LOT EXPROPRIATION

AS OF Monday there was one less house on the 1700-block
of Argyle Avenue in West Vancouver and about $800,000
more in the pockets of the Cragg brothers of Thorcon

Enterprises Ltd.

The house, formerly occupied
by George Cragg, was torn down
Monday following payment of the
$800,000 expropriation fee West
Vancouver District delivered to
Thorcon in August.

But the contentious matter will
still be taken to the provincial ex-
propriation board to assess possi-
ble damages owing the Craggs, as
well as any difference between the
Craggs’ property appraisal and the
appraisal done for the municipali-
ty.
“The idea of expropriation is
always distasteful, but we've never
been forced into it before,’’? West
Vancouver’s municipal manager
Terry Lester said Wednesday. ‘‘We
would have negotiated with the
Craggs, but they wanted = the
moon.”

George, Peter, Greg and Geoff
Cragg, who prefer to be known as
‘‘builders’’ rather than
“developers’’, bought the property
for $535,000 in August 1987 after
West Vancouver decided the
$700,000 asing price was ex-
cessive.

The purchase set off an angry
dispute between the Craggs and
other Argyle Avenue residents and
West Vancouver District, which
twice had expropriation bylaws for
the Cragg property invalidated by
the B.C. Supreme Court.

The block has a dual identity, in
that it is zoned for duplexes but
also has long been shiuted for
seawalk development.

Because four of the seven lots on
the block have still to be acquired,
the cleared Thorcon property will
probably be used for community
garden plots until the seawalk pro-
ject can be extended.

The Cragg’s application for a
permit to build a duplex at 1734
Argyle led to the municipality's
expropriation procedures. Two
subsequent expropriation bylaws
were challenged in B.C. Supreme
Court by the Craggs. The
municipality eventually had to
draft three bylaws before it wus
successful.

‘What we got is probably a bit
low,'’ George Cragg said Wednes-
day. ‘‘We really did want to build
a duplex.””

Cragg, who follows the water-
front property market daily, said
new duplexes in Dundarave are
selling for $700,000 to $1 million.

BY MAUREEN CURTIS
Contributing Writer

“But if the town fathers feel it is
better to pay a high expropriation
fee to get their seawalk..."" Cragg
said.

Cragg was dubious about the
municipality’s hopes for acquisi-
tion of all of the properties on the
block, especially because the house
belonging to Lioyd and Bette
Williams has been given high pri-
ority in’ the West Vancouver
Heritage Inventory.

Although houses in the area des-
ignated for future seawalk
development are restricted to
renovations less than $15,000, the
Williams recently secured a
building permit for a $45,000
renovation of their home.

Lester explained that the $15,000
limit is more of a guideline and
that council found the Williams’
request to be reasonable.

Another couple on the block,
June and George Collins, applied
to build a duplex, but have been
ihreatened with expropriation
unless they withdraw their applica-
tion.

“The people on this block have
been united in their desire to speak
to the municipality about combin-
ed duplex and seawalk develop-
ment herc, but they would not
discuss it,’* said Mrs. Williams.

The municipality has put a halt
to duplex developinent or extensive
renovation on 1700-block Argyle
to prevent large increases in the
value of properties slated for
seawall continuation,

In past News stories chronicling
the expropriation battle, Ald.
Mark Sager has said the district
could no longer continue negotia-
tions with the Craggs after Thor-
con challenged their expropriation
procedures and put the matter be-
fore the courts.

As to why the municipality did
not buy the Cragg property when it
was being offered for sale by the
original owner, Lester said, ‘It
would have been much preferable
if the owner had approached us
again. He gave us a price, and
when we turned it down he sold to
Thorcon for a lesser sum. We
would have met the Thorcon
price.”

$350,000 FACILITY
alle

LYNN VALLEY could have its first neighborhood pub if
North Vancouver District Council approves a proposal from

two restaurateurs.

Peter Bonner, who operates the
English Bay Cafe and Vancouver's
five PJ’s All Star Cafes with
associate Cameron Watt, plans to
build a $350,000 65-seat pub called
Crossroads in what is now the
Skillet Restaurant in the Lynn
Valley Shopping Centre.

But Bonner and Watt must get
rezoning approval for the site from
council before they can proceed
with construction.

The municipality has noted in its
official community plan a shortage
of leisure facilities such as restau-
rants and a neighborhood pub in
the urea.

District staff are preparing a
report for council with the results
of a survey of about 2,000

By EVELYN JACOB
Contributing Writer

residents living within 350 metres
of the proposed pub location.

But Bonner said he is confident
both council and neighbors favor
the pub.

“We've done everything we can
to acquaint residents with the pub,
and many of them seem suppor-
tive,”” he said. ‘We've talked to all
council members and have already
received the support of the district
planning department.”

Bonner added that a telephone
poll conducted earlier this year by
mall owner Marathon Realty in-
dicated the majority of residents
and mall merchants support the pub.

3 - Friday, September 23, 1988 - North Shore News

NEWS photo Tom Burley

RUBBLE IS all that exists from what was once a house owned by George Cragg and his brothers. The house
was torn down Monday to make way for eventual seawatk construction through to 1700 block Argyle, Cragg
sits on the front fence which was originally the railing in froat of the Provincial Courthouse.

Derek Andrews, president of the
Lynn Valley Community Associa-
tion, said the association wil! not
take an official position on the pub
until it meets with members and
discusses the implications of a pub
on the community.

But he suspects the proposal will
create a ‘fair amount of con-
troversy.””

“There will always be a group
opposed on principie to this type
of thing,’ Andrews said.

Bonner's proposal, he said, dif-
fers from a £984 plan to build a
pub in Lynn Valley on Ross and
Lynn Valley roads that created an
uproar among residents.

“The locations are very dif-
ferent. There are fewer apartments
near Lynn Valley Centre and better
access to the street,’’ Andrews
said, adding that any pub should
be built as far away as possible

from residential sites, especially
single-family dwellings.

Bonner said the biggest concern
surrounding the pub is the poten-
tial availability of liquor to
teenagers and young adults, but
said fears of this kind are ‘‘typi-
cal.”

There will be no more liquor
available in the community with
the addition of a pub, he said:
“We have a lot more to lose than a
liquor store employee selling to
someone under age.”*

But if the district survey shows
residents do not support the pub,
Bonner said he will dump the
plans.

“We'd be
ceed, *’he said.

If the proposal is successful the
Liquor Control and Licensing
Board must conduct its own plebi-
scite of the area’s residents.

foclish to pro-

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