= District overhauls council mee Sunday, March 1, 1992 — North Shore News - 3 New tri-committee system to take effect immediately A RADICAL reorganization in North Vancouver District Counc?! council meetinus. Council will no longer sit as a single policy and planning com- mittee every Monday. Instead, three new standing committees will meet for the first time on Monday, March 2. The changes are effective im- mediately even though the district issued no official notification about the reurganization. The new procedures result from a corporate review process that has been conducted in-camera by a hired consultant over the last six months. The three major standing com- mittees will be: @ the Planning and Development Services Advisory Committee; @ the Corporate Services Adviso- ry Committee; @ the Operational Advisory Ser- vices Committee. The standing committees will not have final decision-making authority, but will give thorough consideration to issues and for- ward recommendations for adop- tion by council. Full council, which will sit on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, will have the option conducts its procedures will dramatically change the way regular Monday night council By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer of endorsing, rejecting or deferr- ing all recommendations from the committees. Ald. Ernie Crist said he hopes that the new system will ‘streamline the process. “We should have closer contact with the public in the presence of staff, and council should not have to spend so much time on detail.’’ Ald. Janice Harris also looks forward to bringing more of the public into a two-way discussion with aldermen and staff. “It is a way to get the debate happening but not at such a for- mal level. It will also bring more staff to the table,”’ said Harris. Each of the standing commit- tees will include three aldermen on a rotating term basis, with the same aldermen making up the corporate and operational com- mittees. The duplication will allow the two committees to meet at the same time as the planning and de- Three standing committees will _ make recoramendations to council CORPORATE SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Responsibilities will inchde: General administrative :ratters; operating and capital budget preparation; financial management; legislative matters; communication services; personnel administration; environmental management and control; external relations e.g., G;VRD, UBCM Community Haison: Advisory Commission On Comn unity Services; District Library Board; Economic Twinning Committee; Greater Vancouver Regional District; Greater Vancouver Regional Labour Relations Bureau; Greater Vancouver Regional District — other committees; Athletic Com- mission; Local Government Awareness Weck Committee; North Shore Arts Commission; North Shore Economic Development Commission; North Shore Union Board of Health; North Vancouver Animal Welfare Cummittee; North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce; North Vancouver Recreation Commission; Silver Harbour Grant Committee; Task Force on Community Schools PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Responsibilities will include: Official community plan; land usz bylaw and zoning changes; land and business licences; inspection services; bylaw enforcement; social and health issues Community liaison: Heritage Advisory Committee; North Shore Advisory Committee on Disability Issues; ‘Advisory Design Panel; Advisory Planning Commission; Lynn Valley Youth Advisory Commitiee; Northlands Golf Course Review Committee; North Vancouver Bicycle Routes Committee;. North Shore Youth Services Committee OPERATIONAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Responsibilities will include: Roadway maintenance; capital construction; parks maintenance and development; transportation matters; facility maintenance; protective services (e.g. Fire and Police) Community liaison: Family Court and Youth Justice Committee; North and West Vancouver Emergency Program; . Parks Advisory Committee; Police Liaison Committee; Lynn Canyon Task Force; Traffic Safety Committee See a ae a index @ Garry Bannerman @ Classified Ads W@ Editorial Page @ Fashion WB Bob Hunter @® Lifestyles & Mailbox 3 Municipal Affairs Mi Spiritually Speaking @ Travel MB Vintage Years 8 What's Going On Weather Monday and Tuesday, rain, Highs 11°C, Lows 3°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 enw oo ete mah Bene velopment committee. The mayor may attend any meeting, but he will not vote unless he is replacing an appointed alderman. Planning and development will meet in council chambers; the other two committees will convene in municipal hall’s adjacent meeting room. All meetings are open to the public, but because of the simul- taneous agendas it will no longer be possible for one observer to hear all debate. Hewever, all resolutions must be processed during a full council meeting. As a result of the reorganiza- tion, some advisory committees will no longer have aldermanic representation. These include: @ the advisory design panel; ® the advisory planning commis- sion; @ the advisory commission on community services; @ the parks advisory committee. Municipal clerk Colleen Rohde said council will have to develop better reporting processes from advisory committee to standing committee. “One of the objectives of a standing committee system is that it will provide aldermen with an Opportunity to have a_ closer working relationship with the departments and groups that would report to council through the (advisory) committees,’’ Rohde said. Both Rohde and Harris say ting format a NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL staff and council are enthusiastic about the opportunity of dealing directly with the public and staff on issues at the boardroom level. But Crist, while acknowledging that “it may be quite a good system,’’ offers a word of cau- tion, ‘*There was nothing dramatical- ly wrong with our old system. A system is only as good as the peo- ple who run it, and whether this will solve our problems or not remains to be seen.’’ But Harris said that ‘no one is married to it (the new system). If it proves onerous to the public we wil! let it go.”” Standing committee meetings will begin at 7 p.m., 15 minutes earlier than policy and planning. NORTH VANCOUVER parent Norm Duplissie is worried that a pedestrian will be hurt or killed at the intersection of Lynn Valley Road and Mollie Nye Way. He has collected 335 signatures on a petition calling on North Vancouver District to install a pedestrian traffic light at the intersection. Intersection raises concerns NVD’s Lynn Valley Rd. and Mollie Nye Way IT’S only a matter of time before a pedestrian is kill- ed at the intersection of Lynn Valley Road and Mollie Nve Way in North Vancouver District, an area resi- dent has predicted. But Norm Duplissie’s call for the installation of a pedes- trian traffic light at the in- tersection has fallen on deaf district ears. Duplissie has gathered 335 names on a petition that he plans to present to North Van- couver District Council in hopes of convincing the district to install the traffic light. But district officials have said that the intersection does not need a traffic light and they have no current plans to install one. Duplissie said he has been writing to the district since last September and his frustration is growing over district inaction on the issue. Mollie Nye Way leads to the Karen Magnussen recreation centre. Duplissie said more pe- destrians will use the intersec- tion’s crosswalk when the facil- ity’s wave pool opens on March 4. “That road is like a freeway. Somebody’s going to be killed. It’s an accident waiting to happen,”’ said Duplissie. ‘‘It could be my own kids.’” He also pointed out that there are two area churches, a seniors’ care home and an area By Surj Rattan News Reporter school that all use the Karen Magnussen facility. Mollie Nye Way feeds into Lynn Valley Road between Kirkstone and Fromme roads, both of which have traffic lights. Duplissie said motorists fre- quently speed along Lynn Valley Road from one light in order to make the second light. “The way they move along this road...they just gun it,”’ said Duplissie. ‘‘There’s also a greenbelt in the middle of the road, so the drivers don’t see the pedestrian-crossing signs that are on the sidewalk. In fact, one of the signs is block- ed by a sign pointing out the direction of the Karen Magnussen arena.” Duplissie also rejected a district suggestion that pedes- trians use Kirkstone Road to get to the Karen Magnussen arena. He said there is no sidewalk along Kirkstone leading to the arena, while there is a sidewalk along Mollie Nye Way. But district supervisor of traffic operations Norm Nikkel said, ‘‘The pedestrian traffic does not warrant (a traffic light). But at the same time we will likely review this once more with our traffic safety people.’’ He added that it is ‘‘possi- ble’’ that pedestrian traffic will increase once Karen Magnussen’s wave pool opens. North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Eric Brewer said the police have received no com- plaints about the intersection. *‘Nothing has come to our attention that I’m aware of. We do not have any records of any complaints or accidents coming from that intersec- tion,’’ said Brewer. But Duplissie said there was a “near miss’’ at the intersec- tion on Feb. 14 when a group of about 30 students from the nearby Waldorf school were returning from the Karen Magnussen arena. “The near miss happened at approximately 3 p.m. when I heard and saw a motorist slam on his brakes with a deafening screech of burning rubber to avoid hitting a car three cars back from the crosswalk. “*He stopped less than a foot away from the car in front, and had he hit him it would have had a domino effect. The result would have been numerous injuries or death to the children.”