NEWS photo Mike Waketield

BURRARDVIEW ELEMENTARY school students (ages 7—13) marched through Deep Cove
recently to protest the Gulf War. Carrying signs and candles they made clear their opposition to

the conflict.

Teacher settlement close
according to board boss

NORTH VANCOUVER District
44 School Board (NVSB) superin-
tendent Robin Brayne said Friday
the board could reach a collective
agreement with striking North
Vancouver teachers by Monday.

Brayne said only four items re-
main on the bargaining table,
after a marathon bargaining ses-
sion Thursday and Friday.

While he said he does not know
what the North Vancouver Teach-
ers’ Association (NVTA) will do if
there is no. collective agreement
reached by Monday, Brayne said
he is confident the remaining four
items can be settled during the
weekend.

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

The NVTA staged a second day
of rotating strikes on Friday after
failing to reach a contract settle-
ment after nearly 24 hours of
bargaining with the school board.

The teachers’ union shut down
24 District 44 schools on Friday.
On Thursday, the teachers set up
rotating pickets at IS of the
district’s schools, the NVSB office
and the board's maintenance yard.

Despite the strike action, both
sides were still at the bargaining

sides have been going almost
non-stop since Monday.

Negotiators for the board and

the teachers’ union resumed
bargaining at 3 p.m. Thursday
and continued uniil 2:30 a.m.

Friday. Bargaining was scheduled
to resume at | p.m. Friday.

Mike Hocevar, president of
local 389 of the Canadian Union
of Public Employees (CUPE), the
union that represents the school
board’s maintenance staff. said
his members did nat cross NVTA
picket lines on Thursday and Fri-
day.

The NVTA has been without a
collective agreement since June 30,
1990.

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table to) press time Friday.
Negotiations between the two
Index
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Second Class Registration Number 3885

Weather

Sunday. sain. High 10. Low 4.
Monday and Tuesday. periods of
rain.

Sunday, February 17, 1991 - North Shore News - 3

ity to study
bylaw increasing
daycare space

Homes could take care
of up to 17 children

NORTH VANCOUVER City is considering a bylaw that
could dramatically increase the available daycare spaces in

the municipality.

The bylaw, which was presented
at a Feb. il public hearing, opens
childcare use to almost any zone
in the city, and would allow prof-
it-oriented daycares in commercial
zones.

By Pamela Lang
Contributing Writer

City director of development
services Fred Smith said that, in
residential areas, a home used as a
dwelling for its primary use could
have up to 17 children in an ac-
cessory-use daycare facility, while
houses not used as residences
would be allowed up to 20
children.

But the limits would be lowered
in most cases by restrictions on
space and parking that apply to
all zones.

Daycares are already required to
have 40 square feet of indoor
space for each child in its care,
and Smith said the city bylaw
would maintain a municipal re-
quirement for 150 square feet per
child of outdoor play space.

Houses in residential areas with
a daycare centre as the primary
use, he said, will be required to
have three parking spaces, while
residences with childcare as a sec-
ondary use will have to have two
parking spaces.

Smith added tha: in commercial
areas, daycares will require one
parking space for every two staff
members or every five children in
care,

At Monday’s public hearing,
two residents spoke against large
numbers of children being allowed
in daycare centres located in resi-
dential areas, while two residents
who are involved with childcare
applauded the move.

‘*A home shouldn't be used for
something such as childcare,"’ said
Margaret Plumb, ‘‘the public
hasn’t even imagined what that
would be like to live next to.""

She said that six or eight
children in a home-based childcare
facility might be manageable, but
with an aging population,
residents don’t want 17 or 20
children in the house next door.

But Donna Cairns said she wel-
comes the zoning changes because
the need for local childcare is in

NORTH VANCOUVER
CITY COUNCIL

NV City al
some of the problems should
be dealt with a? other levels of
government.

crisis.

Cairns, a board member for the
non-profit Lonsdale Creek Day
Care, said that they have unborn
children on their waiting list.

“Parents are asking for space
for children they are planning to
have,” Cairns said, adding that
their daycare centre is located ad-
jacent to the Lonsdale Elementary
School at 21st Street and Chester-
field Avenue.

Asking ho many city homes
could accommodate 20 children,
Ald. Stella Jo Dean estiu:ated that
a house would need 3,000 square
feet of outdoor play space, 800
square feet of indoor childcare
space, and four parking stalls.

Smith did not have a number
for Dean, but he said the homes
would have to be on lots in excess
of 6,000 square feet.

She added that although she
was. concerned about the numbers
(17 to 20 children in residential
homes), she believes that it is
possible thar not many homes
could accommodate these higher
numbers of children.

“IT don’t think this has all the
answers,’ said Ald. Bill Bell. But
he added that it is one step coun-
cil can take.

City council is expected to
adopt the bylaw on Feb. 18.

Fist fight erupts
at West Van library

A FREEWHEELING fist fight
broke out Monday in the other-
wise bookish confines of West
Vancouver Memorial Library.
Three West Vancouver Police
officers were dispatched to the
library just before 5:30 p.m. to

break up a fight between two
men.

A police spokesman said a
“verbal exchange’’ between the

two had quickly escalated into a
fist fight. Books and filing cabi-
Nets were Knocked down, citusing
library-goers to scatter.

A 17-vear-okt West Van-
couverite and 24-year-old Daniel
Jay Kuiper of North Vancouver
were subsequently charged with

causing a disturbance. The two
are scheduled to appear in West
Vancouver provincial court April
8.

The cause of the skirmish is, as
yet, unknown,

News columnist Trevor Lautens
was in the library, having a selec-
tion of books checked out as the
drama unfolded.

Said Lautens, in an environ-
ment where whispers are the
norm, “In West Vancouver, sure-
Iy there could be nothing worse
than somebody not having paid
his library fine.”’

Lautens stood by nonplussed as
police moved in ‘tat a professional
pace.”*