FISHERMAWN’S COVE forms to fight condominium development A GROUP of West Vancouverites is worried that West Vancouver District Council may break pre-election promises made last fall to reserve the marine zoning at Fisherman’s Cove and allow a four-storey luxury con- dominium to be built. Calling themselves the Save Fisherman's Cove Committee, the residents have handed together fo fight the rezoning of (nternational Land Develop- ment’s (ILD) Fisherman's Cove property that will be discussed at Monday’s (Sept. 28) public hearing at West Vancouver Senior Secon- dary schvol. “The municipality is buying up waterfront Jand in Ambleside at great cost. But here in Fisherman's Cove — if the rezoning were to be considered — they’d be handing it away. It's a contradiction,’’ said committee spokesman Ron Davenport. According te Davenport, the committee is principally concern- ed about the intrusion of multi- ple family condominiums into a soley single-family area and the threat of losing West Van- couver's only marina boat card where people can pull their bouts out for extensive repair work. The rezoning to residential use would set @ precedent with far- reaching effects in the rest of West Vancouver, he claims, Unlike their three earlier pro- posals, International's fourth scheme includes both residential and marina/boat yard use. Much of the condominium site will be created out of land reclaimed from the ocean, leaving two- thirds of the site as a better or- ganized boat yard. According to the latest plans, the residential portion of the site would comprise approximately 28.7 per cent of the total 87,450- square-foot development. “But once this rezoning is in place, -Davenport said, ‘‘there’s no way that people who haye in- vested as much as half a million dollars in.a condominium are go- ing to allow the noise of people sanding and repairing boals and such on a‘Sunday and Ssiurday morning. Gradually, the marine facilities will be moved off and it will all go condominium.” In® order. to ‘assure everyone that this will not occur, ILD is offering to sell the marine pos- ‘ton to the municipality for $1 with a long-term lease back to themselves. “But when you get right down to it,’ Davenport said, “there are no deals to that proposal. There’s no mechanism in place. It’s the same for the ‘so called’ widening of Marine Drive and ‘so called’ sidewalk International say they’re going to help finance.” The street widening and side- walk cost sharing were created to ‘allay municipal concerns with br- inging increased traffic to one of the narrowest and most danger- ous corners of Mavine Drive. Davenport was also upset that West Vancouver council may be supportive of the ILD project, despite statements to the contrary made previous to the municipality’s last election. “There’s (oo much positive talk coming out of municipal hall - a lot of feeling that this is already a fait accompli,’’ Daven- port said. “When asked at the Gleneagles Ratepayers hot seat in November 86 pvior to their election if they would approve the rezoning of 5908 Marine Drive for condos — the response was a unanimous ‘no’,"’ recalled another concern- ed resident, Don Matcolm. The municipality’s Advisory Planning Commission and Advi- sory Design Panel has already approved the rezoning. The Save Fisherman's Cove Committee has the support of both the Gleneagles Ratepayers and the Ambleside-Dundarave Ratepayers, while Mahmous Aziz of the British Properties Ratepayers says he is scheduling a meeting of his group to discuss the matter, “There's nothing in the pubtic interest to it (the development),” said Capt. George Murrell of the Ambleside-Dundarave Ratepayers. Some members of the West Vancouver Yacht Club as well as Eagle Island residents support ILD’s project. The scheme would see a complete renovation of the boat yard and marina facilities (including a new building) which are in a bad state of repair. “But it has been in their inter- est to let the boat repair yard run down,”’ said Davenport.. : Co-resident Derek Bawn was against the project at first but changed his mind. ‘‘The place is an eyesore. What will happen io it if the development doesn’t go through?”’ Bawn believes the rezoning should be allowed if the developers include a seawalk with benches for locals, plus some sort of focal point. “Why does the whole area have to be for boaters?”’ he ask- ed. There are other concerns that building the couaominium on this site will make remaining marina land in West Vancouver more vulnerable to development. And according to the 1981 Mof- fat Study, the demand in West Vancouver for marine services is not being met and likely to in- crease. This is the fourth time local citizens have banded together to fight ILD's plans for Fisherman’s Cove. “They've got professional people with enormous amounts of expertise We're all laymen with limited time and finances,’” Davenport pointed out. He had no sympathy for the fact that ILD has invested a great deal of money in this project. “We cannot see why the municipality should feel obligated to bail out anyone,” Davenport concluded. 3 - Sunday, September 27, 1987 - North Shore News NEWS photo Nell Lucente B.C. DIRECTOR of the Reform Association of Canada Ron Gamble stands beneath the new political move- ment’s banner calling for more western input on a national level. The association held an information meeting Thursday at Canyon Gardens to generate local support and attract constituency delegates for a founding con- vention to be held Oct. 30 in Winnipeg. REFORM ASSOCIATION OF CANADA New federal party rallies for North Shore support TURNOUT WAS sparse to Thursday’s Reform Association of Canada meeting held at North Vancouver’s Canyon Gardens restaurant, but executive officers of the fledgling federal political party-in-the-making say it’s the quality of people attracted to the association and its ideas that count. Ron Gamble, association direc- tor for B.C.. said the Western- based political organization is out to field 16 North Shore consti- tuency delegates. eight for the North Vancouver-Burnaby and eight for the Capilano riding, to attend the Oct. 30 party-founding convention in Winnipeg. Gamble said the association has thus far collected eight’ potential North Shore constituency delegates tor the Winnipeg meeting. Founding convention delegates will name the new party, establish a constitutional mandate, an organizational structure and a fund-raising program to field 80 candidates in the next federal elec- tion, ELECTED SENATE Association executive vice-presi- dent Stan Roberts spoke to an au- dience of 38 at the North Van- couver meeting. Said Roberts: “One of our main planks is to see a change in federal institutions, specifically an elected senate with equal provincial representation."” Weather: Sunday through Tuesday, mostly sunny. Highs near 18°C. By MICHAEL BEC News Reporter Gamble sees a senate of 10 elected senators per province as an over- riding factor working to spur more realistic debate in Parliament. “Something like the National Energy Program would never have happened. Right now it seems that whatever is good for Ottawa is what we have,”’ he said. Other likely planks to be inctud- ed in the new pariy’s olatform in- clude 1 green light for unfettered trade with the U.S. and a call for referendums on major issues such as capital punishment. Although Roberts said he is not considering running for the party leadership, he said two western MPs and association executive vice-president Preston Manning are considering running for the party’s leadership. Roberts expects the new federal party to field 80 constituency can- didates in the next federal election. He said 50 members have declared interest in representing their con- Business... . Classified Ads. Doug Collins......... 9 Comics ...... TV Listings... Travel stitnencies, But said Roberts, commenting on the low turnout to Thursday's meeting, ‘The numbers seem to indicate support isn’t heavy on the North Shore." MEMBERSHIP DRAW There are currently 6,000 signed members in the association. The bulk of the membership is drawn from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Said Gamble: “If we can unify four provinces on four or five basic issues and win 30 to 40 seats based on that, that would be good for Canada.”’ . According to Roberts, the association has received hundreds of unsolicited memberships from people living in Ontario and Quebec. Said Gamble: ‘*The resource- producing sectors of Northern On- tario and Northern Quebec are getting screwed just as we are."’ Gamble came to the association as an ‘“‘ex-Liberal who voted Con- servative and is absolutely disen- chanted with the Mulroney gov- ernmient.”" Said Gamble: ‘*With the patronage and disparity we're see- ing, we're not getting anywhere. We voted for change and it’s not happening.” Escaped convict moved to Neison THE ESCAPED prisoner who was captured in West Vancouver Sept. 12 following a major police search has been transferred to Nelson provincial court to face charges stemming from incidents in Spar- wood, Grand Forks and West Vancouver, Robert James Watson, 43, who escaped from an Alberta prison Sept. 2, was charged with sexua! assault with a weapon, unlawfut confinement and being unlawfultv at large after he allegedly abducted a 33-year-old woman in Sparwood and forced her to drive to Grand Forks and West Vancouver.