taxes. Municipalities have land-use and financing tools excluded from local trust committees under Islands Trust Act s.29(1)(b). The later provincial multi-unit rules depend on location, lot size and servicing; incorporation alone does not give every rural lot an urban entitlement.
Bowen is the only municipality in British Columbia whose official community plan has no effect until another body approves it (Islands Trust Act s.38), and every bylaw, permit and licence it issues is bound to that body's objects (s.39.1).
78.8% of Bowen voters (1,364 to 367) backed renegotiating a requisition formula unreviewed since incorporation — despite paying the Trust Area's most modest levy.
The Act makes the requisition "a debt due to the government" — no independent appeal process exists.
Private, personal project. Bowen Town was built privately and is maintained privately by Tony Aly, an independent publisher and software builder on Denman Island. It is not a Bowen Island Municipality or locally endorsed website.