Public remains split over

Wednesday, June 10. 1992 - North Shore News ~

Caulfeild plan

New facilities needed, board says; lot sales a gamble, residents argue

THE MUCH-anticipated Moodie report on the sale of
Hillside middle school property to finance the construction
of a new $13 million school in the Caulfeild Plateau area
has done little to bridge the community-dividing rift over
the West Vancouver District 45 Schoel Board (WVSB)

plan.

The board’s Monday night
public information meeting at
West Vancouver secotidary school
showed how divided the com-
munity remains on the issue, with
opinion on the proposal split
almost equally among the 300 cit-
izens in attendance.

School board division on the
issue also surfaced as trustees Jean
Ferguson and Margot Furk ag-
gressively contested each other’s
integrity during the trustees’
comment period towards the end
of the three-hour “eeting.

Furk maintains that the
Gemographic and financial
numbers contained in the Moodie
report indicate that Hillside’s sale
to finance a new school in the
municipality's western area would
be a mistake.

She contends that in the year
2000, there will be only 350 mid-
dle-school-aged students west of
Cypress Creck.

According to District 45:

@ 43% of children aged 12 to 14

By A.P. McCredie
Contributing Writer

in West Vancouver live west of
Rodgers Creek;

@ by the year 2000, 47% of
children aged {2 to 14 will live
west of Rodgers Creek;

@ elementary-aged populations
west of Cypress Creek will ia-
crease by 27% the year 2000;

@ elementary-aged populations
east of Cypress Creek wii! increase
7% over the same period.

There is currently no secondary
school west of Rodgers Creek.
Hillside’s student capacity is about
1,200; the student capacity of the
proposed Caulfeild schoo! would
be about 750.

District 45 superintendent Doug
Player said the common topics of
the 132 questions received by the
board from the public prior to
Monday night’s meeting dealt with
“financing, accessibility and joca-

Based on the Moodie report,
the board’s net revenue from the
sale of the Hillside property this
year would be $11,500,000 (at $38
per sq.ft.); the cost of building the
new school this year would be
$12,385,000, resulting in a
$885,000 shortfall.

But the board plans to start
construction of the new school in
1993 and to sell the Hillside prop-
erty in 1994-95.

Assuming a

10%  fair-wage/

_inflation increase for construction

costs and an 11% increase in
property values over the next three
years, the report states the ad-
justed numbers result in a
$778,810 surplus for the board.

Assuming a 6% increase in
property values over tne next three
years, the report states that the
board would face a $700,79
shortfall.

The board has said the provin-
cial education ministry would
provide the district with interim
financing if there is a shortfall.

A major factor in the plan to
build the new school is that most
of the current West Vancouver
public school facilities were
designed for the industrial age of
education.

The province-wide Year 2000
program will require upgraded

" NEWS photo ‘Nail Lusente

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Jason Buitenhuis plays under a parachute duzing West Vancouver Community
Day on Saturday. ‘‘Memory Lane”’ was the theme for this year's celebration.

Freeze cultural funding WV-

Hold the Ime on teacher
salaries, respondents say

THE PROVINCIAL government should not increase
funding for French immersion and cultural programs
in B.C. schools, and teachers’ salaries should stay the
same or be reduced, according to results of a survey
commissioned by West Vancouver-Garibaldi Liberal

MLA David Mitchell.

And over half of the
survey’s respondents said cither
less or no money should be
spent on women’s programs.

Mitchell sent a survey to
14,000 households in his riding
in April and has received over
700 responses.

The survey questioned con-
stituents on a variety of issues,
including education, govern-
ment spending, transportation,
native affairs, the environment,
the economy and health care.

According to the results,
75% of respondents felt teach-

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

ers’ salaries should stay the
same or be reduced, while 90%
said money for French immer-
sion programs and cuitural ac-
tivities should remain at the
present level or be reduced.

Ninety percent of the
respondents also said less or no
money should be spent on cul-
tural activities and sports in
B.C.’s post-secondary institu-
tions.

A majority of those surveyed
felt less money should be spent
on school ad:ninistration costs;
80% said the government
should spend more money on
learning-assistance programs;
and 60% said the same or
more money is needed for
English as a second language
programs.

Other survey results found:

@ aimost half of the respon-
dents want more money for
school computers and books;

@ 75% want more money for
programs for gifted children;

@ 80% want more money
spent on school buildings and
school grounds;

@ 85% said scholarship fund-
ing should remain the same or
be increased;

@ 70% said the same, less or
ho money should be spent on
reducing tuition in post-secon-
dary institutions.

Meanwhile, 67% of the
respondents want more em-
phasis placed on reducing the
provincia! debt, while nearly

schools for the technologies of the
21st century.

According to the Moodie
report, a Hillside renovation to
meet current building code and
life safety standards and Year
2000 program objectives, would
cost $11,324,400.

District 45 superintendent Doug
Player said that a computer com-
pany is interested in a joint ven-
ture project at the proposed new
school.

The company would outfit the
school with state-of-the-art tech-
nology.

But Player scid the company is
not interested in providing mate-
rials to a 30-year-old building.

In a letter to the board in April,
Minister of Education Anita
Hagen called on boards to pursue
cost-saving initiatives, ‘including
the increased utilization of existing
assets, the disposal of surplus
assets, alternative approaches to
the acquisition of land, and de-
velopment of integrated facilities
which address the broader needs
of our communities.”*

“We have worked very closely
with the ministry to establish a
five-year-capital plan,’’ added
Player. “The $582 million (pro-
vincial funding currently available
for school board capital plans) is

Mocdie report’s

From page 1

North Vancouver-based Cunn-
ingham and Rivard Appraisals
(Vancouver) Ltd.

Cunningham and Rivard’s Tom
Swan found that:

@ Moodie’s projected retail value
of the Hillside lot sale is ‘‘op-
timistic’’;

@ Moodie’s projected develep-
ment costs do not include an al-
lowance for developer's profit and
appear low if significant site
regrading is included;

@ the gross revenues from the
Hillside lot sale have been in-
creased by an inflation factor of
11% per year, but the costs have
not been adjusted accordingly;

@ the projected revenues assume
the schoo! board is the developer
and do not represent real estate
market value.

Moodie’s report states that each
fully-serviced lot could be sold for
$456,000 in 1992 dollars. But
Swan disagreed with that figure.

“The average lot value of
$456,000 is very optimistic and

half want to see more money
earmarked for economic diver-
sification.

Over 80% said the same or
more funding should be spent
on the environment, and 61%
said Howe Sound water quality
is at high risk.

“These results show some
very interesting trends,’’ said
Mitchell. ‘‘The debt is consid-
ered to be a big problem.
However, a well-educated and
trained population will help
develop industries that will
create economic prosperity.’’

He added that the message
his survey sends to the provin-
cial government is that British
Columbians ‘‘must have the
tools to utilize our most vital
resource, our brain power.”

Other survey results found
that about 54% of Mitchell’s
constituents want to see more
money spent on policing, while
over half of the respondents
said either less or no money
should be spent on native land
claims.

going to go somewhere, and since
West Vancouver residents pay
such high taxes we think we
should garner some of it.’’

But many residents at Monday
night’s meeting said the board was
taking too big a gamble on factors
that cannot be controlled, such as
property rates.

Some also questioned the use of
numbers generated by an uncer-
tified appraiser as the basis for the
projected property values in 1994.
Moodie Consultants are not cer-
tified property appraisers.

Audience member Gerry Hum-
phries voiced concern that ‘‘the
board has chosen to use the
Moodie report as an appraisal
document.”’

The board said, however, that it
“intends to have a full appraisal
as recommended in the Moodie
repost as such will be required by
the Ministry of Education.’’

Former West Vancouver mayor
Derrick Humphreys asked the
trustees to ‘‘let the people
decide,’ by holding a  district-
wide referendum on the Hillside
issue.

The WVSB's final board
meeting prior to the summer
break will be on Monday, June
22.

math disputed

presupposes that all the fots will
provide an excellent view. Unless
a ignificant site regrading is
planned, this will not in fact be
the case,’ said Swan.

He added that it would be u
appropriate to use a conservativ.
lot value in the mid-$300,000 to
low $400,000 range.

Swan said the Moodie report is
unrealistic because it assumes the
WVSB will be the developer and
that no allowance has been made
for the developer’s profit which
can range froin 15% to 20% of
gross sales.

“The West Vancouver School
Beard is not in the land develop-
ment business,’’ said Swan.

McDiarmid said there is no
reason to tear down Hillside, call-
ing it ‘‘a pretty good facility.’’

“Myself, along with a group of
concerned West Vancouver resi-
dents, undertook our own analysis
of this proposal as a consequence
of being unable to obtain ciear

. answers to questions raised with
District 45 trustees,’’ said
McDiarmid.

Garibaldi survey toid

more than half
said that aboriginal people
should have some form of
municipal status if native self-
rights are to be enshrined in
the Canadian Constitution.

Nearly 80% said money for
social services should either be
maintained or reduced.

Half of the respondents said
improvement of the Sea-to-
Sky Squamish Highway was a
medium to high priority, as
was improvement of the Lions
Gate Bridge.

More than half ranked North
Vancouver-based BC Rail pas-
senger service as having a me-
dium to high priority for gov-
ernment funding support.

On the issue of health care,
70% of the survey’s respon-
dents said hospital operating
costs pose a great threat to
B.C.’s health-care system,
while 65% said that waiting
lists for surgery are either
harmful or pose a great threat
to the delivery of health care in
West Vancouver-Garibaldi.

However,