Winter wind storm whips North Shore THE COLD wind that felled _trees and downed power lines Sunday on the North Shore woke up at least one local resi- dent to the disadvantages of liv- ing near a natural green belt. By Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter “At first | thought it was an earth: quake. There was this rumbling.” said Ben Canderan, who had a 61- metre (200-foot) tree land on the toof of his Seymour-area house. - “Plooked out and I saw the trees -bending over. I said to my wife, ‘Let's get out of here .... You could “hear this crackling,” he added; Canderan, who fives at 4008 Brockion Cres., said about three big municipal trees from the green belt landed on his property. North Vancouver District (NVD) Parks operation superintendent Richard Boulton said Monday t-... ‘the Deep Cove area was hardest hit by falling municipal trees. He ‘said crews will likely take a ‘couple of days to clean up the timber. “In the case of a storm, it’s mostly trees that are uprovied,” said Boulton. He added that mainly hemlock trees were . ‘blown over during the storm. ; - Boulton ‘said areas near Indian River Drive and ‘Parkgate along with Brockton Crescent appeared be the hardest hit by downed municipal trees. * North , Vancouver District Fire Services spokesman Brian Stegavig said power lines were ‘reported down on Mount Seymour Parkway and ‘ in the 2500-block of Gladwin Place. : :- Trees were reported lying on power lines near the Capilano River fish hatchery, said Stegavig. He said: that.a B.C. Hydro transformer fuse was Tepotted blown’ near the 3700-block of Capilano Meanwhile, Canderan said he has warned the WEST. VANCOUVER District. ‘Coun. Pat Boname stood alone, Feb.:13, in her fight to save the extended care facility proposed Vancouver District (GVRHD) proposal. district about the perils of the green belt trees near his property since 1981. “The problem now is what are they going to do with the rest (of the trees in the green belt)?” said Canderan. “I'd like them to give me a letter in writing that “the trees aren't going to come down (on my house) when i'm eating lunch or when !'m sleep- ing because my life is more important than the trees.” In West Vancouver, parks manager Eric Lees said a few trees were reported down in the British Properties area, but there were no reports of municipal property damage. West Vancouver Fire Department Capt. Aime Lehouillier said wires were reported down in the '100-block of Stevens Drive and the 200-block of Rabbit Lane. A B.C. Hydro spokesman suid a tree on Stevens Drive broke a pole causing power out- _ages for “a lot” of people. faci Emotional hearing closed municipal policy to use the more. Regional | * Hospital quiet streets. NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge THIS PARKED car on Indian River Drive was among the property damaged on the North Shore by uprooted trees felled during Sunday’s high winds. An estimated 27-metre (90-foot) tree came down on a house in the 300-block of Hidhurst Place in the lower British Properties. North Vancouver City Fire Department spokesman Gavin Soanes suid there were no reports of wires down in the city. All three North Shore ski centres — Grouse Mountain, Mount Seymour and Cypress Bowl — were closed on Sunday because of high winds. Grouse also experienced a power outage in the rnorning. ; A B.C. Hydro spokesman said Bowen Island suffered relatively few power outages during the wind storm. : On Monday, hydro crews were working on Bowen Island to restore power in connection with about three calls from customers. B.C. Hydro crews were also working on ‘Monday in the Indian Arm area after a power pole - broke during the storm. ity reject momentum for the building of “this badly needed facility.” “on. A Surprise defection to this camp “was Coun. Diana Hutchinson, who said thit. the DFO was tying coun- for the Cedardale area east of Taylor Way. ‘WEST VANCOUVER | DISTRICT COUNCIL “By Maureen Curtis © The proposal was shot .down 4 with Coun. Andy Danyliu’s motion Hto’ finally close the — six-time § adjourned public hearing. Emotions ran high during the hearing, with angry shouts from the gallery. One man was shown the loor, personally, by municipal clerk “T feel as if. a big weight were lifted. off,” Cedardale resident FSZ.* _. The DFO. pointed out ‘potential. Opponents cited concern about traffic, parking and land value implications that might result from a 150-bed facility being placed in their neighborhood. Some residents went-so far to threaten legal action against mem- bers of council. But council made. its decision following a _ presentation by Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) area chief Dale Paterson. He looked at how the facility would affect the fish habitat of Brothers Creek. Although architects were able to redesign the building away from the FSZ (fish sensitive zone) within the property, the access from Keith Road to the site : ;falls within the alternate access from Keith Place or Gordon Place, but it is against That left the GVRHD with the option of providing for the loss of. habitat, such as offering other land- for fish. , But such an arrangement cov!d take more than a year to negotiate, with no assured result, and Coun. Ron Wood. He pointed out that the GVRHD would have to exercise its options to make the $3-million purchase by March 15. A multi-home residential devel- opment, allowed by the current zoning, would still have the DFO and access issue to deal with, and might not be able to provide miti- - gation on the same scale as a single building, the GVRHD’s consultants suggested. Danyliu pronounced the: site “not viable,” and moved closure of the hearing so that council could enter- tain alternate sites and not lose cil’s hands. “There’s no way it’s going to be allowed on that site.” she concluded. But Boname thought that the access issue and residents’ concerns could be solved in time for con- struction about five years from now. She was concerned that the GVRHD funding would be lost for- ever, particularly when the GVRHD might not even continue to exist fol- lowing health regionalization. Not knowing the future of this and other government bodies. or whether another site could be found prompted Boname to refer to evenis surrounding the issue as a “shell game.’ “You move things around and before you know. it, it (the money) disappears,” she said. Boname noted that the GVRHD : See Community page 5 i Howe Sound fishing bans eased THANKS TO declining levels of deadly dioxins and furans. in Howe Sound shellfish, six-year-old com- mercial prawn and shrimp’ fishing bans have been lift- ed and parts of the sound have been reopened to non- commercial crab harvest- ing. By lan Noble News Reporter The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced the reopenings, which also affect other B.C. coastal areas. Dioxins and furans result from the use of chlorine in the pulp bleaching process at bleached . kraft mills. Small amounts have been linked to cancer in laboratory animals. _ Fisheries water quality unit acting chief Steve Sammis cred- its the government’s sirict regu- ~ lations introduced in- 1992 and .- the pulp and paper industry’ s quick responses:in turning the tide on dioxin and furan conta- mination. Dioxin levels dropped 85% |: and furan levels 86% between.” 1990 and 1993 at B.C. pulp mills, fisheries noted. Fisheries said all B.C. mills, including the Woodfibre and Port Melon pulp mills in Howe Sound, have achieved compli- ance with their dioxin: dis- charges. Yet some milis, includ- ing the Woodfibre mill, exceed-. ed furan limits in the first nine. months of 1994. , “Environment! Canada_is working with those companies - that have had difficulty meeting - regulatory compliance levels by ensuring that appropriate plans have been developed and imple- mented,” stated a fisheries Press release. However, Terry Jacks, a for- mer West Vancouver resident and commercial fisherman who loudly condemned the mills for discharging toxic effluent, said Monday that although the reopenings are wonderful, “it’s _ no day to celebrate yet.” In addition to dioxins and furans, he said, mills produce more than !,000 toxic com- pounds, and a lot of them have not been identified. He said he did not want to sound gloomy, but “who knows what will be identified next?” Jacks called for mills to move to closed-loop systems that would see an end to dis- charges. He said the detection of dioxins and furans and the ensu- ing shellfish closures hurt a lot See Prawn page &