July 15, 1990) News 985-2131

City aldermen blas
hospital master pla

NORTH Vancouver City Ald.
Stella Jo Dean ...where will extra
nurses come from?

hd 986-6222) D

NORTH Vancouver City Aid. Bill
Bell... LGH administration ‘‘em-
pire building.”

LGH PROPOSAL ‘GRANDIOSE’

THE $130-MILLION master plan to expand Lions Gate
Hospital on to the east side of St. Andrews Avenue has
been criticized for being ‘‘grandiose’’ and too costly, by
two North Vancouver City alderman.

Ald. Bill Bell and Ald. Stella Jo
Dean criticized the recently releas-
ed master plan for a variety of
reasons, ranging from the process
by which the plain was designed
and released to the public to con-
cerns about staffing, changes to
the official community plan
(OCP) and a lost tax base.

According to Bell, the expuan-
sion of the hospital could be con-
tained within the present site of
the hospital.

“ft would seem that the master
plan for the hospital is a little bit
of empire building under the pres-
ent administration of the hospital,
or at least empire dreaming,’” Bell
said.

He also blasted the LGH board
for basing the plan, which has
been three years in the making, on
the assumption that changes to the
OCP would be made to rezone the
St. Andrews properties owned by
the hospital and the Lions Gate
Hospital Foundation (LGHF)
from single family residential. On-
ly two lots used by the hospital's
psychiatric day-care centre are
currently zoned for public use.

He added that even though city
council already rejected LGH ex-
pansion into St. Andrews in 1980
when the city first passed the
OCP, the hospital has continued
to acquire property in Blocks $2
and 59 inthe St. Andrews area.

“The whole muster plan could
be a waste of time if council rejects
the redesignation of the communi-
ty plan, You*re looking af tons of
money in reseach voing down the
drain on the part of the hospital if
council rejects 1b"

Dean, who has been an alder:

INSIDE: se:
Spiritually S

ews Reporte:

man since 1948, also said that past
councils have repeatedly rejected
the idea of the hospital expanding
eastwards.

Bell said the hospital board
should have approached city
council before embarking on the
planning.

“DT think what they should have
done in the process is to try and
get some type of acceptance from
council that we would go along
with the redesignation of the
community plan and the rezoning
of the area east of St. Andrews
hefore they go ahead with their
planning. Jt just seems half assed
backwards,”’ Bell said.

However, North Vancouver Ci-
ty Ald. Rod Clark said the hospi-
tal desperately needs additional
extended-care beds and that after
considering other sites, the board
decided (to expand the present
facilites to the east side of St.
Andrews.

“We have looked into satellite
operations with respect to extend-
ed care and a number of other
things. That didn’t work for a
variety of different reasons. Land
is not cheap on the North Shore.

“The hospital fortuitously over
the years hus acquired properts
always with the aim of providing
room for further expansion. It
makes a fot of sense to do it
there,’* said Clark, who is also the
chairman of the hospital’s board
of directors. Clark will not) be

See LGH
Page 2

cr
>

Struggle
for
aboriginal
rights

Affluence &
Influence: 36

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

Raccoon repose

TWO RACCOONS escape the heat by sitting in a shady tree in Cates Park in North
Vancouver.

CONT ARLEN
Is & Caviar: 34