Mystery junk plagues Hoskins Road property Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnews.com MONICA Craver’s home is not a dump. But someone has been treating it that way during the last avo years. Craver lives in a quiet area near the top of Hoskins Road in Upper Lynn Valley. Since August 1997 she has had about a half dozen deposits of junk, somecimes let in a bizarre way, on her front lawn. The culprits have — lett couches, broken dirty furni- ture, fireworks, refrigerators, toilet tanks and carpets. The latest junk deposit occurred sometime — carly Monday morning when some- one placed a broken swing set on top of an old piece of carpet on Craver's front lawn. “Pd like to say to the peo- lz, ‘LE don’t know what we ave done to you or what you are trying to prove,’” said a frustrated Craver. Craver, who is hearing impaired, has lived in the house with her husband and three children for cight years. She said her hearing, assistance dog can be “yappy” when strangers are around, but it has not barked when strangers have done their dirty work. She has no idea who is leaving the items. “Some of the stuff is just disgusting,” said Craver. Craver and her husband decided to call fice when a load of furniture was set up on her awn in April 1998. Roman rockets were also place against her house. North Vancouver RCMP Const. Heidi Hoftman said officers seized the fireworks. No Craver said the constable investigating the dumping of the swing set thought the culprits had the wrong house or were “mad at something.” Only once, during a fridge drop-off, did some- one see something. A neighbor noticed a dark colored, low cab pickup truck with ovo people in it at 1:30 a.m. one morning. Craver said junk has been left in her front yard between April and October. North Vancouver District workers have been hauling it away to the dump. Craver feels harassed and has wasted a lot of time dealing with the junk. She has installed security lights and a house alarm. “We thought it was a fluke at first,” NEWS phote ferry Peters MONICA Craver wants to know who left this junk on her front yard on Monday. The Craver family has had sev- eral pieces of old dirty furniture and appliances mysierlously left on their Hoskins Road property. photo courtesy Monica Craver io vote Contrituting Writer NORTH Vancouver District councillors have firmed up a refer- endum question on the future of its water- front. The question voters will answer at the Nov. 20 munic- ipal clection will be one of principle rather than details. Council voted to serap several questions which included aspects of the plan and instead chese to simply ask: “Are vou in favour in principle of the recommendations an ways to increase public access to the district’s waterfront as described in the Waterfront ‘Yask Force’s Phase 2 report)” That question, said Coun. Glenys Deering-Robb, — is “very clean, very simple, very yes or no-able.” It sets out a vision for the future and does not obligate any council to spend any otoney. People are misled, she said, when they think the plan means “we're foing to go out hell-bent and buy property from Maplewood to Deep Cove.” Asa first step, the plan calls for the implementation of a trail system to be built over 15 years, linking various sections of district-owned properties on or near the foreshore. To build a continuous trail sys- THE Craver front yard in April 19$6 after another said Craver. Call the ‘North Van RCMP at 985- foad of junk was left behind. suspects were identified. Police made extra patrols 1311 with information, in the area afterwards. tem, the task force bas recom- Sports shop files suit against mail Bob Mackin News Reporter A sportswear spat at Park Royal is headed for B.C. Supreme Court. South mall tenant Sport-Chek filed 2 civil suit Sept. 1 against Park Royal Shopping Centre Holdings, Coast Mountain Sports and Bata Industries. Sport-Chek, an Alberta-based sporting gouds chain, alleges Park Royal contravened a restrictive covenant in its 1993 lease by allowing Coast Mountain Sports and Bata- owned Athletes World to lease space in the West Vancouver mall. Saiai the statement of claim: “Sport Chek has suffered and continues to suffer loss and damage, including but not lintited ro ‘ost retail sales profits, lost contributions to rent and overheads, loss of market share, loss of regional market profile and increased out-of-pocket expenses for advertising and marketing purposes.” Sport-Chek wants a judge to issue an injunction requir- ‘ing the deferdants to “immediarely? reduce the square footage of the premises leased by Park Royal to the two smaller sporting good stores. Sport-Chek signed a 10-ycar lease for 20,448 square feet with Park Royal on Nov. 8, 1993. Sport-Chek pays annual rent of $368,000 to $409,000. The claim says the covenant restricts Park Royal from leasing more than 2,500 square feet in Park Royal South or "5,000 square feet in the north mall to retailers of sporting " goods and sports wear. Park Royal general manager Rick Amantea declined to comment. . “It is our company’s policy not to Comment on any issucs with respect to our retailers,” he said. Graeme Spicer, spokesman for Toronto-based Bata, said the lawsuit is a surprise. “It’s got nothing to do with us, we have a valid lease with Park Royal Shopping Centre, the landlord,” he said. The Athletes’ World store is one of two outlets owned by Bata at the mall. It also operates an Out There store in the north side, but that store wasn’t mentioned in the statement See Sport-Chek page § New bus service te liek up North Shore East-west from Lynn Valiey to Dundarave Catherine Barr Contributing Writer TRAVELING east-west 2-rass the North Shore will get easier thanks to anew North Shore bus route. The route, which is scheduled to begin ser- vice on Dec. 6, is the first of its kind on the North Shore. Bus passengers will be able to take onc bus | all the way from Dundarave in West Vancouver to Lynn Valley in North Vancouver. Scheduled to run every half hour, seven days a week, the route will service several major North Shore stops including Lions Gate Hospital. The hospital stop is expected to make the largest impact, especially on seniors living in West Vancouver who have no direct transit connection to the facility. The journey will take passengers along West Vancouver’s Marine Drive, past Capilano Road and along North Vancouver’s Marine Drive. It will then turn up West Keith Road hill, join East 15th Street, go north up Grand Boulevard and end up along Lynn Valley Road. North Vancouver City Hall, Park Royal Shopping Centre, Capilano Mall, Lynn Valley Mall, Ambleside Park, Lynn Valley Recreation Centre, Karen Magnussen Recreation Centre, West Vancouver Recreation Centre and Mahon Stadium are all stops along the way. Service will run from approximately 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Fares are expected to remain the same with an adult paying $1.50 and seniors/chil- dren paying $1. A one way trip, from end to end, is expected to take approximately 35 min- utes. “Ie’s a seamless service,” said TransLink - implementation and planning manager Glen Leicester on Monday evening as he made the announcement t6 North Vancouver City coun- cil. Leicester, a long-time transportation official and former BC Transit employee, credits both North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks (who is the North Shore’s TransLink represen- tative) and the newly formed regional jransLink corporation for implementing the idea. : “It’s a direct result of the Nerth Shor communities saying they want improved cast/west service,” said Leicester. He said the program is also a result of TransLink’s ability to provide a “change in focus” for transit, plan- ning and funding. Leicester also said that because the transit system is now in the hands of local officials, instead of being run by the province, it is easi- er to get much needed changes like this off of the ground. The new crosstown route will be serviced by three brand new, low floor, West Vancouver Blue Bus vehicles equipped with bike racks and handicap access ramps. And while both the North Vancouver cen- tral bus service and the West Vancouver pri- vately contracted Bluc Bus system will remain intact, Leicester said that it is the users who stand to gain the most. “Whether the bus is blue or red, it’s a TransLink service,” said Leicester. The new route is an additional service which, according to Leicester, will not replace any existing bus routes currently in operation. The total operating costs are expected to be approximately $570,000 per year. mended the district acquire private properties as they become available on the mar- ket over a 50-year period. As the trail would need only 20 feet near the water, the district would re-sell the remainder of the acquired property. Rick Zerr, the district's director of planning, told council the firss 15 years of that plan would cost about $8 million. That would mean a 1.1% increase in municipal taxes, amounting to a levy of $15 per household each year. The second part of the plan, including acquisition’ of property, would cost about $45 million. That translates into an additional 1.9% increase in taxes, or $26 per household plus the $15. Ail figures are in 1999 dollars. Show taxpayers the money when they vote on any ques- tion of public access to the waterfront, Coun. Lisa Muri . urged district council ‘on Monday night. a “If the plan is so good, the voters will vote for it no mat- ter what the cost,” she said. “So why can’t you tell them ~ what it is?” Coun. Janice Harris . agreed with Muri that the question should include the cost, and that more public dis- cussion should be held before a referendum. The question council decided to pose is too broad, she said, for a huge plan which includes 172 rec- ommendations. Both council- lors voted against the motion. But many who = are opposed to the plan, said Deering-Robb, are those who own property near the water- See Waterfront page §