Canadian Ti Keith Lowe Contributing Writer GREENLIGHTING a 196,000 sq. ft. Canadian Tire development on Main St. Monday night, North Vancouver District council also voted unanimously to restrict future “big box” retailers from taking root in the municipality. But the prevailing question was: why didn't council address it sooner? Coungil voted 4-2 to rezone the property trom Light Industrial to) Comprehensive Development Zone, which permits a variety of uses, including restaurants, aute rzpair shop and retail. “Absolutely shocking,” was Couns. Lisa Muri’s reaction to the plan. “Fast food restau- rants — that’s the vision for Main Street.” Muri said the president and general manag: er of the Nerth Vancouver Chamber of Commerce had met with Canadian Tire repre- sentatives and rejected the proposal) The chamber had cited the problem of increased tratlic to the area and recommended no con- struction until an independent traffic study could be done and a clear development plan was in place. Concerns had abo been raised by local merchants, at an earlier public meeting, about the negative effect that big-box retailers — Homeless iSSue fa in NV Ci re Friday, September 29, 2000 - North Shore News - 3 i9 BOX a Project will see a 106,000 sq. ft. store built stich as Wal Mart and Costee — have on local small businesses. “Fhis council is tvea’ to anything that comes along.” said Muri. “We have ne insight, we have no vision. sis an injustice to the people of North Vancouver. We don't: care what happens te that site down tacre. We don’t cure what happens to the small business guy down there — we never have. since this council was clected —— and we never wilh” The new complex will be built on ibe old Venive Bakerv site at Main Street and Harbour Avenue. Et will consist. of seven buildings, including two fast food restaurants and two fanily sit-down restaurants. The Canadian Tire outlet will be 106,131 sq. ft. (9,860 sq. m). It is estimated thar the store will add $400,000 a vear in taxes to the district. Bat the fact that the district still hasir't come up with a comprehensive plan or ade- quate funding to deal wich the area’s tong- term traffic problems, doesn’t sit well with some, “This area is a gridlack now,” said Coun, Ernie Crist. “With this development the grid- fock will become Jonger and more estensive.~ Crist. also pointed out that the develop- ment weuld draw in regional customers, from areas like Burnaby and Horseshoe Bay, adding, to the area‘s traffic wees, particularly in regards to the Ironworkers Memorial Second ised North Shore services lacking Catherine Barr Contributing Writer NORTH Shore Health regional medical officer Dr. Brian O’Connor told North Vancouver City councillors Monday that the North Shore’s “invisible” homelessness problem can be denied no longer. If you think the problem is exclusive to lower income peo- ple in North Vancouver, think again. Recent statistics suggest that the problem might actually be worse in Canada’s most affluent community, West Vancouver. O°’Connor chairs a North Shore ad boc task force on home- lessness. : He appeared before councils this week to present a report on the topic. The report is based on a series of’ surveys conducted by members of agencies such as CoPro, Harvest Project and North Shore Neighbourhcod House. It reveals some surprising num- bers. Of the 82 homeless men and women interviewed between July 1999 and March 2000, only 34 “lived” in North Vancouver. ‘The remaining, 48 came from West Vancouver. Of the 32 women and 50 men who participated in the sur- vey, 41% said they had lived on the North Shore for 10 years or more. Many of them suffer from various mental health or substance abuse problems. A large percentage are of native descent. According to the report, shelter, food, laundry and shower facilities are needed. Often homeless peuple can be found seeking shelter in the rail tunnel at Lonsdale Quay or in parks such as Lynn Creek and Ambleside. Others live in their cars or get by in makeshift shel- ters hidden in the backwoods areas of areas such as Seymour. -O’Connor admits that while the data is sometimes difficult to gather and corroborate, he has no doubt that the issue is even bigger than it seems. It is, he said, a home-grown problem :.that needs some immediate home grown attention. “Eor the vast majority, we don’t even recognize that we have a homelessness problem,” said O*’Connor. “The time has come for each community to stand up and solve their own problems.” O’Connor said that the North Shore is “woefully lacking” in all kinds of support systems and that there are no emergency shelters on the North Shore. He'd like to change that before the winter weather sets in. He’s asking North Shore politicians to get together and get involved to help solve the problem, quickly. Mostly, he’s look- . ing for empty space to establish a shelter. O’Connor recognizes that there are no easy solutions. Sometimes, he said, communities are reluctant to set up sup- port systems because they fear attracting even more homeless See City page 9 sing, Which is already at capacity. A lack of facilities tor pedestrians and bievelists and transit: access to Phibbs Exchange, were also listed as concerns “Another traffic stedy will not do it,” said Crist. “We need to switch gears and we're not. We're constanty trying ro accommodate more traffic swith the old sofutions. We're ignoring the experience of virrually every city: and metropolis on the globe. You cannot solve the wattic problem by accommodating more cars. Crist had presented council with a recom: inendation for a repert on limiting bos stores months cartier. Both West Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver have implemented bylaws to that effect. Iv a letter to council, dated July 13, 2000, Crist said, “The size of the so-called box stores in the district is regulated and subseqtently controlled by council only in some areas of the district. ‘The result is that, once again, council finds itself on the defensive when applications for such monster stores come forward, espe- cially in areas where their presence may be contrary to public interest. “Its, in fact, difficult to fathom why a communitewide policy and subsequently, a wide-ranging public debate pertaining to this issue, has not taken place already,” the letter continued. Narrows C x is 50-50 GORDON Moore (left) and John Di Rosa, both of North Van Host Lions, broadcast news of a 50-50 draw Sept. 24 at Princess Park. They joined a rally for North Shore service clubs intended to raise awareness of fundraising and recruit new members. NEWS photo Cindy Goodman proved Following the decision, council voted unanimeusty to have staff draft amendments for regulation of tuture bow stores in excess Of 50,000 sq. tt. . Muri noted that this was representative of the wav council operates “E feel like E just walked into a different council meeting,” Muri said. “We're supposed to be Jooking at the big picture and I just don’t know when it’s going to start. We're not here to make decisions based en our own wishes ... P wanna shop more and I want every- thing in a catalogue is not a good enough rea- son te put a 106,000 sq. ft. store ina region that doesn’t even have a plan or a traffic plan.” MacRay- Dunn perecived this to be “anoth- er attack™ and began verbally sparring with Muri, as Mayor Don Bell called tor order. While MacKay-Dunn supported both rec- ommendations, he said he resented North Vancouver City’s feedback when the issue was raised with them for commentary. “When is the last time the city has perhaps consulted with us on... their development’s impact on our infrastructure? | wonder where the Chamber of Commerce would lead into that debate — rather than coming up and telling us that we should be doing it with this property. We don’t do that with the city and I take issue with that.” But Mari objected to MacKay-Dunn‘s comments, saying he was making the Chamber sound like “an outside entity” and pointed out they were, in fact, fisnded by the district. Reynolds ready to run for MP spot Jan-Christian Sorensen News Reporter jsorensen@nsnews.com WEST Vancouver- Sunshine Coast MP John Reynolds is hun- kered down on the starting line. He’s just waiting for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to pull the trigger and start the race. The ©West Vancouver: Sunshine Coast riding associ- ation this week nominated Reynolds . to” carry the Canadian Alliance colours into the next federal election, which to press time was expected to be called some- time in November. ; The 58-year-old Reynolds, who was sent to Ottawa in the 1997 election | under the then-Reform Party banner, said that the decision to run again was an easy one. “The excitement of the - (party) feadership contest and the excitement of a new leader and the fact that we actually have a good, serious chance to form the next gov- ernment of Canada’ makes : me very enthusiastic.” While Reynolds .. now champions former Alberta treasurer - and current Alliance feader Stockwell Day, it wasn’t always the case. | When Day and former Reform’ leader Preston Manning were duking it out for the helm of the party, Reynolds allied himself with Manning’s camp. oe Reynolds claims he sup- ported Manning out of a sense of loyalty to the former party leader. In a no-hard-feelings ges- ture, Day appointed See Lengthy page 5