7 Larco takes its m= Park Royal plan itc WV Chamber Hae By Michaet Becker a News Editor B mickacl@nsnews.com B | THE bottom line took a fe licking Tuesday at a West mee Vancouver Chamber of fee Commerce breakfast meet- ing. . .. , Larco Investments Lad. heavy hitters : Me were on hand to ask members of the fj ia North Shore business community to tnt their contrenersl plans for expan- BB son zt Park Royal South oa Ales, dae sym Wednesday, September 10, 1997 - NEWS photo Brad Lodwidige PARK Royal general manager Rick Amantea shows some boxes to make his point cn the impact of additional big-box retaliers at the West Vancouver shopping centre. J Royal phn’ Council will also her thar night from its enginecr- department on the waffic plan attached to the mall il © Among the key changes proposed by Larco to facil mame tate traffic in cue propor Lao wf . tial-controlled at-grade cussing. for vehices and pedes : an: Marine Drive. directly opposite Park Royal pay for this! ‘The chan is intended to vehicle access to tie! towers; provide tc {1 the centre and on to a des- ety * Peat” oat ihe oak ta et Se eet ee annem tm Jef or through the centre. . . lyin May. 2 nail crpanson at 7 poe at West y school. Squamish Nation, Park Royal’s landloeds for the south mall, have agreed in principle to Larco’s plans West Vancouver, has some jurisdiction over taf: fic and servicing to the site has yet to give any approvals. Said Rhys Duggan, Larco deve! it manager, “We wauld like to have them finalized later this fll, and we'll be in good shape.” The would allow Larco to meet its targeted . construction sturt date of January 1998. The golf dri- ‘ving range will be demolished in fate November, The cinema and bowling alicy will be demolished tentative- The new stores — including a PetSmart and Toys fs BOs — would open in the fll cf 1998. ‘The plan calls for the addition of over 1,100 parking stalls. West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA Ted Nebbeling ts no big fan of that plan. Said Nebbeling “What I believe is that they are ‘uglifying’ the site rather chan beautifying. It clearly is an industial-type retail that is brought into a very urban hype of sering, he sual aspect I rally chink willbe . Three hundred trees (pro- reed be een Lae) aca ning toda to do a presentation here, talking about a park-like setting and totally focused on green, you didn’t see a car in the presentation. They say we want to be fair and honest and ‘trust us’, well I’m sorry, in this particular case J have very fitde reason to trust.” Critics who questioned aspects of Larco’s proposal often received use from the audience. big-box stores are already a reality - Amante argued at Park Royal: “The Bay and Eaton’s are big fashion box stores. We're proposing bringing in some smaller boxes.” tat the time'of the Aid the truck aying cards in’ icle when it >to police; three of ‘occupants, including and front seat passen- ‘thrown from the vehi- he: police file indicates that : driver: may. have. glanced road map when the €F the road. reason for the driver inat- ‘xperience, craft llision ana- * atended North Sutherland sec- ool. id :. Sutherland principal Doug Green on Monday, “Colin ‘Mclnnes). was .a° very ular “It. has ‘devastated. his friends here. There are a lot of rade: 13s right now who are pset. : pie ‘principal also: knew is pher lar 199 gihom he a: popular graduate m the choo! “He had Toes of friends itz the : and still had. Chris left an pression. It’s a tragic event,” paid Green. eral . arrangements were ble t to press time. Doctors sever ties joard ‘Unprecedented’ apathy typifies the current diagnosis By (Robert Galster News Reporter robert@nsnews.com ‘FALLOUT from the North Shore Health Region’s decision to extend its CEO’s contract continues as disgruntled physicians fired another volley of protest at the Fegion’s board. The latest comes on the heels of last week’s resignation of two of the board’s members, Dr. John Maynard, the doctors’ representative on the health region board, and Judy Kendel, the t:ealth-care worker representative. Both stepped down in protest of th. decision to extend CEO Inge Schamborzki’s contract. “We find no alternative but to withdraw from ail personal contact between the physicians of the North Shore and the Regional Health Board until 2 more amica- ble working relationship can be achieved,” wrote Dr. Peter Richards in a letter to board chair Diana Hutchinson. “The current depth of antipathy between the Medical Staff and the Board is unpreccdented.” On. Tuesday, Richards said the decision to sever contact with the board is unlikely to have much impact because physicians’ input has been ignored anyway. “They give lip service to consultation,” said Richards. “Our concern is that there’s wide-spread dissatisfaction with the health board.” Richards hasn’t yet received a response to the letter. News of Schamborzki’s contract extension has also drawn fire from Richards, who maintains an independent review of the CEO’s performance should have been done. “There is a much more rigorous evaluation of a Parent Participation Pre-School Teacher than there has beer in this re-appointment,” wrote Richards. “We take the strongest exception to the hasty manner of her reappointment.” But, board chairman Hutchinson said Schamborzki’s appointment followed an extensive evaluation. “We undertook a thorough investigation and we spoke to community leaders and came back and made the rec- ommiendation (to extend the contract) to the board,” said Hutchinson. At Ministry of Health offices in Victoria, spokesman Michelle Stewart said the North Shore Health Region sit- uation is being monitored by ministry staff who are in reg- ular contact with the board. “The issues that have been raised (in Richards’ letter) are serious issues,” said Stewart. “The ministry is not only monitoring this issue, it is actively involved in discussing it with the board. “Hopefully everyone will be able to work together and move forward,” Stewart added. But Richards and many of his fellow physicians aren’t holding their breath as they don’t hold out much hope . anything will change soon: “Until your Board alters its approach and listens to the people that are supposed to give advice, then we shall withdraw from the charade of consultation and advice.” Hutchinson said the board will respond to his letter and also seck to work out a solution to their differences. “We do want to improve our relationships with the - doctors,” said Hutchinson. “We wanted to meet with’ them before and we «want to meet with them now.” Stewart said a community-level solution to the prob- lems within the North Shore’s health region is favored, but the ministry will intervene if the current level of acri- mony persists. “If in fact there’s some suggestion that the Parties are too far apart to work together the Ministry would be there to help,” she said. The next North Shore Health Region board meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept. 18. North Shore News — 3 Park Royal shares scheme By Catherine Barr Contributing Writer DOES Park Royal man- agement have a tough sell on their hands or can they calm public fears by pro- moting “the facts?” Public backlash against pro- posed mall expansion has led Park Royal / Larco executives to rethink some of their information strategies. ; Recently, full-page ads have appeared in the North Shore News apologizing for “miscon- ceptions.” The ads boldly state: “There will be no stand alone big boxes at Park Royal.” . A series of public information miectings is also under way. . Rhys Duggan, development manager for Larco, was on hand at an inform.tion meeting held at: the West Vancouver Memorial Library last ‘Chursday. . “People have a perceptica ofa stand-alone, white box in. the middle of a field. That’s clearly not what we're. building,” said Duggan : Duggan added that the pro- posed 120,000 ft. :Home Depot. store will definitely. snot’ look like other Home. Depots... }- “Once it’s constructed, or when people come in to: Jook. at: the renderings, they'll have a hard time recognizing it as a typical Home Depot.” a re Park Royal General Manager Rick Amantea also attended the meeting and contends the large retails stores will. not. climinate the smaller West Vancouver mer- chants. He uses Eaton’s and The Bay as an example. “You can see that many other fashion stores both in Park Royal and jin the ‘surrounding commu- nities © of “Ambleside and Dundarave survive and thrive with that competition in the mar-* ‘ket. A Home Depot will do the same thing with smaller: retailers that are in the home improve ment business.” . .Amantea’ is also. promoting Park Royal’s commitment to the future. He claims ‘that Home: t, Toys R Us and PetSmart mabe long term players: “Te He adds that he wants peo, le. to base their opinions on.infor- mation and “not on speculation or propaganda that may be voiced y people. that aren’t in know.” He has asked to meet with the opposition coalition: “So far, to date, (they) have not agreed to do that,. or have not shown up. It’s frustrating.” Up Most people’ attending the information meeting remained skeptical of the big box invasion. Kevin Riley is upset over the loss of the recreation facilities. He predicts that driving. to North Vancouver to use a bowling alley, movie theatre or golf centre will be much more inconvenient than. having to drive to Burnaby to use - a Home Depot. “When this goes through, you can guarantee I’m not going to fo ary shopping in Park Royal,” Arline Phillips has lived in West Vancouver for 30 years and now lives in the WestRoyal apartments. “I feel about. 40% better than [ did before. I'm a lit- de bit more open. I came with a very closed mind.” A mall information booth on the project is in the south mall.