Craig McCaw’s Treasure Island

Gulf Island Eco-topia

Not many people can afford to buy an island, but reclusive Seattle billionaire Craig McCaw is one who can, and he wants to turn James Island, 15 kilometres northwest of Victoria, into an eco-topia for the wealthy elite.


The wireless pioneer bought this 342-hectare island for $19 million in 1994 (the year after selling his McCaw Cellular network to AT&T Inc. for US$11.5 billion). Since then he has been quietly advancing his vision of a light-footprint and exclusive island development that has started modestly with an organic farm, electric vehicles, a few guest cottages and a strong emphasis on nature conservation.

In 2007 McCaw’s James Island Properties got the green light for a development that includes 80 dwellings, 5,000 square feet of retail and 35,000 square feet of commercial space. Many environmentalists have cheered the development plan, which also dedicates nearly 20 per cent of the island for conservation, with covenants held by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and sets aside $1.5 million in cash for parkland acquisition elsewhere in the Capital Regional District.


Robert Kojima, chief planner for the Islands Trust, which governs land-use zoning with a strict hand on dozens of islands, calls the project unique. “[James Island Properties] took a lot of care in putting together the application. Of course they have the luxury of owning the whole island, so they first identified all the sensitive areas, then planned the development around those areas,” Kojima says. He adds that the island is home to rare flora, including the contorted-pod evening primrose and grassy forests of Douglas fir and arbutus.


Conservation initiatives aside, James Island is private and McCaw plans to keep it that way. It’s an exclusivity that Kojima admits didn’t sit well at first with some island trustees. However, he says, the protection of 20 per cent of the island far exceeds the required minimum five per cent parkland threshold. Pair that with the $1.5 million in cash and Kojima says you have a development plan that puts an unusually high premium on nature conservation, even though it is still largely just a development in concept – that is, no lots have yet been sold.


As one of the 200 wealthiest Americans, McCaw’s pockets are deep enough to take plenty of time, and his slowly unfolding vision marks a dramatic return to James Island’s former natural glory. The island was first settled and farmed in 1874 by the Munros, a family of immigrant Scots. Then in 1915, Canadian Industries Ltd. opened an explosives and munitions factory that ran until 1979, leaving in its wake a toxic industrial landscape. Following this, a partially built golf course was as far as one developer got before running out of funds in the 1980s. In 1994 along came island shopper Craig McCaw who spent a small fortune cleaning up old crude-oil bunkers and contaminated soil.


As general manager of James Island, Jason Thrupp is in charge of island maintenance and ensuring that the needs of McCaw and his guests are met when they visit. He says McCaw is very environmentally motivated but that the homes currently on the island are not the glamorous or ostentatious spreads most people would expect befitting a multibillionaire.


“It’s really meant to be a relaxing place where people can get back to nature and not worry about bumping into anybody unexpectedly, or cougars or bears,” Thrupp says.


McCaw is also an intensely private person, and the island is managed that way, Thrupp says. Joe Public is free to use the beaches respectfully, but the queen’s chain rule applies and privacy begins above the high tide line.