alk at land annexation Sunday, June 6, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 3 plan GVRD’s Electoral Area B couid double size of North Shore municipalities THE GREATER Vancouver wants North Vancouver District (NVD) and West Van- couver District (WVD) to annex a huge area of adjacent GVRD-controlled lands by the end of this year, but nei- ther North Shore municipality has jumped at the offer. The land known as Electoral Area B — which has u population of approximately 300 and covers a vast area east of Lions Bay and north and east of North and West Vancouver — is 869 sq. km (335 sq. miles) of mostly rugged ter- rain. {1 contains the Seymour and Capilano watersheds. North and West Vancouver districts could almost double in size if they were to annex Elector- al Area B. NVD Coun. Ernie Crist sai-t NVD municipal staff are currently compiling a report on annexation that includes concerns about GYVRD water district taxes. NVD currently receives approx- imately $300,000 a year in taxes from the water district. if Electoral Area B were annex- ed, taxes would jump to an estimated $2 million a year. Regional District (GVRD) By Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter But NVD municipal officials are concerned that the GVRD may lobby the provincial government to exempt the GVRD from having to pay taxes to NVD in the an- nexation deal. If the GVRD is exempted from taxes, NVD could be stuck with paying the heavy costs of firefighting in the annexed area, (The provincial government has the authority to allow the Crown land to be annexed.) “The GVRD might win and we might be sorry. We can’t end up losing money over it,’’ said Crist. “} think we should pursue an- nexation, but not commit to any- | Board was to lease proposed facility back from church From page 4 But he said the church has since received ‘a letter from the schoo! board saying the lease agreement would not be approved by Vic- toria. O'Neill said that while the church has not been given an ex- planation as to why the lease agreement was rejected, he suspects: that religious values played a role in the decision. “During public hearings held on the issue, there were a couple of mean-spirited: groups opposed to this because of traffic concerns. “Then when they found out it was a lease agreement, some pco- ple started saying ‘We don’t want our children going to a school on Catholic land,’ ’’ said O’Neill. According to Dorothy Lynas principal. Jim Petersen, student enrolment at the school has in- creased since 1990. He said the school’s enrolment in September 1990 was 477. Current enrolment is 587 students. The projected enrolment for this September is between 620 and 630 students. NVSB chairman Don Bell was unavailable to comment on the issue to press time Friday. But in a March 31 News story, Bell said he supported the construction of ari annex on the St. Pius X site. He said that without the annex the: facilities at Dorothy Lynas would be so overcrowded that in 8 Business ..... z Classified Ads...... Cocktails & Caviar Wi Comics .......... @ Editorial Page .... 8 Fashion. .......... @ Horoscopes....... om library use and computer and music studies would be severely limited. Jarvis said he only learned about the lease-agreement rejec- tion when contacted by the News on Friday. “This is just such a negative situation. This would have saved the school board a lot of money,” said Jarvis. Meanwhile O'Neill said the NVSB is still interested in leasing part of the church’s 4-acre (1.6 hectare) site for use as either a schoo! annex or to house portable classrooms, The church had proposed to fund the construction of the annex - at a cost of $1.3 million and lease the facility to the school board for $215,000 per year over a five-year period. Another option was for the school board to build the school annex and then later sell it back to the church. St. Pius X planned to operate a parish elementary school on the site. “A lot of people believe the school was going to go in this September. There will be no school there this September and there are no plans to put portables there in September. “We've grade land available to them (NVSB). We think the origi- nal agreement was the best. It.was a. win-win situation,’’ O’Neill said. dex §§ Bob Hunter ........... 4 BR Lifestvies..............23 i Mailbox weeee 7 @ Municipal Affairs ........9 G& Travel ......... @ Vintage Years .. (@ What’s Going On .... ee DE 44 Weather Monday, mostly cloudy with showers. Highs 20°C. Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 0087238 thing und the issue of taxation is clarified.’’ Owning the land, he said, would give the district’ control over such land-use issues as log- ging. Crist added that all the annexed land would likely end up in the district's Alpine Cominunity Plan. In December 1991, NVD Coun- cil was considering annexation of 96 sq. miles (248 sq. km) of Elec- toral Area B. (NVD currently in- cludes just over 64 sq. miles or 166 sy. km) At that dime, the boundary of the annexed area ran east from the Capilano River to Indian Arm and north to the southern bound- ary of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, According to a report, the district would be responsible for services, ad- ministration and development mangagement within the newly acquired area. NVD Mayor Murray Dykeman and NVD = administrator Fred Sigurjonsson, who was involved in 1991 News the 1991 staff report on the issue, refused Thursday to comment on the issue. Dykeman said council was deal- ing with the matter in-camera. Dykeman and WVD = Mayor Mark Sager are GVRD_ board members. The GVRD board has endorsed the climination of electoral, or unincorporated, areas. A second GVRD-sponsored report’ on climinating electoral areas was completed in March. The GVRD has stated that hav- ing control of electoral areas im- pairs its ability to deal with regional issues such as transporta- tion and land planning. Meanwhile, WVD_ planner Graham Stallard said the municipality needs more iuforma- tion about the costs involved be- fore considering annexation. Annexed land adjacent to West Vancouver would include the area west of the Capilano River to Lions Bay, but would exclude Brunswick Beach, Three small subdivisions near Lions Bay — Ocean Point, Mon- lizambert Wynd and = Strachan Creek — are portions of Electoral Area B that would likely become part of WVD. Stallard said the GVRD was be- ing optimistic about having an- nexation completed by the end of this year. “Our municipality never got beyond the initial stages of if we were interested in it or not,’’ said Stallard, He said another option to an- nexation would be to subcontract services instead of taking over the land, Meanwhile, the most recent GVRD report suggested that small areas left over after annexation of all electoral areas should be con- solidated with Bowen Island to form one electoral area. Bowen Island residents voted against incorporation in 1991. There are approximately 2,200 people currently living on Bowen Island. NEWS photo Neil Lucente Somalan supplies THE LOCAL Rotary Club has organized the shipment of surpfus hospital supplies destined for Somalia. Beds, wheelchairs, operating-room lights and other items from Lions Gate Hospital will be placed in a container for shipment to the African nation. on Childcare resource society opens | Central location for information established in NV THE CHILDCARE Resource Society (CRS) opened offices in Edgemont Village on Thursday, June 3. By Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter The CRS provides a com- puterized referral service of avail- able childcare spaces on the North Shore. It also operates a library and rents items to childcare providers. Items such as strollers, car seats, baby monitors and high chairs are supplied free for a three-month period to North Shore childcare centres. The CRS is funded by the pro- North Van- Van- vincial government, couver District and North couver City. The provincial government con- tributed grants totalling $120,000. North Vancouver District con- tributed a $25,000 startup grant and approximately $5,000 toward operating expenses. North Vancouver City con- tributed a $5,000 operating grant. West Vancouver District has a representative on the society’s 15-member board, but the municipality has not contributed money to the society. The society was first mentioned in a 1990 childcare needs assess- ment report prepared by former North Vancouver District social planner Rupert Downing. The report identified a need to establish a central place on the North Shore for families to obtain information about childcare. It took 2% years, but North Vancouver District Coun. Paul Turner is pleased about com- pleting one of his political goals. “T thought it was a good idea. I put it in my campaign plank. “Wve been lobbying the Social Credit and then the NDP gov- ernment for it,”’ said Turner. “Finally, it’s come to fruition. For me, it’s an example of gov- ernment working,’* he said. The CRS is located at 1-3046 Edgemont Blvd. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. On Wednesdays, the office is opened until 8:30 p.m. For more information about the CRS, call 985-2988.