OLYMPIC H HOTEL LOCATION 1 5-storey tower to rise on L. Lonsdale site FOR THE second time in less than a year, Nortii Vancouver City Council has been pressured by a developer into allow- ing highrise development in Lower Lonsdale. Following the advice of the ci- ty’s lawyer, council voted four to three in favor of granting a build- ing permit to Intercon [nvestments Limited to erect a_ 15-storey highrise on the Olympic Hotel site at 140 East Second Street. Last December council also fac- ed possible lawsuits before. gran- ting Cressey Development Cor- poration a permit to build a 28- storey highrise at 120 West Second Street. Although council members would not reveal the amount they could have been sued for, Ald. Stella Jo Dean said the city could have faced a ‘‘very big legal bat- 2) “[ did not want the city tax- payers to bear the burden (of = lawsuit),’’ said Dean. The decision came in the mids: of discussions on possible building height restrictions in Lower Lons- dale. Council is scheduled to make its final decision on June 26 as to whether it will enforce a six-storey height restriction or allow mixed building heights. According to a report issued by city staff, Intercon could have NV ALD. Sill Bell ... ‘‘Council caved in to developer's wishes against what the public wanted in Lower Lonsdale.”’ sought legal damages if the city delayed the building permit for a further 60 days, and t@:n decided against limiting heights to six storeys. But Ald. Bill Bell said the city would not have necessarily lost a legal battle. The development community was very aware of the height delib- erations in Lower Lonsdale, said Bell. ‘‘We’ve made it very clear what our intentions are,”’ he said. Bell said the city will be faced with similar pressure in any future down-zoning proposal. Granting a permit to Intercon is a message to developers “‘that we’re going to bend every single time,’’ he said. ‘7’m_~ very disappointed with council’s action,’? said Bell. “Council caved into the developers wishes against what the public wanted in Lower Lonsdale.” Ald. John Braithwaite also strongly disagreed with the deci- sion, and said council ‘‘biew it’’. “*We will have to accept applica- tions that are tower-oriented,” he said. ‘‘It will definitely push us in that direction.” Contributing Writer Ald. Frank Morris disagreed that the decision would pressure council, ‘1 thi:.% this is an isolated decision,”” he said. ‘I don’t feel this decision should form any precedent.’’ Dean said she was happy with the final result, and that while she didn’t want uniimited highrises, she liked the advantages created by view corridors between buildings. She said the Intercon proposal met the limits set in a report dy city consultant Aitken Wreglesworth which suggests a 150-foot height limit and a minimum 80-foot view corridor between buildings. Dean said she would not be sorry to see the Olympic Hotel be demolished, because of the poor state it is in. The Olympic Hotel is on the ci- ty’s heritage list as having signifi- cant heritage yotential, but Bell said the city had decided it wasn't really worth saving because it had fallen into disrepair, and a large portion of it had been damaged by fire. Some council members also ex- ywessed concerns that the loss of low-cost housing would change the nature of ithe Lower Lonsdale neighborhood. Bsil said tearing down the Olympic Hotel, without having a social housing plan in place, would turn Lower Lonsdale into a ‘‘ghet- to for the rich’’. “We’ re displacing a lot of peo- ple in the Lower Lonsdale area very quickly,’’ he said. And the rents in the new highrises may be well out of the reach of many Lower Lonsdale residents. A report released in February said most Lower Lons- dale residents are below the na- tional poverty level and would have difficulty finding equally af- fordable housing elsewhere on the North Shore. Bell estimated the con- dominiums being built by Intercon would sell at around $200,000. - Dean suggested they would run be- tween $100,000 and $150,000. But council has had some suc- cess in ensuring that tenants are not forced to relocate away frouw the North Shore. City Development Services Director Fred Smith said Intercon has agreed. to follow the recently- adopted city guidelines for tenant relocation. Olympic Hotel evic- tions are not expected to begin un- til at least September. The city also requires that the developer attend a public meeting to receive input from interested residents, said Smith. The devel- oper will receive recommendations, but will not be obligated to act upon them. Smith said the ten- tative date for the meeting is July 10. There appears to be only one other developer that might apply for a permit in the next two weeks, according to Smith. Fama Holdings Limited ‘‘are the only ones watching the process,’’ he said. But Fama could not pressure counci] in a maoner similar to In- tercon because the city could withhold the permit for an initial 30 days, enough time to make a decision about height restrictions . in Lower Lonsdale. 3 - Friday, June 16, 1989 - North Shore News NORTH VANCOUVER District Mayer Marilyn Baker (right) enjoyed the sunshine for a good cause on the recent Walk for Africa fund raiser held uvertown. Approximately 850 people participated in the event. Crab fishing closed CONTINUING high levels of pulp mill dioxins and furans found in fish samples taken from Howe Sound have forced the closure of the entire commercial crab fishery in Howe Sound and expanded the areas closed to commercial and recreational prawn aud shrimp fishing. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Tom Siddon announced the ex- panded closures Wednesday, based on recommendations from the Health Protection Branch of Health and Welfare Canada. Siddon stated in a press release that “this new federal government analysis of shellfish samples col- lected by Fisheries and Oceans and by pulp and paper companies in- dicated that immediate precau- tionary action is necessary.” In addition to the commercial closures, a warning has also been issued to the public to avoid con- suming the hepatopancreas digestive gland from non-commer- cially fished Howe Sound crab. Closed areas for commercial and recreational shrimp and prawn fishing have been extended south to Gower Point, cast to Home Island, around the western and northern shore of Keats Island to Cotton Point and north to the government wharf at Gambier Harbour. The expanded fishing restric- tions in Howe Sound follow initial By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter Nov. 30, 1988 commercial and rec- reational closures of crab, shrimp and prawn in areas adjacent to Howe Sound's Port Mellon and Woodfibre pulp mills after results from Fisheries and Oceans Canada tests showed extremely high levels of dioxins and furans in Howe Sound fish samples. Dioxins and furans, which do not, break down naturally, repre- sent a portion of the hundreds of chlorinated organics produced in the pulp bleaching process. Minute amounts have been linked to cancer in laboratory animals. While both mills have announc- ed multi-million dollar pians to teduce the amount of the organochlorines released into Howe Sound, area_ residents reacted strongly to Wednesday’s expanded fishing closures. Environmental Watch spokesman Terry Jacks said the situation was ‘unbelievable. The closures keep expending but the More discharges From page 1 According to HLRA spokesman David Annis the offer would make the nurses the best paid in Canada. A general duty nurse at the max- imum hourly wage rate would earn $19.68 upon acceptance of the of- fer and $22.22 per hour by 1991. In addition to wage increases, the HLRA offer included improve- ments to shift differentials and shift premiums, But BCNU spokesman Jerry Miller said general duty nurses, who make up 85 per cent of BCNU membership, would not be the highest paid in Canada under the HLRA offer because federal gov- ernment nurses currently make $21.56 per hour. The BCNU’s last counter offer called for wage increases of 20 per cent in the first year and seven per cent in each of the subsequent two years. AUTO... cece eee ee 25 Classified Ads..........28 Doug Collins........... 9 It would raise the current hourly Starting rate for a general duty nurse from $15.07 to $20.78 by 199! and raise the top rate from $17.43 per hour to $24. 39 over the’ same period. Miller said the HLRA had only made one monetary offer during the negotiations, while the BCNU had backed off from its original demand of a 33 per cent wage in- “crease in one year. “We realized remedying years of neglect cannot be done overnight,’’ Miller said. ‘‘We are trying to be responsible in our position. We have been flexible, but the HLRA has been rock hard.’’ Miller also said that the HLRA wants to increase from six to eight - years the general duty nurses pay grid so that it would take longer to reach the top of the wage scale. But Annis said Wednesday the BCNU was riding roughshod over the public and public opinion by taking strike action without allow- Editorial Page.......... G Home & Gartien.........13 Mailbox ........... weee 7 What's Going On........20 Second Class Registration Number 3885 source keeps pumping out the pollution. The tap has to be dealt with. We have got to stop the pollution.’ Jacks said the mills must be shut down immediately and their workers and Howe Sound fish- ermen compensated financially un- til the mills are made environmen- tally safe. In a Wednesday press release Canfor vice president of environ- ment Kirke MacMillan stated a re- cent company survey of marine life and sediment carried out in Howe Sound ‘‘confirms evidence of ele- vated dioxin levels in earlier sam- ples, and reinforces the decision made by HSPP (Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Ltd., the company es- tablished by Canfor and the Oji Paper Co. Ltd. of Japan to con- struct a new mill at the Port Mellon site) to proceed with the $88 million in environmental im- provements which are a key com- ponent of the current $1 billion mill modernization program.” Western Pulp Ltd. Partnership, which owns the Woodfibre mill, announced Wednesday that, ac- cording to its own surveys, the company has reduced dioxin levels in Woodfibre mill effluent by ‘‘as much a3 75 per cent’’ and chlorine use by 40 per cent since the beginn- ing of 1988. planned ing its members to vote on the employer’s offer. He added. that the ALRA was willing to go back to the bargain- ing table with the union, but did not say whether the association was willing te improve its original wage Offer. The Hospitai Employees Union and the Health Sciences Associa- tion, which represent the other unionized workers at LGH, are honoring BCNU picket lines. O’Dell said non-union staff would be deployed to handle essential work as best they could, but he added that the overall effect on surviving hospital operations would depend largely on the number of staff permitted to work at the facility under essential ser- vices legislation. The hospital is not permitted to use volunteer workers. For each volunteer used, a worker desig- nated essential will be removed from the hospital. WEATHER Friday, claady with sunny periods and a chance of. showers. Saturday, mostly cloudy with showers.