Scouts out for Apple Day

NEWS photo Mike Waketleic

‘CUB BEN Russel! and Beaver Alex Reno dig into shiny treats in anticipation of Annual Scouts
‘Canada Apple Day. The Sth West Vancouver Group members will be at shopping malls Oct. 14.

‘Water source
-shut down
Wednesday

A LANDSLIDE in the Capilano
watershed is to blame for murky
“water some North Shore resi-
- dents may have noticed flowing
.. from their taps earlier this week.

By Layne Christensen
Community Reporter

The landslide occurred sometime:
Sunday. or Monday as a-result “of

heavy ‘rains,-a Greater Vancouver
Regional District official said. |
“"“Tt's quite huge.” said Mairi
Welman, a communications officer
;with the GVRD. “This size of slide
-we don’t see every day. It’s a one-in-
10-year event.” ."

“A watershed management crew discovered the slide
‘sometime Thursday while undertaking an aerial search of
* the area. Welman said the slide had gone undetected i invan

: earlier ground search of the area.

“The slide. was near the northern tip of Capilano Lake,
on the western shore, near an unnamed creek, south of the
hydro lines that traverse Hollybum Ridge.
<The slide forced an area of displaced soil 10 metres
- deep and 60 metres in diameter and a large pile of debris,
including trees and boulders, to the lake shore and into the

v:, lake, she said.

The slide, which occurred within a second-growth for-
_ est of 80-year-old trees, was not a result of logging in the

‘area, said Welman.

Photo submitted

GVRD WATERSHED staff member Bill Amos appears tiny com-
pared with the massive Capilano watershed landslide that mud-
died drinking water for some local residents. — ;

The displaced. soil was glacial clay, “deposited in the

valley some time after the Jast Ice Age.” which had been
worn down with erosion.
The, Capilano watershed provides drinking water for

parts of West Vancouver. North Vancouver, Vancouver,

Burnaby and Richmond.
The GVRD shut off the taps at the Capilano reservoir
-on Wednesday, closing it as a source of drinking water.
Until the water has cleared, residents will be obtaining
their water from the Seymour and Coquitlam watersheds,
where water quality was unaffected by the rainfall because

the soil there is not as fine.

451-6010.

Revenue loss explained

From page 1

at least $8 million per annum and that
the net capital value of the land (after
development costs) was in excess of
$200 million.

“The chamber says without addi-
- tional revenue from the sale or lease
» of.Jand, the district would require “a
dramatic increase in property taxes”
to pay for major capital items,

* ButsNikol: as Cuff dismissed the

argument that no development would
result in raised taxes,

“Show me a municipalily any-
’where in B.C, where you add more
- people and the taxes go down. It
" doesn’t exist. It exists only in the bag
"of wicks of developers and specula-

" tors to convince what they see as a

gullible public.” said Cuff.

At one point Mayor Murray
Dykeman attempted to nile Cuff out
of order for referring to the Chamber
of Cornmerce presentation. But after
shouted opposition from Coun: Emie
Crist and a five-minute recess,
Dykeman admitted that Cuff had
referred to a newspaper story contain-
ing some of Lakes" presentation.

The evening's fieriest’ speech
came from Deep Cove writer Trevor
Carolan, who slammed district plan-
ners as “self-inflated little potentates”
for questioning the integrity of
GUARD's  10.619-signature anti-
development petition.

“Take a look at our local schgols

Anyone with questions or concems about drinking
water can catl the GVRD's quality control department at

or the moming traffic to work and
you'll see, often, how inadequately
we're able to handle what we've
already got. Where have our planners
been so far? Is this the best they can
give us? Do they have children of
their own? Must they be allowed to
create further sterile “existence”
zones?” asked Carolan.

“What no one seems willing to
express or hear is that what we've got
here is a spiritual issue. Residents in
East Seymour are voting with their
presence here on a matter in which
money, profit, plays tittle if'any part.”

Residents will have another
chance to vole with their presence at
the reconvened public hearing
Wednesday iat 7 p.m, Dykeman sug-
gested the hearing be reconvened at
district. hall, but council voted to
reconvene at Windsor school.

; Buchols and Roy Dungey did not
attend the meeting.)

$2.6m accumulated shortfall
must be retired over 2 years

NORTH VANCOUVER School District 44 has received permis-
sion from Education Minister Art Charbonneau to post a $2.6 mil-
Jion uccumulated deficit for the 1994-95 school year.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

Charbonneau’s OK requires the district to retire the deficit over the next
two fiscal years. The minister added the district must retire $500,000 of the
deficit in the current year, which ends in June [996, :

District: 44 superintendent of schools Robin Brayne said retiring the
$500,000 will be “tough slogging.” but it must be done. -

Last month, Charbonneau granted approval for a $1.7 million deficit, but
final audited statements revealed a deficit of $2,633.754 for the school dis-
trict.

Under the School Act, no school
district deficits can be incurred with-
out the minister's prior upproval.

Brayne points to enrolment fig-
ures showing the district with
(7.0(8 students, 242 over the
provincial ministry forecast.

That, he said, should mean more
government funding for the school
district, although he acknowledges it
also means additional expenses to
pay for teachers,

‘The district's deficit provoked
heated debate’ at a trustee board
meeting on Tuesday night. .

Trustees came under fire from
West Vancouver-Capilano MLA
Jeremy Dalton.

Dalton said he had no knowledge
of a deficit exceeding $t.7 million
over months of discussion with
board members.

“Quite frankly, 1 as a taxpayer am
very disappointed in how this thing
was handled.” Dalton said.

Calling the board “negligent,” the
Liberal MLA added: “I think it
‘speaks volumes that there are only
‘four of you at the meeting tonight.”

(Trustees Philip Joe, Rick

& & Quite frankly,

Tas a taxpayer am-

very disappointed in

how this thing

was handled. 9 9

— West Van-Capilano
MLA Jeremy Dalton

MacLellan replied that the board
always stated the $1.7 million deficit
as- an optimistic minimum, rather
than constantly changing the figure
until the final audited numbers came
in. ;

She added that the board suffered
close to a $500,000 shortfall in con-
_ Unuing education funding.

North Vancouver resident
‘ Deborah Kitson charged the board with signing collective agreements it
could not honor.

She also attacked clauses in administrators contracts that make them eli-
gible for sick-day payouts.

“There's been so much comment about being fair but not being realistic,”
she said.

MacLellan said the board made contract decisions based on the best
information available at the time.

The district, she said, is unfairly funded by the provincial government,
which the minister has tacitly recognized by letting the board carry the
deficit over for two years.

But Ministry of Education communications director Shawn Robins told
the News the minister said “no such thing.”

Nothing in the minister’s directive indicates the district is underfunded, ,
he said,

Cathy Abraham. a mother of four District 44 students, led a spirited
defence of the board at the meeting.

She lashed out at North Vancouver-Lonsdale NDP MLA David Schreck,
who has called fer the board to be replaced by a trustee due to financial mis-
management,

It's popular to bash trustees because it attracts votes. she said.

Abraham added that the minister has allowed the board to defer paying
off the deficit white dancing around the politics of the situation.

“Fr sorry you are taking the abuse you are taking.” she said to the board.

Parent Dianne Kennedy said the board was being trashed by myths in the
newspaper and the vitriol launched against the board at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Auditor’ General George Morfitt: said his department is
reviewing District 44's deficit and the process through which the board and
public were informed of the full extent of the deficit.

Morfitt told the News he does not know how long the review will take,