Catherine Barr Contributing Writer RARE and endangered plant life on Madrona Ridge will be destroyed unless a mega-home develop- Ment is stopped, local environmentalists told a West Vancouver pub- lic meeting this week. Iwo houses PROVO AQ oon Bud woe cad could be daalt oon the Horseshoe Bay area site if the areas revoned Katharine | Steig. best known tor her work with the Priends of Cypress ounda: hon, sud the ccologicaily sen- MING area must be preserved aos, She said that certain species Of plant life tound on the ndve are rare and endan gered. Located 07 a small penin- sula, the steep Sop land mass is surrounded by Copper Cove oto othe west and Horseshoe Bay to the cist. Boaters and terry travellers will recognize it as the large forested “hill area that runs along the western side of the bay adjacent to Sewell’s Marina. The area remains largely inaccessible without a boar. Oniv Tyee Point, which hies at the extreme tip of the penin- sula, has been developed. One large estate home sits at its end. A long private driveway running along the steep mari- na coastline provides access to it. The entire area has been identified by the Federation of BC Naturalists as one of 143 environmentally important sites in the Lower Mainland. In 1992, the area was sur- veyed by prominent plant spe- cialist. Terry Taylor of the Vancouver Natural History Society. He found numerous ecologically sensitive species of plant life, including man- ganita trees and ground conc. Ground cone is rated Rl by the National Museums of Canada because it is very rare and ts currently endangered. The Madrona Ridge area consists Of 28.2 acres and was at one time owned entirely by BC Tel. The Crowa corpora- tion sold off an 8.4-acre por- tion to create Tyce Point. It also sold the steep coastal access land strip. BC Tel kept the remaining 19.8 acres of land, which is now commonly referred to as Telegraph Hill. The telecom- munications tower at the peak of the hill is accessible only by foot or helicopter. Regardless of its accessibil- ity, the BC Tel land is zoned for single family homes. In 1995, Webster Engineering submitted a subdivision plan that would have divided) the land inte eight lots of approx- imately 9,000 sq. it. (836 sq. m) cach. But because of the area’s steep and difficult terrain, the plan was dismissed as imprac- tical by the municipality. However, the entire subdi- vision issue remains unre- solved. Tyee Point and the adjoin- ing access strip are owned by Pak Construction Ltd. and its sister company Main Development Ltd. According to Pak’s lawyer Michael Woodward, there are no pending development applications for the land, but the company is considering adding five lots with building Mo Usury NEWS phote AREA residents Lenora Shier (foreground) and Katharine Steig are concerned about plans for development in West Vancouver's Madrona Ridge area. envelopes of 5,000 sq. ft. each. In 1990, betere Pak Construction bought — the land, a b4-lot subdivision for Tyee Point was rejected by the municipality based on its difficult terrain and inaccessi- bility. According to a Sept. 18 report: from West Vancouver director of planning Steve Nicholls, BC Tel told the municipality that it intended to sell its Telegraph Hill land. He said the municipality was encouraged to make an offer. Council appeared willing to pursue the purchase to pro tect the environmentally sen- sitive Madrona Ridge area. But the district is now attempting to have the zoning changed before purchasing the land. And the new pro- posed) zoning still contains provisions for land develop- ment and possible future sub- division. In his report, Nicholls writes that it would be impractical for the municipali- ty to) purchase the BC Tel/Telegraph Hill land while it has its current single family azoming. He therefore pro- posed a zoning change that would allow one 15,000: sq. fi house to be built on cach of the Telegraph Hili and Tyee Point lands. The area's Official Community Plan (OCP) would also have to be amended. Legal representatives from both BC Tel and Pak Construction Ltd. attended this week’s public hearing to urge council to retain the cur- rent zoning until more intor- mation is available. Both rep- resentatives called the poten- tial “downzoning” unfair, BC Tel senior legal counsel Miche! Relee asked for a “bet- ew UCS K6I1-266MMX sed Pentiums sed 486 Systems ‘olour Monitors “osTel (604) 984:222 Hassel Free Ironing in HALF the time Complete System includes Wonder shield - & Wonder cover Wondersheild iron won't burn, melt, scorch, shine or stick to any fabric at the higest setting! Wendercover-one size fits all ironing boards both for only ‘2 See all the products as advertised on TV ter balanced” solution. Environmental groups and concerned neighbours also seem confused by the munici- pality’s rezoning proposal. Steig said the land should immediately be zoned as a safe and properly managed ecological park habitat. Couneil adjourned the public hearing and is expect- ing an additional report from the planning department. The public hearing will reconvene again on Dec. 14. trom *799 trom *399 from from trom One day only 0397S sao Tene ia 3 " sake. ed futon oh ‘pilus ANG Bile CoBiS win’ guantMies cast ‘FAL CTORY FUTON 267 E Ist. 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