From Page 1 was a priority to any arrangement about the parkland, and we were quite willing to proceed on that,” Humphreys said. “At our last meeting, to our surprise, Chief Mathias said parkland was the only thing they wanted to discuss — they reversed their decision.” Humphreys said a draft servicing CHIEF JOE Mathias...‘“When the going got tough (Humphreys) bolted from the table — we didn’t — and then he breached an agreement...” agreement has been sent to the band and council still hopes to receive a response, despite the breakdown of talks. He said he blames the band for the impasse, when it ‘did not respond to coun- cil’s servicing proposal. Mathias said the band never gave the municipality a guarantee _that once a servicing agreement Mathias says West caused talks breakdown was worked out it would agree to council’s Ambleside fee proposal. “There’s no relationship be- tween the land and servicing and they understood that,’’ he said. Humphreys said the last time the two sides met to negutiate a leasing agreement, Feb. 28, council pro- posed a rent of $20,000 per year. But the band, he said, insisted on a rental agreement of 350,000 per year, retroactive to 1984. The federal government desig- nated Ambleside Park as Indian reserve land in 1983 after the band won its cutoff land claim settle- ment. Mathias said he would not discuss exact figures related to negotiations. But, he added it was the municipality, and not the band, who caused the breakdown in negotiations. “At our last meeting we were down to hardball negotiations — we were getting Cown to money on 25 acres of very valuable land,’’ he said. “When ‘the going got tough (Humphreys) bolted from the table — we didn’t —- and then he breached an agreement with us, which he requested, that we would not negotiate through the press. “T almost feel it was West Van- couver's plan all along to try and place che Squamish band in a neg- ative light — to try and show us as being unreasonable. Those kinds of tactics place the whole discus- sions in serious jeopardy, especial- ly regarding the public use of our reserve land,’’ he said. Mathias said the band will meet next week to discuss whether it will seek a negotiated settlement with the municipality on Ambleside Park. an Humphreys admitted he broke his agreement to not contact the press, but only after the band did not respond to the municipality’s proposal to service Kapilano 200, he said. Council requested an answer’by March 14, “We did tatk about making any agreements public together, but the public of West Vancouver has been (making) constant inquiries about Ambleside Park, and because we WEST VANCOUVER mayor Der- tick Humphreys...““Chief Mathias said parkiand was the only thing they wanted to discuss — they reversed their decision.’’ hadn’t had a reply ‘to the servicing agreement proposal) council unanimously agreed the public should be updated on the situa- tion. “We had that duty to the people of West Vancouver — we're not out to set the band in a bad ligiit. We had to set out the cold facts,” he said. Weather: Showers, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Intermittent rain and windy, Highs near 12°C, 3 - Sunday, March 30, 1986 - North Shore News Business ........... 24 Classified Ads.......30 Doug Collins.........8 Editorial Page........6 Fashion............13 Beb Hunter..........4 Lifestyles...........23 Mailbox.............7 Travel... ........... 16 What's Going On.....28 ANGRY members of the recently closed Sprint Family Fitness centre are banding together in an attempt to recoup lost membership money. Organizer Ernie Crist, a club member and District of ‘North ‘Vancouver alderman, said Wed- nesday, ‘‘We want our money from this guy. It is immoral what he has -done. He was taking memberships up until a week be- fore the spa closed. We are not satisfied with using the downtown facility. We want our money back or a new membership.”’ Crist said Sprint owner Scott Shaw promised him the new fitness centre at the International Plaza Hotel would be overhauled, upgraded and expanded. “He told me a big story. He knew what he was doing.” Former life members of the European Health Spa and the Ca- nadian Fitness Club, the two previously unsuccessful spa opera- NEWS photo Mike ‘Waketiaid SLIPPING INTO the guise of the Easter bunny, four-year-old Lisa Nothling shares chocolate eggs with Cedarview Lodge residents Nancy Farrell (left) and Jean Hunter (background). Lisa and her classmates from Deep Cove Preschool made a visit to the lodge Wednesday. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter tions in the hotel, paid additional annual fees of $120 to join Sprint which began business in the spring of 1985. Lifetime membership fees of be- tween $800 and $1,200 were lost in the collapse of the previous spas. Crist said a meeting of disen- franchised Sprint members, called to discuss strategy and possible fegal action against Shaw, is scheduled for April 3 in the Seymour Room of the North Van- couver Recreation Centre. With Sprint four months behind on its $9,000 monthly rent, landlords slapped a tock on the spa's doors March 17. A spokesman for Lehndorff Property Management, the proper- ty’s landlords, has declined to comment on Sprint’s eviction. Shaw said Wednesday he cannot stop the disgruntled members of Sprint from doing what they feel they have to, ‘‘but they are not left without a facility, because they can use the Broadway location. For them the closure is an inconve- nience, yes, for me it’s the foss of all the new equipment I put into the club and the club itself.”” Shaw, part-owner of a North Shore real estate company and a shareholder ‘in the Broadway Sprint club, would not-say how much money he had invested in the club since buying it last year, but in a March 2] News story he estimated his total losses to be $100,000. Shaw said Sprint membership sales continued until March because the property’s manage- ment had indicated they would give him the expansion space the club needed. Shaw added that Sprint was be- ing blamed unfairly for the failure of the European Health Spa and the Canadian Fitness Club, the two previous clubs in the hotel loca- tion. “The whole thing would have gone under a year ago, but we chose to pump in more money. We did all we could,” International Plaza general manager Gordon Chow said Wed- nesday a new spa would definitely be installed in the hotel and Sprint memberships - would be honored: “Our biggest concern in negotia- tions with the new owners is that those memberships be honored in the new facility.” Chow said the name of the new owner would be released next week.