SAYING SHE car 70 longer work within an organization
that seeks to destroy rather than build, Lynn Flipse has
offered to resign as the executive director of the West
Vancouver Community Arts Council.

“*I have some integrity and feel
that if the board is not repre-
senting my ideals I can’t work for
it,’ Flipse said in an interview.

Her decision comes just one day
after the resignation of the
organization’s vice-president,
James Hazell.

Both resignations are the result
of controversy surrounding com-
ments made to the News about the
North Shore Arts Commission’s
recently-released facilities study,
which calis for the creation of
three new regional arts centres on
the Nosth Shore.

Haze!] told the News that the
government-funded report was an
embarrassment and a waste of
money.

Since then, two other council
members have advised president

THE TAKAYA golf drivin

By Evelyn Jacob
News Reporter

Ron Falcioni that they, too, are
considering resigning.

Flipse said that while several
things led to her decision, Hazell’s
comments, apparently made
without consultation with the arts
council board or member groups,
were the final straw.

“To take action like that
without first going to the board is
wrong,”’ she said.

Falcioni said he _ received
Flipse’s resignation Friday dut
that no decision has been made.

“‘Lynn’s resignation is based on
the fact that she feels there is too
much in-fighting within the coun-
cil,” said Falcioni. ‘“‘She offered

NEWS photo Nell Lucente

range officially opened on Saturday,
Oct. 31. Tha 80-stalt facility is located at the south end of Apex
Drive off Mount Seymour Parkway. Expected to be fully opera-

tlonal by December — the site will house a pro-shop, a canteen
and a native art store. Dave Thomas manages the North Van-
couver facility. The driving range is owned and operated by the

Burrard Indian Band.

to resign because she feels she
would rather not be part cf an
arts council that works destruc-
tively rather than constructively."’

The conflict that members find
themselves embroiled in stems
from opposing interpretations of
the North Shore Arts Commis-
sion’s mandate.

The commission, made up of
government and business repre-
sentatives as well as artists, was
established in 1989 by the North
Shore municipalities to address ar-
tists’ needs and to implement the
1988 cultural p!an for all three
municipalities.

Scme members believe the arts
counci? which represents
roughly 20 local groups as well as
individual artists -~ should be ad-
vising the arts commission as op-
posed to taking direction from it.
Others are uncomfortable with
this role.

Hazell, who had only held the
council’s vice-presidency for two

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1992 - Nerth Shore News - 3

Arts council shake-up follows study uproar

44 To take action like that without
first going to the board is wreng. ¥9

months, has been higitly critical of
the commission.

He maintains that it is becom-
ing too powerful and that it is
taking decision-making away
from local grassroots groups.

Other members share this view,
he said, but dare noi criticize the
commission for fear of losing
precious government funds.

He said he volunteered his res-
ignation ‘‘because I don’t want to
hurt anyone.”

“‘It was wrong of me to say as
the vice-president of the arts
council the things | did, and all |

~ Lynn Flipse

can do to fix it is resign,’’ he said.

“The important thing is 1 got
my point across: I still believe
there are glaring problems with
the arts commission’s study.

“Pm actually happy with my
decision, because it allows me to
stand up for something without
having to go back and beg for
forgiveness.’’

Hazell, who has been known to
speak his mind, added that he
hates being quoted in the newspa-
per but feels compelled to speak
out because ‘‘nobody says any-
thing on the North Shore.”’

Completed driving range renews
Burrard Indian Band confidence

IN THE words of Leonard George, chief of the Burrard
(Tsleil’waututh) Indian Band, the occasion was reminiscent
of an almost forgotten time when people would get

together to build barns.

And, indeed, a3 members of the
Burrard community, friends, and
even a scattering of die-hard
golfers, gathered on Saturday,
Oct. 31, for the opening of the
band's new golf driving range,
there was a spirit of sharing more
commonly found in another era.

The new facility; located at the
south end of Apex Drive off
Mount Seymour Parkway, boasts
an impressive clubhouse designed
by architect James Chang.

Its upper and lower decks con-
tain 80 stalls, with a distance of
265 yards from the tee-line to the
back fence,

Once complete — the building
is expected to be fully operational
by December -— the site will house
a pro-shop, a canteen, and a
native art store where local artists
will both display and sell their
work,

Pro-golfer Jason Paukkunen,
well-known from his days at the
now-defunct Lions Gate Driving
Range on the Squamish Band's
Capilano Reserve, has signed on
as head pro for the new facility

BPPL promises burning options

BRITISH PACIFIC Pro-
perties Ltd. (BPPL) an-
nounced this week that the
company will investigate
alternative disposal
methods for brush cleared
from its West Vancouver
development sites.

By Maureen Curtis
Contributing Writer

The announcement follows
numerous public complaints
about slash burning on the 52-
acre Canterbury I] subdivision
site in the West Hill area above
the Upper Levels Highway in
West Vancouver.

In a Nov. 2 letter to West
Vancouver District Council,
BPPL’s vice-president of devel-
opment Walter Thornloe stated
that the company would “not be
repeating the type of burning
operation which is now nearing
completion.” .

At Monday night’s council
meeting, Coun. Andy Danyliu-
said he had received numerous

phone calls from people upset
.about BPPL’s slash-burning
operation on the hillside.

“They think it’s hypocritical
to ban outdoor burning for the
ordinary citizen, but allow a de-
veloper to carry it out on such a
massive scale,”* said Danyliu.

But West Vancouver Mayor
Mark Sager said that trucking
such a massive amount of mate-
rial off the site would create
another kind of environmental
waste.

Alternatives to disposing of
the cleared debris and large
stumps include chipping and us-
ing controlled power burning
within a pit or bunker.

Power burning uses forced air
to create a hotter, smoke-free
burn.

In a Nov. 1 News story,
Thornloe said chipping the
debris created the environmental
problem of what to do with the
wood chips, which, because they
contain lignin and tannin, are
toxic io fish and cannot simply
be dumped.

The size of some of the
stumps and tree-root systems

eel
WEST VANCOUVER
DISTRICT COUNCIL

also too makes chipping ex-
tremely difficult.

Sager said Coquitlam has used
a chipper extensively. But he
said the municipality had run in-
to problems with a byproduct
leachate that can’t be put into
the soil and is difficult to
dispose of.

West Vancouver's director of
operations Barry Lambert also
told council that the nitrogen
produced as the chipped material
breaks down can be harmful to
plants.

In Surrey, debris burning has
been done in a temporary con-
crete oven, Sager said.

Lambert said that municipal
staff had wanted to do a similar
type of burning of its own waste
in a pit, but had had difficulty
getting permission from the
Greater Vancouver Regional
District because of environmen-
tal conditions.

By Pau! Hughes
Contributing Writer

and is available for lessons an:
advice.

The range is presently oper
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.
but once the field lighting is in-
stalled the hours will be extended
until 10 p.m. daily.

The driving range is the first in
a series of projects conceived by
the Burrard Band in conjunction
with Abbzy Woods Developments
Ltd., an Asian-based development
firm.

Further plans include the con-
struction of townhouses, a gas
station and convenience store, as
well as a marina and an industrial!
park.

Said project coordinator Mat-
thew Thomas, ‘‘We are on a move
to self-reliance. This is our inter-
pretation of self-government.’”

Already the project is bringing a
new level of confidence to the
people.

“"We'’ve taken all our men off
the welfare list,’’ said Thomas.
“They've got their self-esteem
back.”’

Thirty band members were in-
volved in building the driving
range. At least that number will
be employed on the townhouse
complex, scheduled to begin in the
new year.

The driving range itself will
provide full-time employment for
approximately 12 band members,
ranging from maintenance to ad-
ministrative personnel.

Burrard member Dave Thomas
— former assistant to the super-
visor at Seymour Golf Course —
has been appointed range manag-
er.
The idea for the development of
the reserve lands had its concep-
tion over 24 months ago when the
band approved a series of princi-
ples for economic development.

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EB North Shore Now

NATIVE
AFFAIRS

The principles were meant to
ensure band control over owner-
ship, financing, training and de-
velopment, environmental protec-
tion, technical transfer and indus-
trial capability.

Said George, ‘‘Before (Abbey
Woods) all developers had come
to the band and proposed what
was good for us. We needed to
find out what our people
thought.”’

Abbey Woods was finaily
chosen after an exhaustive search.

“Eighteen different developers
wanted ta deal ... with us standing
on the other side of the fence,’
said George.

By being active in all areas of
the enterprise, the band. hopes to
gain the skills necessary to initiate
and complete projects on its own.
Other native communities are
watching the process closely.

**A lot of other bands are tak-
ing an interest in the direction
we've taken here,”’ said Thomas.
“Too many native people are
stuck in the welfare mode. The
welfare mode is when you always
have your hand out. We want to
totally break away from that.”’

The entire venture is seen by
George as a concrete example of
what self-determination means.

“Enacting self-government,” he
said, ‘‘comes more in the doing
than in the discussing. This whole
thing is an act of self-govern-
ment.”

Aithough hopiag to establish a
secure financial base, George’s
aim goes further than that.

He sees the need for a suc-
cessful enterprise as an essential
part of rebuilding the community,
but the ultimate goa! is not
monetary success.

Much of the money generated
by the venture will be used to
fund various educational and
social programs, as well as pro-
viding assistance to the needs of
the band’s elders.

Weather
Wednesday, rain tapering to showers, windy. High of 11°C.
Thursday, mainly cloudy, 20% chance of rain, High of 12°C, Low

of SC.

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