LIONS Gate Studios vice-president and generai manager Peter Leitch received prelimi Friday, April 16, 1999 - North Shore News - 3 NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge ry approval Monday from North Van City council to expand the 5.6 hectare (13.8 acre) film and TV production centre. He said a new sound stage and mill shop will generate 200 jobs. Ga Bob Mackin News Reporter NORTH Vancouver’s movie and TV production hub received preliminary approval to expand Monday. North Vancouver City council voted unanimously to give Lions Gare Studios the green fight to build two new buildings on its 5.6-hectare property next to Park and Tilford Centre at 555 Brooksbank Ave. The studio wants to add a 1,765-square ¢ (19,000 sq. ft.) sound stage on the northeast corner of the site on land originally earmarked for expanded offices. A 93-square-metre (1,000 sq. ft.) mill s will be built on the southerly portion of the s A wall mural depicting a neighborhood will be painted on the exterior of the new sound stage. Park access shut down EXPECT traffic delays through the Stanley Park Causeway this weekend. That’s because the souti- bound off-ramp to the park will be closed Saturday and Sunday from | p.m. to 5 p.m. Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation staff are studying the effects of incer- nal traffic changes. Two-way traffic was extended to the Ferguson Point Teahause over the winter on a trial basis. It’s estimated that a third of traffic on weekends is bypassing, the causeway. Parks board spokesman Terri Clark said staff are reassessing “how we get in and around the park.” She said regular closures of the off-ramp are not planned. The northbound entrance to the causeway from the park drive is closed weekdays from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. —Bob Mackin Thursday. sleep. North 16 firefighte: ». a.m. fire. Crews were on the scene until 3:45 Investigators returned to the scene during daylight hours. Deputy Fire Chief Brian Stegavig said the cause was undetermined, but it was not being treated as a suspicious Preliminary city OK given te Lions Gate Studios’ plans for new sound stage Lions Gate Studios’ vice-president and general manager Peter Leitch told council that market condi- tions dictate building a new sound stage. Leitch said he'd like to complete the new build- ings by mid-September, He said the addition would generate 200 new jobs and help attract: new productions to North Vancouver. He's cager to attract productions that normally go elsewhere, like Burnaby’s provincial gov- ernment-owned Bridge Studios. | Famil Bob Mackin News Reporter & dog and a cat died in a blaze in the 1300-biock East Eighth Street in North Vancouver District early But it could have been much worse had a four- year-old girl not roused her parents from their Vancouver District Fire Department was called to the house at 12:29 a.m. Thursday. Three engines and one snorkel unit arrived with The house was extensively damaged, said Stegavig. accommodation. to hospital, Stegavig said. CAPT. Willy Biela examines a fire-damaged house in the 1300-biock East 8th Street in North Vancouver. Two pets died in the Thursday biaze. _ He said the family docs have fire insurance and was able to find alternate An ambulance was on scenc, but none of the four people required a trip le studio to ex The film industry, industry, where Americans come up here with a loc money and pay Canadian employees “Over 95% of employees on our site are local.” The lack of space forced Lions Gate Studios to recently decline business trom Disney, which is plan- ning to shoot the i epic Mision to Mars in Vancouver this vear. The Bridge got the business instead. ‘Three times the amount of money spent on the film industry is pumped back inte the cconomy, Leitch said. It's spent “anywhere from Rev to Starbucks.” is going to maintain our status as the pre- mier facility,” Leitch said. The provincial government is considering propus- als to build a third major facility in southwestern B.C. A decision could come later this spring. said the father of the fam- ily of four fell asleep while atching the television. ‘The mother had gone to bed earlier, One of his two chil- dren woke up and went to tell her parents that she was * ing sick. itu. 2 out the cause of her iliness was smokc. “IF she hadn’t have woken them up, we would’ve had some fatalities,” Stegavig said. “They're very lucky.” Meanwhile, North Vancouver RCMP are inves- tigating an arson in the 400- block West Third Street in North Vancouver. North Vancouver City Fire Department was called to a house at 3:30 a.m. Thursday to douse an exterior fire. A liquid accel- erant was used by the arsonist, said Chief Fire Prevention Officer Dave Burgess. He said no container was found, but the fire did “a couple thou- sand dollars damage to vinyl siding” of the house. None of the four occupants of the house was injured. NEWS photo Terzy Peters Truss theit hits hara Anna Marie 0’Angelo News Reporter dangelo@nsnews.com A North Vancouver film company was the latest target of thieves hungry for aluminum. Thomas Special Effects lost $27,000 worth of alu- minum = trnsses sometin around April 10. The 12 trusses were used to hang lighting, suspend and “fly” people and other stunt tor movies such as Chiff Hanger and K2. “It’s quite heartbreaking to see it’s gone because we are known for our trusses,” said Kirk Douglas, of Thomas Special Effects. Douglas said the aluminum trusses (which create a frame- work) were custom engi- neered and designed to handle a lot of stress and weight. The insured equipment bears blue labels with Thomas Special Effects written on them. Half of the trusses were six by six metres (20 by 20 feet) long and the other half were five by five metres (16 by 16 teer) long. “Anyone in the movie industry would be insane to steal them and use them again because there is only one set of trusses in Canada like that and it’s ours,” said Douglas. Douglas said someone drove into a storage area in the 100-block of Riverside Drive sametime on April 10, loaded up the concealed pile of truss- es and drove away. The thieves did not take other aluminum items from the area. “Somebody had obviously been casing out the joint,” said Douglas. Thomas Special Effects staff believe the thieves could get $1,000 for the aluminum as scrap. North Vancouver RCMP Const. Heidi Hoffman said there has been a recent rash of aluminum thefts, mostly scrap pieces, near the North Vancouver waterfront. “It seems rather unusual, how there seems to be a mrket for it somewhere,” said Hoffman. Among the rash of alu- minum thefts: an April 7 inci- dent at Keith Panel Systems, 40 Gostick Pl. at the foot of Bewicke Avenue. Police say a man and woman were spotted in the sccure lot of the business steal- ing scrap aluminum. The pair lett in a “beat up Chevy van.” Pohee were not called until 40 minutes later. The thieves got away. On April 2, four men in a van were stopped by North Vancouver Mounties at 3 a.m. as they left Vancouver Wharves, at the foot of Capilano Road. Police say the van was full of aluminum bars taken from the bulk loading plant. The metal was valued at $500. The men, three Vancouver residents and one from Port Coquitlam, are facing charges of theft and possessing. stolen property.