Ironing out the last details has been complicated by the array of key players in this conflict, which include the Burrard View parents and kids who want the new Cove Cliff School, the local residents who don’t, the North Vancouver School Board, the District of North Vancouver, the Ministry of Education and both the federal and provincial fisheries depart- ments. The proposed culverting (cover- ing and piping the creek waters) of 400 feet of Myrtle Creek has caused concerns over the future of the creek as a salmon bearing waterway — concerns that have been taken up by a group of local homeowners. “This same group was outraged that the school would be built without a culvert when the first application for rezoning came forward and was turned down in 1983,”? points out parents’ com- mittee head Sue Geddes. Deep Cove resident Bill Blakely, a consulting planner, charges North Vancouver School Board with trying to ‘‘shoe-homm an elementary school onto this woefully inadequate site,’’ despite ‘increasing public emphasis on environmental values.”’ But according to assistant school superintendent Pat Bell, Myrtle Creek has minimal value as a salmon habitat, as it is already culverted in two places and runs through a neighborhood where it is fed by residential run-off and serves as occasional sewer back-up. “It is not a productive creck,’” said Pat Bell, who has been in- volved with the Cove Cliff project for 12 years. Efforts to restock the creek through the school district’s salm- onid enhancement program have failed, he said. Both fisheries departments have Panorama Drive resident Bill : Mari, frustrated by a perceived . lack of claims settlement action on the part of B.C. Hydro, had com- plained to the office of the provin- cial ombudsman Aug. 23. Mari estimated his total loss at approximately $4,000. But he said: “They said they will accept the claim.”’ Mari dlames the presence of numerous splices in the power lines along Panorama Drive as a con- tributing factor to frequent outages in the neighborhood. ‘“The lines are so old, there are three splices just in front of my house alone. There seems to be a power failure twice a month along Panorama Drive,”’ he said. But said B.C. Hydro manager of customer services Frank Cappelio: “Just because it has a number of splices in it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with it. The splices bring the line back to as good as new.” A Hydro crew responding to the line break Aug. 20 found that the failure was caused by a tree com- ing down on the line six blocks away. According to B.C. Hydro metro west area manager Dennis Maniago, the tree that had toppled onto the power line had been iden- By MAUREEN CURTIS Contributing Writer accepted the board’s position that there are no alternatives to the placement of the school or the culverting of the creek. They are asking for compensatory fish habitat, which the school district is planning to provide elsewhere through their salmonid enhance- ment program. While Blakely says the conflict between the needs of fish and stu- dents could be avoided by re-siting the school in part of Myrtle Park or on the other side of the creek through a land exchange, school board chairman Don Bell says these and several other options have been investigated and found inadequate. Building in the park would not be popularly received, he predicted, while re-siting the school to the southeast would place it in the middle of a residen- tial area through which a com- plicated access route would have to be built. Gon Bell defended the recent decision to change the earlier two- story design to a more spread out one-story version, that pushes the playing field over top of the creck, as necessary for wheelchair access. The new design also improves lighting through the use of skylights and doors opening froia each class into the outdours. Construction which was to have begun this year has also been heli up by a delay in the 85 per cent funding expected from the Ministry of Education — a delay North Vancouver MLA Jack Davis has defended, claiming the school district hasn’t completed the planning, or secured all of the land necessary. A NORTH Vancouver man, whose home electrical appli- ances and heating system were damaged after a live B.C. Hydro power line came down in front of his house, has reached a settlement with the power corporation. By MICHAEL BECKER tified earlier as a ‘‘danger tree’’ located on private property. The tree was considered a hazard to the line because it was leaning toward it, but ‘‘when the crew went to do trimming work at the time, the owner of that par- ticular tree wasn’t home. The owner’s neighbor said we shouldn’t trim it until the owner got back from holidxys. And in the meantime it came down,’’ Maniago said. The falling tree snapped the main high voltage line, which then crossed Mari’s service line and caused an electrical backfeed resulting in the downed wire to remain tive. The live wire scorched Mari’s front lawn and shrubs in addition to causing the electrical equipment damage. The crossing of trees and wires, whether by act of God or the ac- tion of a homeowner trimming 2 tree, is an ongoing problem for B.C. Hydro. Company crews are mandated to maintain a 10-foot tree clearance from the nearest primary line. But storms and fall- ing trees still account for about 50 per cent of electrical power 3 - Sunday, September 10, 1989 - North Shore News EN VIRONMEN TAL ‘MPACT OF SCHOOL RAISES MORE CONCERNS Cove Clitf School put on hold ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS and lfa:d acquisition problems are holding up the long-awaited replacement of the decrepit Burrard View Elementary Schoo! building with anew facility on a different Deep Cove site. NEWS photo Terry Putors PARENTS’ GROUP president Sue Geddes continues the Zight for the new Cove Cliff Schoo! proposed for this site, even though delays may mean that her children may not get much of an opportunity to attend the facility. { The board is currently negotiating with North Vancouver District for the acquisition of about four acres at the Cove Cliff site, while it currently occupies the municipally owned Burrard View site. Due to an oversight, recently discovered, the Burrard View property was not turned over to the school district during the 1940s, along with ail the other schoo! sites, Don Bell explains. “Burrard View is a good loca- tion for housiug and we could have used the profits from development to buy the district land we need,’’ he points out. Instead, the municipality could profit from the school’s exit from Settlement reached in power line dispute outages. Said B.C. Hydro chairman and chief executive officer Larry Bell: “From the same street, I get letters about people trimming trees and electricity being out. One of my favorite streets is on the British Properties. If i can find the neighborhood park, we can all get together to discuss if we'd like CRS Se “Uf I can find the neighborhood park, we can all get together to discuss if we’d like more outtages or less trees. Basically that’s the relationship.’’ —Larry Bell, B.C. Hydro chairman and CEO EC more outtages or less trees. Basically that’s the relationship. The other element is safety. If that branch is strong enough to hold a child and they can reach and touch one of our wires, that branch is coming off. We won’t compromise on that. We can have all the discussions about aesthetics, but that branch is coming off.’’ Going underground with services solves the problem of power supp- ly disruption by falling trees. B.C. Hydro has a million-dollar pro- gram in place in which the cor- poration provides a third of the undezground installation cost on a cost-sharing basis with municipalities. Burrard View, which Blakely believes may sway the decision at an upcoming public hearing to finalize the siting of Cove Cliff School. While Don Bell is hoping to work out an exchange of the two sites, the municipality has insisted on an appraisal of the property to establish a purchase price. And though the schoo! district could rebuild on the Burrard View land, the site — with its sloping topography, dangerous access off of Deep Cove Road and limited play space — is inferior to the more centrally located Cove Cliff site. Mayor Marilyn Baker, pointing out that the July 1988 rezoning of “Through municipal coopera- tion, about 50 per cent of our new services are. underground,” Bel} said. ‘‘But underground costs anywhere from three to 10 times the cost of overhead service. It has more reliability, but if you have a problem, it’s very difficult to find it to fix it. The duration of outages goes up.” Meanwhile, residents of the Walnut Gardens townhouse com- plex have reached settlement for electrical equipment damage sus- tained when power surged through the 26-unit complex in January. The surge, which occurred after a tree was chepped down and knocked out a 60,000 volt line, destroyed and damaged thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment. Residents were able to collect on an insurance policy held in the name of the man who felled the tree. “We had approximately 30 claims and almost all of them are done,’’ said insurance adjustor Michaei Russell. ‘‘The settlement is in the thousanc's of doliars.”” Said Walnut Gardens claimant Michael Ryan, who lost approxi- mately $6,000 worth of electronic equipment including a home- business computer: ‘‘We all had to take a pretty big bite. They didn’t pay replacement cost. But it’s not wort! the hassle and cost of taking it to court.’’ Ryan received $1,600 for his claim. . the preperty to public assembly was approved by district council on the basis of a two-story pro- posal without the culverting, has suggested the board take a more consultative approach with the neighborhood by holding a public information meeting. But the added delays are discouraging to Geddes, who says the parents’ committee and others involved in the planning of the new school have done everything carefully. “For the past 15 years, about 350 kids have suffered an inade- quate education, and now we’re worried about 400 feet of creek that is also used as a sewer overflow,”’ said Geddes. Business .............. 40 ComicS........-eee000 0 39 Editorial Page.......... 6 Entertainment......... 30 Fashion Mailbox ......... weeeee 7 Miss Menners....... .. dG Lifestyles.......... Hunter............. wee A Travel ....... sat eaenee What's Going On........ 14 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, mostly sunny with high near 17°C, low ta 7°C.