restaurant owners.

school athlete in- B.C.

1

TWO OF the players in Monday night's ontl-smoking debate are ¢ pletured above. Ald. Dave
Findlayson, left, softened much of the criticism over the legisiation with amendments. Don
Bellamy of the ‘B.C. Restaurant Association, right, carried the ball for West Van's

s I DE

HEWS photos Gtuart Davis

heat. off

A3 - Wednesday, February 8, 1984 -

Automotive ....... B15
Business .......... B4_
_ Classified ........A1S
Entertainment ......B5
Fashion...........C1
Food .............@2
Mailbox .......... A7
Sports............BI
Hayden Stewart... .C11_
Travel ........... C10.
TV Time..........B18
What’s Going On. .B16

Restaurant rules

‘North Shore News

made ‘voluntary’
by amendment

WEST VANCOUVER municipal -council took the

smok

»Monday,.softening .a proposed

anti-smoking bylaw. that has raised protests from
the municipality’s restaurant. owners.

Controversial provisions
that would have required the
establishment of segregated
smoking and non-smoking
areas in restaurants were
withdrawn and replaced with
wording that leaves the mat-
ter up to restaurant owners.

The original proposal
would have seen smoking
areas limited to 50 per cent of
the available floor space in
restaurants, something
owners said would be too ex-
pensive to provide.

The decision to revamp the
bylaw took much of the sting
out of the meeting, which at-
tracted about 90 people.

The bylaw, which will like-
ly receive final approval at
the Feb. 20 meeting of West
Vancouver council, still pro-
hibits smoking in service
counter line-ups at banks,
financial institutes and
municipal offices. on buses
and in patient care areas of

hospitals.

Smoking only areas would
have to be set up in other
areas of hospitals and enclos-
ed spaces being used for
public assemblies.

Under the amended legisla-
tion, restaurants will only be
required to post a sign in a
prominent place that says
whether there are smoking-
only areas inside.

Council also backed away
from what were seen as
unreasonably high fines for
violations of the bylaw.

Whileit had been original-
ly proposed that violations
would result in fines as high
as $2,000, that upper limit
has now been dropped to
$500 for individuals caught
smoking where it is
prohibited.

Business owners who fail
to conform with the bylaw
would still be liable for fines
of up to $2,000.

Waiting for reply from board

BOWEN ISLAND residents are optimistic about
their chances for changes in ferry fare rates to the
island after a meeting Monday with the B.C. Ferry
Corporation board of directors.

By NEWS STAFF

“*I anticipate something
good will come of it,"’ says
Georg Helenius, Bowen
Island’s GVRD_represen-
tative and a member of the
committee.

Islanders can’t say,
however, when they'll find

“They” didn’t

out if their efforts have paid
off.

**They (the board of direc-
tors) hedged on making a
decision,’’ says Helenius.
make any
promises.”’

Helenius said the commit-
tee pressed the board of
directors for the decision
before the end of this week,

but the directors ‘‘didn’t say
no and they didn’t say yes”’

The Bowen Island Ferry
Committee has been fighting
rate increases since they were
announced in November of
last year. They were suc-
cessful in getting proposed
fares rolled by back 50 cents
just before the increases went
into effect on Jan. t but still
consider the new rates too
high.

Helenius said Monday’s
meeting with the ferry cor-
poration was also attended

by Highways Minister Alex
Fraser and West Vancouver-
Howe Sound MLA John
Reynolds who is supporting
the Bowen Island residents.

*“We had a good hearing."’
Helenius said. ‘“‘The board
members seemed to unders-
tand our dilemma and our
request.’’

Helenius said the commit-
tee would now start phoning
board members ‘‘almost
every day’ in attempts to
press them to come to a quick
decision.