LEGAL THREAT GIVES COUNCIL ‘NO OPTION’

By PAT RICH

Approval was given
Monday for the storage
of an additional four
million gallons. of
methanol at the Van-
couver Wharves site in
North Vancouver, the
same day that 17,600
gallons. of methanol
burned in a rail ac-
cident on the property.

North Vancouver District
council approved the
building permit for the
additional storage tank after
being informed they faced
potential legal action in-
volving millions of dollars, if
they refused.

And the permit was
granted at the same meeting
that council gave first
reading to a zoning bylaw
amendment to ban the above
ground bulk storage of
hazardous materials.

“If everything is said and
done we really have no
option,” Alderman Ernie
Crist said, summing up the
situation.

Council considered a
letter from Vancouver
Wharves which said that
contracts have already been

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awarded for the new tank
and requesting the company
be excluded from the new
storage amendment.

Under existing regulations
the company rezoning was
not necessary to build the
tank and the company
received approval from the

District fire chief and the

provincial fire marshall.

On August 18, council
rescinded a _ resolution
refusing Vancouver
Wharves the right to expand
because the expansion did
satisfy all relevant
regulations.

However, the new bylaw
governing the storage of
hazardous materials would
have affected the
development.

“If Vancouver
were

Wharves
prohibited by the

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ALD. ERNIE CRIST

municipality
proceeding with this
project,” the company said
in the letter to council, “the
company could be liable to
damages running _ into
millions of dollars ...

“In that event, we would
have no option but to in-
stitute the legal proceedings
which our solicitors advise

from

would be necessary to
protect our position.”
Council agreed with

Vancouver Wharves that the
project was too advanced to
halt at this stage and that it
would be excluded from the
proposed rezoning bylaw.

Alderman John Lakes said
the District would be facing
a very expensive lawsuit if
they interfered with the
project.

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a a

Wy
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LO
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D. JOHN LAKES

“I dislike this very much,”
Crist said although he voted
to grant the permit.

“These kinds of industry
are getting out of control in
terms of size,” he added.

Vancouver Wharves
currently has one four-
million gallon storage tank
and two one-million gallon
storage tanks on the site.

Mayor Don Bell explained
that each of the tanks is
surrounded by a dike that is
designed to provide 110%
protection in the event of a
spill.

In addition, District Fire
Chief Bob MacDonald said
that each of the tanks are
desinged with ‘floating roofs’
to prevent serious damage in
the event of an explosion.

Methonal is a_ light,

A} - Sunday News, December 28, 1980

flammable
liquid.

and poisonous

“It is noted that the Task
Force Report (on Chemical
Hazards) does not suggest
the existance of any com-
munity hazard in the storage
of methanol,” Vancouver
Wharves’ letter said, “and
we are advised that even in
the most improbable event
of a major accident in-
volving the proposed storage
tank, any resultant hazard
would be confined to the
company’s own property...”

Although council was
advised no action was
necessary in regard to the
company’s letter, on Mayor
Bell insistance they passed a
motion to grant the company
a building permit.

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