NORTH VANCOUVER City Council conceded Monday that giving Cannell movie siudios ‘‘carte blanche” use of a helicopter landing facility on the Park and Tilford site wasn’t such a good idea after all. Faced witha petition from about 50 residents and a rousing denun- ciation of the helicopter use in res- idential areas from Ald. John Braithwaite, council disregarded a letter from Cannell Studios lawyer claiming council would be guilty of bargaining in bad faith, and voted 5-1 to prepare an amendment of the rezoning bylaw passed last week, Ald. Allan Blair opposed the motion, The amendment would delete “accessory helicopter landing fa- cility’’ as a permanent use on the site. “Council must have been sleep- ing (when the heliport was first in- troduced),”’ said Ald. Stella Jo Dean favoring the motion. ‘I know how noisy helicopters are because they fly over our home several times a day from Grouse Mountain.”” Braithwaite said the noise from departing and arriving helicopters exceeds city noise bylaw levels by twice the recommended noise reading. The bylaw stipulates noise not surpass 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night. But when a helicopter takes off it emits 84-91 decibeis at 500 feet above ground. “1m very concerned we're even considering this when residents live 100 yards atvay,”’ he said, adding the city noise bylaw has no authority above ground. ‘‘The on- , ly way we can control this is to not let it in.” Braithwaite said he was also concerned about how the heliport will be used. Cannell Studios president Michael Dubelko iold council Sept. 23 his company would use the facility for occa- sional filming, but added it may also be used for transporting peo- ple or equipment to and from the airport. “What. we're talking about here is multiple use that will cause more noise than the trains,”’ Braithwaite declared. ‘T have a very strong impression that the occasional use stipulated at the public hearing could become By KAREN GRAM Contributing Writer regular use without our control.’’ Finally, Braithwaite said he feared the precedent the bylaw had set. ‘In the past, there have been inquiries about heliport facilities and once this goes through, we can’t discriminate.” Gordon Cross, a former city alderman and the area resident who spearheaded the campaign to restrict helicopter use, said coun- cil’s decision to consider an amendment js jret ‘tone step up the ladder.”’ “It is gratifying that five people there (on council) have grasped the long-term implications of a heliport, but it is not a victory. Council may throw it out the win- dow when they see the amend- ment,.”” In question period, Cross asked council to consider cooperating with West and North Vancouver district councils to develop a North Shore wide policy on helicopter use. In an earlier interview with the News, Cross indicated his opposi- tion to the heliport is not a re-elec- tion issue. ‘‘] don’t want to run,”’ he said. ‘‘] have no intentions of running."’ Ald. Blair opposed the motion because he said he didn’t want to renege on an agreement. He sug- gested council defer the decision pending a report from city staff and solicitors on the legality of the move. However city administrator Gerald Brewer said lawyers had already confirmed the amendment is legal. The motion also states ‘‘that any future consideration for the in- troduction of helicopter landing and take-off facility ...not be con- sidered by the council of the City of North Vancouver withert benefit of a complete environmen- tal impact analysis.’ A public hearing will be called to discuss the amendment. NEWS Photo Hike Wake jatd IN A close bucket brigade competition last week, the North Shore News team, as seen above in the dark jackets, captured the top spot in its heat. News photo manager Terry Peters, in the forefront of the News team, was quick off the mark in the heat against C-ESL radio. The News came second in the media category. Mews scoops bucket brigade win SIX NORTH Shore. News employees took up buckets Tuesday in the third annual bucket brigade event at Rob- son “iquare, firishing in second place in the media cate- gory . Defending media champions, the North Shore News — using canvas buckets to fill a 45-gallon drum — finished in a time of 1:27:01, briefly holding ihe first-place title. Later in the timed rece, radio station CKWX topped the News time, filling the dram in 1:15:78, Dypassing the News and assuming the media championship. In the fire department catego- ry, West Vancouver District firefighters came in first spot out Il of the three North Shore municipalities’ fice departments. North Yancouver District came second among the three local fire departments. North Vancouver City firefighters failed to officially finish as they devoted most of their time to throwing water on defending champs Surrey firefighters. “We were there fo slow down Surrey,’ said Gavin Soanes, North Vancouver fire prevention’ eee iG blasts Quay THE LONSDALE Quay-based Insurance Corporation of British Columbia has slammed a 20-storey apartment building proposed for North Vancouver City’s waterfront. ICBC vice-president Graham Reid in a recent letter to North Vancouver City Council criticized the proposal, saying the Bosa Bros. project ‘‘is unsympathetic to the existing fabric of the Quay,” and sets ‘‘dangerous precedent.” “Not only does the proposed project block our views, it has a profound . overshadowing effect due to its location, bulk and height,’’ explained Reid. NEW: photo Terry BALLARD TECHNOLOGIES Corp. (BTC) employee David Watkins (right) explains to Capilano MP Mary he. Collins and company president Geoffrey Ballard the workings behind BTC’s electronic power generator. The last piece of undeveloped property at Lonsdale Quay, this parcel — on the west side of the ICBC building — is presently a parking lot for the Quay. At 20 stories, the proposed building would be well above the six-storey average maximum height of the other buildings in the Lower Lonsdale area. “There’s an issue of where (the high rise’s) shadow goes,’’ Reid BYC nabs From page 1 duct from the technology?’’’ BTC, he said, focused the peculiar genius of SPFC project head David Watkins on the cell’s engineering rather than the elec- tro-chemistry that had already been developed, while McLeod established a commercia! market for the product. SPFCs convert chemical energy in a fuel directly to electric power without any intermediate thermal or mechanical processes. The cell is similar to a batte:y in that it has electrodes, an electrolyte and positive-negative terminals. But unlike a battery, the cell re- quires no charging and does not run down. It also has no moving parts. Commercial applications for the cell range from electric automobiles to airplanes and underwater vehicles. McLeod estimated jt would take five years after perfection of the mcthanol- fuelled generator prototype for the technology to reach the commer- cial market, which he said will be worth “‘billions.’” In addition to the SPFC’s non- polluting characteristics (its officer and bucket brigade orga- nizer. ““We didn’t fill the drum.” Vancouver firefighters came first overall, finishing in an im- pressive 58:35. Held to promote-the Plan to Get Out Alive Program and the community-wide fire drill last Friday at 6 p.m., the bucket brigade was labelied 2. smash hit. “it was a tremendous suc- cess,” ssanes said. “‘We had a good number of teams.” Fixe Prevention Week, of which bucket brigade is one of . the highlights, ended Saturday. proposal said in a News interview, noting the shadow at different parts of the year and the day moves from the BC Rail building to ICBC and then over to the nearby siaza. “When you have a plaza in shadow it’s not very popular,”’ Reid noted. ICBC officials are slated to ap- pear at the plan’s public hearings Tuesday at North Vancouver City Council. Reid would not say if the com- pany would be presenting any new material in its opposition to the project. contracts byproducts are water and electrici- ty), it produces very little heat (185 F), which for military applications gives it a low infrared profile. Mcleod estimated BTC was still two years chead of the rest of the world and such massive corpora- tions as General Motors in SPFC development. In order to protect itself from buy-out overtures from large in- ternational conglomerates, BTC gave ownership of its SPFC tech- nology to the Canadian gov- ernment in 1986 in return for an exclusive 10-year licence to pro- duce SPFCs and their accompany- ing products. The deal, according to McLeod, allowed BTC to direct negotiators. to the Canadian government while the company and its 35 employees were free to pursue SPFC development. In addition to Friday’s contract, BTC's BTC Membranes subsidiary has been awarded a $88,200 Science Council of B.C. grant to perfect the SPFC’s membrane. BTC also won a $244,000 federa} government contract in August to build a prototype lithium- sulphur-dioxide battery for use in military aircraft.