All-nighi ferry sailing plans raise W. Van traffic worries Ferry corp. proposes 24-hour sailings from H. Bay terminal IT WILL not be smooth sailing for West Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay residents if the provincial government allows the B.C. Ferry Corp. (BCFC) to run all-night fer- ries between the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal and Nanaimo, a local business group has said. And West Vancouver Mayor _Mark -Sager said his council has serious concerns about the impact 24-hour sailings to and from Horseshoe Bay will have on the area and the rest of West Van- couver. BCFC has proposed initiating the all-night sailings between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo this summer. Supporters of the idea have said _ that all-night service would allow Vancouver Isiand residents to 46 Glen Clark is Slying another ‘trial balloon.99 — Liberal MLA David Mitchell come to the Lower Mainland to watch sporting events and concerts and return home the same night. -But Ian Daily, co-chairman of ‘the Horseshoe Bay Business and Community Association, said the / proposed all-night sailings would . disrupt the lifestyle of area resi- : dents. “Everyone is quite concerned a because of all the night ferry traf- fi fic that would result,’? said Daily. By Surj Rattan News Reporter “There’s all sorts of problems that can result from this.”’ Sager said his office has receiv- ed numerous complaints about the proposed service. . “The big concern is the large number of trucks that would be going thrcugh the area,’’ Sager said. He added discuss the Monday. “! think the ferry corporation must realize that that (Upper Levels) highway runs right through a residential area,’ said Sager. ‘‘It (proposal) certainly came as a surprise to :1s.°” West Vancouver-C:aribaldi Lib- eral MLA David Mitchell criti- cized both B.C. Finznce Minisier Glen Clark, the minister responsi- ble for BCFC, and BCFC for fail- ing to consult with Horseshoe Bay residents on the all-nicht sailing proposal. “Glen Clark is flying another trial balloon,’’ said Mitchell. “There hasn’t been any consulta- tion with the people of the com- munities involved.” The last ferry sailing now leaves the Horseshoe Bay and Naniimo terminals at 9 p.m. The first sail- ings are at 7 a.m. from both fer- minals. that council will issue in-camera on NEWS photo Cindy Goodman CATHY PINSET *f Lions Gate Hospital’s (LGH) nursing department and Gord McKnight of maintenance were two of several hospital employees who took part in a sit-in in the hospital’s cafeteria on Wednisday. The Hospital Employees Union called the work stoppage to back con- tract demands. Thr; union held a ratification vote on Thursday. HEU members stage sit-in protest at LGH cafeteria MEMBERS OF the Hospital Employees Union (HEU) employed at Lions Gate Hospital staged a two-hour sit-in Wednesday morning in the hospital’s cafeteria to back contract demands. Clarke Gardner, president of the hospital’s HEU local, said his membership has become in- creasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in contract talks between the HEU and the Hospital Labor Relations Association (HLRA). Gardner said negotiations had been under way since Feb- ruary 1991 but have now stall- ed “In January we took a strike vote, and as soon as we took a strike vote they (HLRA) put an offer on the table," said Gardner. The HEU’s LGH local was expected to hold a ratification vote Thursday on HLRA’s Iat- est contract offer. Results of the vote will not be released by the HEU executive until March 27 when the union counts all of By Surj Rattan News Reporter the ratification votes taken across the province. The union has recommended that the contract offer be re- jected. Gardner said the HLRA's latest offer provides a 3.5% re- troactive wage increase for 1991 and a 1.5% increase for 1992. He added that public sector wage increases for 1991 includ- ed: @ a 7% increase for Canadian Union of Public Employees {CUPE) members employed at the Pacific National Exhib- ition,; @a 7% increase for wage North Shore Union Board of Health and B.C. Nurses’ Union members; @ and a 9.5% wage hike for CUPE members employed by the Delta School District. HEU spokesman Steven Howard said the current average salary for an HEU worker employed at LGH and at other hospitals is approxi- mately $26,000 a year. Annual HEU salaries range from $20,000 to $51,000 Gardner said LGH’s 1,100 HEU members don’t intend to disrupt patient care. Another key issue in the labor dispute is work load. Gardner said the current work load expected of the HEU members results in injuries for workers and patients. LGH president Bob Smith said the labor dispute has caused some minor disruptions at the hospital, but he added that the hospital has no pians to cut services. N. Shore plan details composting program — Garden waste could be sold as compost by 1993, according to proposal NORTH SHORE residents could be buying back their own garden waste as compost by 1993 if municipal plans for a proposed composting program continue to fruition. ~The establishment of a lIand- scape/yard/wood waste com- = posting site was approved Monday 4. by North Vancouver City Council . and. approved ‘‘in general’? by North Vancouver District’s stand- ing committee of operational ser- vices. If all three North Shore councils ’ agree, the North Shore Recycling Program. will seek proposals for the operation of the facility, which would be located in North Vancouver District. The program’s goal is to accept residential and commercial yard and wood waste by the summer. North Shore Recycling coor- dinator Allen Lynch told city council Monday night that the cost of yard waste collection would not be economically viable. Lynch’s report to both councils _ stated that the composting process would be complete next year, with the finished product being sold to municipal works yards and the public. Lynch recommended proceeding By Martin Millerchip and Pamela Lang quickly because of a provincial draft reguiziion that could make new composting operations more difficult to set up. The draft, produced by the previous Social Credit government, is expected to become law in 1992 or 1993, he said. North Shore organic wastes are now thrown out with the regular garbage, composted by residents in their gardens or taken by land- scapers, concerned citizens or commercial haulers to either the chipping yard adjacent to the North Shore transfer station or directly to the old Premier Street landfill. The provincial government has required all regional districts to reduce their waste levels by 30% by 1995 and by 50% by 200). Organic wastes make up more than one third of the Nerth Shore’s solid waste stream. NVC Ald. Bill Bell The government is also commit- ted to financing one-third to two-thirds of capital expenditures to set up composting programs. Lynch reported that private composting cannot address the 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes per year of material that is now being used as cover at Premier Street. The Premier Street landfill is considered the best site for the composting operation, despite a potential conflict with the district’s parks master plan which calls for playing fields in the area. But district director of engineer- ing services John Bremner told the committee that both options cculd be accommodated at the landfill site. He admitted, however, that “there is some guesswork involved in the quantity of the land that we will need.” Bremner said the site should ac- commodate seven playing fields in the future and the approximately seven acres required for com- posting. An estimated 7.34 acres could process as much as 64,000 cubic yards of organic material annual- ly. The waste would be chipped and formed into large ‘‘win- drows’’ approximately 12 to 15 feet high, 30 feet wide and 200 feet long. Bremner said there should be no problems with odor if the win- drows are turned and aerated reg- ularly. Lynch anticipates having as much as 25,000 cubic yards of compost available by the facility’s second year of operation. He said sludge from the Lions Gate sewege treatment plant and other commerial organic wastes could be added to the compost. Lynch said that the compost would be tested for heavy metals and other contaminants. Lynch estimated that the facili- ty’s annual operating costs could © range from $600,000 to. $1 mil-. lion, depending on whether the work is contracted out. But he added that the North Shore municipalities will earn over $400,000 annually in tipping fees. for commercial wood waste and will save over $450,000 per year by diverting North Shore organics from the transfer station. Additional revenue would come from sales of compost from the second year on. According to Lynch’s report: “At worst, we would be operating at a break-even level in the first year versus the alternative of disposing of these materials.”” City Ald. Bill Bell was more concerned that city residents pay only their fair share of the opera- tional costs because so many city residents do not have yards, so don’t produce yard waste. Lynch assured Bell that drop- offs would be monitored so that municipality fees would be based on the amount of waste residents coniribute.