Waters tested

for LV pub

LYNN VALLEY Centre may be home to a neighborhood
pub if the District of North Vancouver approves the neces-

sary rezoning.

Peter Bonner and Cameron
Watt, operators of the English Bay
Cafe and the five Vancouver PJ's
All Star Cafes, intend to open The
Crossroads in the space currently
occupied by The Skillet restaurant.

In response to shopping mail
owner Marathon Realty's applica-
tion for rezoning, the district
recently conducted a survey of res-
idents living within 350 metres of
the proposed pub location. Results
of the survey, which are still being
tabulated, will be passed on to
district council as part of the staff
report on the application.

Bonner said that assuming the
rezoning is approved, the next step
is 10 approach the provincial Li-
quor Control and Licensing Board
for pre-clearance. Once granted,
the LCLB conducts its own plebi-
scite of the area’s residents.

“(The plebiscite) will be much
more extensive than anyone could
possibly imagine,’ said Bonner,
noting that the LCLB is rewriting
the plebiscite in the wake of the
Knight Street pub scandal.

Housing

“*Any subsequent plebiscite,’” he
said, ‘‘is being conducted under
much more stringent control.’’

Bonner said it was unfortunate
that the Knight Street incident, in
which a pub was licensed following
a Suspect survey, may have left a
negative impression with people.

But the ‘‘good news”’, he said, is
that an informal survey of public
opinion conducted by Marathon
Realty in the spring was quite sup-
portive.

“They are extremely sensitive
about what Lynn Valley wants,’’
said Bonner of the shopping mall
operators. ‘*They would be the last
people to put in a pub if it wasn’t
wanted.”’

Bonner said The Crossroads,
which will be open daily from 11
a.m. to midnight, will ‘look more
like an American bistro than an
English pub .... It will be more
upscale than a typical pub en-

project

ALONG WITH a number of fellow artists, Lynn Valley
sculptor and bronze caster Jack Harman is on the verge of
being displaced from his historic Gastown studio.

Harman’s company, Harman
Sculpture Foundry Ltd., is one of
the only two major foundries in
Canada that are dedicated to casting
artwork, and forms the nucleus of
21 artistic Dusinesses that inhabit
the building at 170 Alexander St.
in Vancouver,

Although the building has been
operated as a foundry almost con-
tinuously since 1896, it has not
received official heritage designa-
tion, and is in danger of being torn
down and replaced with a nine-
storey seniors housing project.

Pioneer
remembered

PAGE 8

“It’s a bit of a problem,”’ Har-
man said. ‘If I’m shut down, it
could be up to six months or more
(before | settle in a new place). No
income. I could lose all my staff.”

As for keeping the community
of artists together, Harman said,
“It would be impossible, I think.
You couldn’t find another building
suitable that 1 know of.”

Harman began leasing the foun-

photo Cindy Bellamy

CAMERON WATT, left, and Peter Bonner are hoping to establish a neighborhood pub in the space currently
occupied by the Skillet Restaurant in Lynn Valley Centre. North Vancouver District staff are currently
tabulating the results of a survey in which residents close to the shopping mall were asked if they wanted a pub

in their neighborhood.

vironment.’

Planned renovations to the pro-
posed pub location include the ad-
dition of a separate entrance from
the parking lot, one or two large
skylights and perhaps, in the
future, an outdoor garden patio.

Bonner said the pub will have a
high food component to satisfy

hungry shoppers, and while a
games and live entertainment area
is implicit in a pub licence, it will
not be a major focus of The
Crossroads. He emphasized that
there will be no video games, but
an area for throwing darts may be
in the works.

Bonner said the Lynn Valley

Merchants Association has been
very supportive of the project.

According to Terry Lyster of the
district’s social planning depart-
ment, there are approximately
three other parties interested in
establishing pubs in Lynn Valley,
but no other active applications at
this time.

may displace local artist

dry premises from a friend 10
years ago when he found his Lynn
Valley Kilmer Road studio facili-
ties too cramped.

Recently, however, his friend's
widow sold the Gastown property
to Lucas Anderson Construction
for $650,000, who in turn ap-
proached the Affordable Housing
Advisory Association (AHAA)

that the commission would pur-
chase the property from Lucas
Anderson Construction at cost,
and then grant a 60-year lease to
AHAA as part of the subsidy ar-
rangement.

The destruction of the foundry
building and subsequent displace-
ment of the resident artists are be-
ing protested by the Community

SEE PHOTO PAGE 2

with a proposal to construct a
seniors housing project on the site.
The project has since been
selected by the B.C. Housing
Management Commission for
funding, the arrangement being

~ Dear —
~ Editor...

~. LETTERS
_ PAGE 5

Arts Council of Vancouver.

Lisa Nemetz, the council’s cul-
tural policy chairman, says the
council managed to call a meeting
of all the parties concerned, and an
agreement was reached between

therm that the foundry will not be
torn down if a suitable alternative
site for the seniors housing project
could be found.

But she says the B.C. Housing
Management Commission’s ap-
proval of the project was specific
to the Alexander Street site, and
the commission would have to be
approached to approve a new site
if one was found.

Although the arts council ap-
proached Vancouver City Council
for support in their bid to the
housing commission, Nemetz said
“we're on our own. They (city
council) don't want to get involved

See Solution
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