9. photo Cindy Goodman WHILE OUT for a walk, California resident Harvey Ramsum noticed a ‘horrible odor’’ emanating from water running alongside the Capilano Regional Park Trail. The water is a deep rust color as it flows past West Vancouver's Hugo Ray Park, a former dumpsite. Polluted WV creek offends visitors A CALIFORNIAN couple visiting the North Shore recently was upset to find what appears to be a polluted creek running directly into the fish-bearing Capilano River. The Pismo Beach pair had becn walking along a Capilano Regional Park trail when they noticed a ‘‘horrible odor.’’ The smell came irom a body of water running alongside the Cap tano River trail. Siict Harvey Ramsum, a forme: North Vancouver resi- dent, “As we got further down the .rail I noticed where it crosset! the road and went over througs a culvert. And the color vas just definitely rusty — orange, brown. It just doesn’t ‘ook right and you can see in some spots along the bank where the oil is just seep- ing through the sediment. “it’s definitely a hazard and I’m sure if they were to test it there would be all kinds of dioxins in theye, especially if it was a dump. Beautiful, green B.C. they say? And the worst part is that it {lows right into By Michael Becker News Reporter the Capilano River, directly below the hatchery,’’ Ramsum added. About 200 feet in from a gravel road at the entrance to the traii, the water runs clear. Further down and on to the Capilano River, where the water runs along the lower portion of West Vancouver’s Hugo Ray Park, the creek’s bed is a deep brown color, full of a rust-colored algae growth and spots of foam and oily scum. Refuse, including bottles, plastic bags and tires, can be seen beneath a cover of bram- bles. But said Ernie Lawson, head of the municipal waste management section of the provincial environmental pro- tection division, ‘‘I’m familiar with it. First of all there’s no creek. Jt’s a roadside ditch anu | it has been tested in the past. It’s non-toxic and levels of contaminants are relatively low.” Lawson said the ditch was last tested in the mid-1980s. “‘Generally it’s a host of dissolved materials from municipal refuse, [ guess there’s small quantities of metals, these types of things. It’s not a problem in our opi- nion,”’ he said. Meanwhile, the dump, upon which the grass playing field of Hugo Ray Park is located, was closed in mid-1969. The site was first used as a dump in 1931 after the municipal coun- cil of the day decided to shut down the garbage dump located at the southwest corner of Ambleside Park. Garbage was originally burned at the dump. Later, refuse was burned and trucked to landfills. NVD youth centre approved Proposed facility to be built near RecCentre Ron Andrews COMMUNITY SUPPORT, no opposition, and unani- mous council endorsement resulted in many happy faces at a May 14 public hearing of the rezoning bylaw for the proposed Seymour Youth Centre. “If only aldermanic life was always like this,’”’ said Ald. Paul Turner after the hearing. The proposed two-storey 2,700 sq. ft. facility will be built on a site to the west of recCentre Ron Andrews. The site is part of a largely undeveloped 48-acre parcel owned by North Vancouver District. Future plans for the area centre around the Windridge commer- cial/retail development. Conceived as a district Centen- nial project, the plans for the youth centre resulted from the concern of Seymour area parents and young adults about teen vio- lence and alienation. The Seymour Area Youth Ser- vices Society (SAYSS) was subse- quently formed in the spring of 1990 and will. manage the new centre. By Martin Millerchip Contributin: Writer The Mount Seymour Lions hooked up with SAYSS after be- ing involved with the Myrtle Park youth centre, Mayor Murray Dykeman thanked the Lions Club = and SAYSS for their work and was presented with a framed laser print of the architectural rendering of the building by Lions repre- sentative Tom Lucas. The art of Jasper Veerman and the printing by Benndorf-Verster Ltd. were both donated and rep- resented part of the $150,000 in donations, goods and services that the Seymour Lions have raised so far from over 30 community donors. Said Lucas, ‘‘We know the building probably won’t solve all the youth problems in the area but it will certainly help.”’ Susan Brennan, chairman of SAYSS’ board of directors, said that the centre will initially be open three nights a week for a couple of hours after school and then for a later period on the same evenings from 6:30 p.m. to NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday night openings will run from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. with anywhere frorn 70 to 90 teens expected to use the facility. The centre will need eight to 10 volunteers to assist a full-time youth worker and hopes to attract schoo! and college students look- ing for practical experience in the field of social work. Brennan said that the age of teens using the centre will proba- bly range from 11 to 16. “Once they have access to cars they tend to be out of the area ,”’ she said. The hearing received an _ en- vironmental assessment of the site from Tera Planning Ltd. which suggested ways of limiting en- vironmental impact during con- struction. Council moved to incorporate the suggestions, relating primarily to additional plantings after clear- cutting and the protection of Blueridge Creek from sediment, into the development permit that would be issued when the bylaw passes. The bylaw was returned to the next meeting of council for second and third reading. Sunday, May 26, 1991 - North Shore News - 3 Fast-ferry fast-tracked for election, co. charges ACCORDING to the man behind the proposed high- speed ferry service from the Sunshine Coast and Bowen Island to downtown Van- couver, the provincial gov- ernment may have wanted the service up and running in time for a fall election. By Barry Forward Contributing Writer Island Development Group (IDG) president Stewart Vinnels Says the government’s deadline of May 21 to get the service in operation was simply unrealistic and when he asked for an exten- sion he was flatly rejected. “The government told us they wanted it operating in time for the summer tourist season,’’ said Vinnels, ‘‘But we've said all along that this service is designed for commuters, not tourists.’” Peter King of Bowen Island's transportation committee agreed. King said the government was incorrect in dropping the ferry service on Bowen's lap in the first place. He said there had to be some sort of political reason for fast- tracking the service without con- sulting the community. “3t’s like the city of Victoria deciding to dump its toxic waste in Surrey without asking anyone in Surrey what they think of it,’’ said King. He added that the details of the ferry service bidding process have not been made public so no one knows how the contract was chosen and what criteria had to be met. **} want to go over to the lawn of the legislature and put up a sign asking Premier Rita Johnston to tell us another ferry-tale,’’ King said. King added that Vinnels' fi- nancing of the project may be in jeopardy. He says he called the Norwegian company supplying the boats to [DG and was told IDG’s financing had fallen through. But Vinnels said that without approval to use the dacking facili- ties at Bowen Island’s Snug Cove he could not purchase a boat to operate on a route that doesn’t exist and had to let his option to buy the 40-metre ‘Flying Cart" lapse. And he said that despite this latest wrinkle IDG is moving for- ward with plans to implement the high-speed ferry service. “We have already lined up another larger similar vessel that van be in B.C. by August if we get clearance from the Island's Trust to use the private marina in Snug Cove,and this one will be slightly larger and carry 400 pas- sengers,’’ said Vinnels. But Peter King said that most island residents don’t know what to believe about the project anymore. “The facts seem to change every day, depending on who you taik to and when you talk to them,’’ he said. “We are moving ahead with this proposal with or without the provincial government’s biessing,”’ said Vinnels. ‘‘What most people don’t realize is that anyone can sel up a high-speed service as long as they get the necessary approvals from the appropriate regulatory bodies, the regulatory bodies in this case do not include the pro- vincial government, The only thing we needed and received from the province was agreement to use the SeaBus terminal. “Right now we are waiting for approval from the Island’s Trust to allow the private marina opera- tor in Snug Cove to-adjust his de- velopment. permit to accommodate the ferry. If we don’t get that we'll proceed with a high-speed service in some shape or form, but it may run between Nanaimo and Downtown Vancouver.”’ On May 15, B.C. Transport Minister Lyall Hanson announced that the provincial government had cancelled its agreement with the IDG to provide the fast ferry passenger-only service between the Sunshine Coast, Bowen Island and Vancouver. Westview project set to begin WORK ON the $20-million Westview Drive and Upper Levels Highway interchange project will begin soon now that the provincial Transportation and Highways ministry has received its budget for the next fiscal year, a ministry spokesman said this week. All new ministry projects, in- cluding the Westview-Upper Levels Highway interchange, had been put on hold until the provin- cial budget was detivered. But while ministry regional director Dave Cunliffe said Thursday that the ministry now has its budget, he is not sure when work on the project will begin. “We're in the preliminary stages right now, but i?'s too early to say when construction will start. Itll probably be a few weeks,"" said Cunliffe. EarKer this year the ministry decided the interchange would in- corporate a diamond design. The decision followed months of con- troversy raised by area residents over whether a diamond or loop design would be best suited for the interchange. Index #4 High Profiles........ 22 & Cocktails & Caviar ...24 @ High Tech.......... 34 @ Lifestyles ........... 35 MB Sports............-. 24 QB Trave! ...........-- 34 @ What's Going On... .32 Weather Moniay and Tuesday, sunny with cloudy periods. Highs 19°C, lows 9%c. Second Class Registration Number 3885 N.