Toasting in the New Year JANUARY 6, 1999 Bright Ligkts Business Classifieds eco 22 Dining ooo 20 Food ooo 19 Knight eoo7] Mailhox __ | wrigat North Shore Fere Press £12 Prucsaner Peer Spo ‘W35 Lonadale Avenue hor vanconer BC YT JH Canadian Frtncaterny Med Sales Product Agree went Ne 0687738 28 Pages eee 12 ooo 16 ecco] a AT ME SEN RS oy ai2 Memory Lane 217 A look back at logging, at Ambleside Bistro in the Capilano Valley The Voice of North and West Vancouver sine z 1969 NEWS photo 8rsd Ledwidge WEST Van school board chairman David Stevenson supports the school district's right to develop lands, such as the former site of Hillside school, for residential real estate uses. West Van council is entertaining a bylaw that would change existing zoning. hing sta West Van school board fights for rights as land developer Michael Becker News Editor michacl@nsnews.com A West Vancouver hearing to address a bylaw that would change the zoning of schools and places of worship resumes Jan. 25. School board officials are bemoaning the potential loss of more than $160 million in land value. The municipality’s proposal to change the status of school properties from single and two-family residential to public assembly would mean that if a school were to be demofished, the owners would have ta go before council for permission to develop the land tor anvthing other than a school One need only revisit the demolition of Hillside school several years ago to see what's at stake. The 34-year-old school served 1,000 students, grades seven through Sy BH:1086 nine. It was torn down a few years ago to make way for residential devel- opment. At the time the school district forecast a profit of $14 million. The seeds for Hillside’s demolition were planted in 1990 when the school board of the day officially adopted the Facslittes for the Future plan. In 1992, a school district brochure described the ficilities develop- ment plan as “an innovative plan to tund $30-million in critical upgrad- ing and renewal of school faciities while ensuring that district tax dollars and assets are administered to deliver the best posible return an invest: ment well into the next century.” A public mecting was held in Aprit, 1993 to consider the redevelopment of the existing Hillside school site at 2295 Queens Avenue to permit RS-3 zoned single-family dots, In October of 1993, the West Vancouver school board resolved that all proceeds from the sale of the existing Hillside middle school site would go toward the cost of the new $16.6 million school at Caulteild Plateau. The board also resolved that residential lots on the Hillside site would be sold before the completion of the new school. Then board chairman Peter See Eight page § By enreting on » Frings: Word Membertivp af this bme You receive FREE refers antare tot 2 to Honetuty Hawai, FULL DETAMS AT CLUBS WWW. ASNnewWs.com Coaches name the best players in high school football All stars 914 FREE Witness depicts cinema Killing Beb Mackin Contributing Writer A woman who witnessed a shooting in a North Vancouver theatre was looking away from the movie screen to avoid the gory Hollywood gunplay. Catherine Brown _ testified Tuesday at the uial of Michael Caster in’ New Westminster Supreme Court before Justice Randall Wong and a jury. She said she attended the 9:45 p.m. showing of Donnie Brasco at Famous Players’ Esplanade 6 with her boyfriend David Brick on Feb, 28, 1997. They were seated in the sec- ond row near the right: aisle. Brown said she heard a cell phone ring behind them and saw a man pass them on his way to the front of the theatre before returning a short dme later. Brown said the same person left the theatre through a door to the right ofthe screen 10 to 15 min- ures into the movie, leaving the door ajar. Despite nwo visits to the door by an usher, it remained ajar until 2 person catered wearing a Painter's suit and a ski mask. Brown said that person appeared smaller than the well-dressed man who left the theatre carlier. She said the person walked quick- ly along the front row and fired three shots before leaving through the same door. Brown said she saw the victin slumped down on dic floor with the back of his head resting on the bottom of the folding chair as the movie continued and the the- atre lights remained off. Caster, 21, and a 20-year-old man are both charged with first degree murder of Mohammed Mirhadi. The co-accused will be tried nexi fall.