Parents take school battle to council Angry over closure of Hillside Middle School PARENTS AND residents upset with West Vancouver District 45 School Board’s (WVSB) decision to replace Hillside Middle School with a new secondary facility in the western part of the municipality have now taken their concerns to West Vancouver District Council. Two delegations appeared be- fore council Monday night, start- ing with the Irwin Park Parents’ Association, represented by Gerry Humphries. The group complained that there will no longer be a Grade 7 to 9 facility in their area if Hillside is closed and the land redeveloped as housing to finance a new school at Cauifeild. **Hillside is a vital part of our neighborhood,’? Humphries said. The Irwin Park group maintains that moving Hillside school is not justified by population statistics, which Humphries said indicate that there is as much growth in West Vancouver’s ‘‘core’’ area as there - isin - the. municipality’s western area. - ’ Humphries said Hillside was TE? | ay, ; Boe Scaoris. By Maureen Curtis Contributing Writer million to build. But Humphries said the WVSB's_ five-year capital plan, released on Nov. 26, indicates the cost of the new school would be just under $13 million. “Efforts should be made to establish financial viability,”’ said Humphries. The Irwin Park Parents Association, he said, estimates that even with the income from the residential development of the 27 Hillside lots, the school board would face a $9.5-million short- fall in the construction of the new school. Humphries asked. council to NEWS photo Mike Waketield CONTROVERSY continues to simmer between the West Van- couver District 45 School Board and an Irwin Park Elementary School parents’ group over plans to tear down Hillside Middle . School and build a new schoo! in the Caulfelld Plateau area. . Parents have argued that the Caulfelid site is a bad location fer a . school because it is near a shopping centre and a liquor store. only ‘‘three-quarters full at this time,’’ and that moving the schoo! to the west runs counter to tradi- tional west-east travel patterrs. He added that the projected revenue from the sale of ihe Hiliside land is also in question. In a Dec. 4 News story, WVSB superintendent Doug Player said the new Caulfeild school would cost between $8 million and $10 maintain current zoning in the neighborhood, address local con- cerns and inaintain Grade 7 to 9 facilities in the area. Humphries maintains that the Caulfeild site is 2 poor location for 2 middle school because it is near a shopping centre and a li- quor store; Player says the 13.5- acre site is ‘‘perfect’’ because it sits on flat land. WEST VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL Humphries stated in a previous News story that his group had waited until now to raise the Hillside school issue because its members were under the impres- sion that the school board planned to build a new school at its old Inglewood Elementary School site at 1735 Inglewood Ave. Meanwhile, Robert Dickson, representing the Hillside residen- tial area, argued that it makes no sense to trade assembled, debt- free land for a new school build- ing. “‘We not only do not need the new building, but we don’t even come close to the criteria list of priorities for the ministry,’’ said Dickson. He predicted that the provincial government would become the project’s interim financier, leaving West Vancouver to “‘pick up the pieces.”’ Dickson charged that the budget would be balanced through in- creased density in the Hillside area; he pointed to the less than successful sales of public lands in neighboring municipalities which failed to bring in anticipated returns. Council received the two sub- missions, and promised to take them into account in future discussions with the WVSB. But WVSB chairman Barbara Howard has said that it is too late to reverse the Hillside school deci- sion. And the WVSS has already ap- pointed Vancouver-based IBI Group Architects, Engineers and Planners to design the new school. The firm will also design renovations for West Vancouver Senior Secondary school. Construction on the Caulfeild school is expected to start in the spring of 1993. The IBI Group wili be led by David Thom, senior partner of the firm, and Dennis Christianson, a renowned school designer. “Design excellence is of para- mount importance in meeting our objective of building the most ad- vanced schools in North America, but we also recognize that parents in our district expect us to build on time and cn budget,’’ said Howard. Government appointments blasted as NDP patronage by local Liberals TWO NORTH Shore Liberal MLAs have charged that the New Democratic government is ‘‘slipping into traditicnal patronage-style politics’? and have called for a review of all senior government appointments made. **Recent NDP appointments to public boards and commis- sions are troubling and it looks like the government may be repeating the mistakes of the Social Credit administration,”* Liberal house leader and West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA David Mitchell said. ‘The NDP have the oppor- tunity to take a new approach and avoid the old-style patronage politics that voters rejected in October.”’ Mitchell, along with North Vancouver-Seymour MLA Daniel Jarvis, the Liberal gov- ernment services critic, cited recent NDP appointments to the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) board as an example of By Surj Rattan News Reporter political appointments. “The NDP said they would minimize firings and try to maintain continuity. Yet they have created instability by fir- ing the entire PNE board,’’ said Mitchell. “Moreover, the new NDP- appointed board in no way reflects a balance between business, labor and special in- terest groups.’” Jarvis said he is concerned over political appointees who have received senior positions within the civil service. He ad- ded that the provincial gov- ernment needs to maintain stability in the public sector and ensure ‘‘people are hired and fired on ability rather than political connections.”’ Mitchell said until ‘‘the NDP change the way they make public appointments,’’ the Lib- erals will maintain a ‘‘patronage watch.” The Liberals are calling for: @ an independent commission to oversee all senior appoint- ments in the public sector; @ an all-party standing com- mittee to review all senior ap- pointments to Crown corpora- tions, boards and commissions. “It’s important that past mistakes are not repeated and the Liberal Opposition hope the NDP government will take immediate steps to eliminate patronage appointments to public bodies,”’ said Mitchell. “ NEWS photo Cindy Goodman LOCAL CELEBRITIES performed last weekend at North Van- couver's Centennial Theatre in a benefit for the Vanccuver- Richmond Association for Mentally Handicapped People. BCTV’s Tony Parsons and comic Bili Reiter starred in the production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forem with many other celebrities (such as Grace McCarthy, Tiger Williams, Leon Bibb, Umberto Menghi and Red Robin- son) appearing in cameo roles. A fun time was had by all. NVD nixes co-op Housing project to be relocated ANGRY Pemberton Heights residents came Dec. 9 to charge North Van- couver District with literally muddying the waters of their favorite pond, but left satisfied after council voted to relocate a proposed non-profit housing co- operative. By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer A group of six lots in the 1300-block of Plateau Dyive had been identified by council in December 1990 as one of several potential sites for non-profit fam- ily housing within the district. A group of residents then in- corporated themselves as the Bridgeside North Housing Co-op and proposed building six units of clustered housing on the lower, southwestern portion of the steep- ly sloping site. The district Advisory Planning Commission (APC) had ‘‘concerns about this site’? in July and re- quested a geotechnical survey of the site to clarify slope stability. Other concerns listed by the APC, and later echoed by neighboring residents, were: ® impact of the configuration and design on the neighborhood; @ traffic pattern and access to the local schoal; @ site drainage. But the actions of an excavator on Sept. 20, supplied to the geotechnical engineer by the district, focused the anger of the neighborhood which had tong considered the site a community greenbelt. A petition listing the signatures of 197 area residents opposed to NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL any further development was presented to council in the first week of December. “The use of heavy equipment resulted in considerable destruc- tion of the terrain, including removal of vine maples and undergrowth and complete disrup- tion of «the pond here,’ said long-time resident Doris Dowd. But following a Nov. 21! site in- spection, district forester Ron Myers said damage to the site was “minimal’’; he said berries and brush would regenerate. Said Myers, “I did not find the access or the route unreasonable. The contractor seemed to take great care to avoid the significant trees.’’ . Ald. Rick Buchols pointed out that some habitat destruction is unavoidable in any geotechnical survey; he asked whether the same fuss would have been tolerated if the site had been east of the Seymour River. But Ald. Ernie Crist was ada- mant that ‘‘this area does not lend itself to any sort of develop- ment.”* He proposed rezoning the site to PRO (Parks, Recreation and Open Space). Crist also proposed that ‘‘the destruction caused by the recent geological survey be ameliorated and the area be restored to its natural state’’ as well as assisting Bridgeside North to find another site ‘‘for this worthy project.” Council voted unanimously to assist in restoring the site and relocating the co-op proposal, but split on the merits of a PRO des- ignation.