July 19, 1991 Classifieds 986-6222 Office. Editorial 985-2131

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

DURING A recent hot spell four-year-old Justin Srnith was found staying cool
by the pool in Mahon Water Park. Similar activities don’t look promising for
this weekend as the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, highs in the low
20s, with a 20% chance of showers both Saturday and Sunday.

Display Advertising 980-0511

Distribution 986-1337

NV City Council rejects bid
for alcohol-free dance club

WITH A group of Marine
Drive businesspeople
pushing for its rejection,
North Vancouver City
Council voted 6-1 Monday
night to defeat a motion
that supported 2 youth
dance club in the
municipality.

By Pamela Lang
Contrituting Writer

Letters from nine area
businesses and verbal pres-
entations Monday urged council
to reject the Sanctuary Invest-
ments Ltd. proposal to open an
alcohol-free nightclub for
teenagers at 730 Marine Dr.

Local merchants raised concerns
about parking and increased van-
dalism; they also said the club
would create an area conducive to
drug pushers. Most said the club
was inappropriate for an area that
is primarily given over to car-
oriented businesses.

Council members had even
more reasons to reject the idea.

Ald. Rod Clark said that ap-
proving the club would be
‘creating a powder keg.”’

Ald. Stella Jo Dean empathized
with the business people's con-
cerns about the negative impact
the club would have on area
business.

Approval of the facility, she
said, would take a tranquil area
and create a ‘‘volatile’’ situation.

Dean said that ‘200 young
people could do a lot of damage,”’
adding that she agreed with the
assessment that Marine Drive is an
inappropriate location for the
club.

Ald. Bill Bell supported the club
concept, but he was concerned
that council would have no guar-
antee that the owners would in-
troduce and maintain the prom-
ised security and safety precau-
tions.

Sanctuary's James islaub told
council that his company planned
to put four security people inside
the club, and three outside, in-
cluding two that would patrol the
surrounding area businesses.

But Bell pointed out that while
the club’s business licence could
be cancelled if Sanctuary did not
live up to its promises, the
cancellation process wus lengthy
and difficult.

Alone in supporting the motion,
Ald. Barbara) Sharp said that
Sanctuary had tried hard to deal

NORTH VANCOUVER
CITY COUNCIL

with the concerns caised by the
community.

The club’s proposal, she said,
had undergone numerous changes
since it was first before council,
including increased security,
teduced hours, and a more
restricted age range for the club's
clientele.

Sharp pointed out that the pro-
posed club is something the city
needs, but something taxpayers
wouldn't have to pay for if it was
run by a private business.

She accused council of being all
talk and no action when it comes
to youth initiatives.

Sanciuary, she said, has receiv-
ed the support of Queen Mary
School, North Shore Neighbour-
hood House, and the Youth IJni-
tiatives Committee.

North Shore Mazda's Patrick

ALD. BILL BELL...supports the
club concept, but is concerned
about security.

Muir said a youth-oriented club is
a positive idea. But he argued that
because Sanctuary will be
operating the club as a profit-
oriented business, it would be
making decisions based on cost
effectiveness rather than social re-
sponsibility.

Rather than just giving the
youths a place to go, the club, he
said, would attract bad influences
to the neighborhood.

Property owner Jan Mansfield
reiterated that the auto-oriented
business area is an inappropriate
location for a youth club.

But when asked by Sharp where
the appropriate location would be,
Mansfield said she didn’t know.

Philip Mansfield, owner of

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