3- Sunday, July 22.1990 - North Shore News

Golf course agreement draws fire

WEST VANCOUVER District Council will be considering
a process agreement Monday night that environmentalists
fear will commit the municipality to the development of a
controversial golf course at Cyoress Ridge before a public

hearing is held in the fall.

ff approved by council, the
agreement sets a time limit of Oct.
1S by which public meetings must
be held on the site’s offer-to-lease
agreement.

Kevin Pike, West Vancouver's
director of parks and recreation,
said the agreement provides a
legal document to the developers
rather than 2 *thandshake’”’ signi-
fying that the municipality wants
to cncourage development of a
Cypress Ridge golf course, which
is adjacent to the Cypress Bow!

News Reporter

| Hy ELIZABETH COLLINGS

fecretion area in) West Van-
couver,

“What i says to the developers
is, ‘Yes, we're serious about this,
yes, you should go and spend
more money on detailed plans,"
Pike said.

But the Friends of Cypress said
the council will be signing an
agreement that puts thern in ‘‘lock

step" with Cypress Ridge Golf

Erd. (CRGL), the company that
Proposes to develop the Cypress
Ridge golf course.

“That makes a mockery of the
municipality's commitment to
hold public meetings,” said Don
Graham.

Graham and Paul Hundal said
the agreement could commit
council to covering the developer's
preliminary planning costs,
estimated at $300,000, if council
decided not to go ahead with the
golf course.

**By entering into this agree-
ment, the municipality could
become liable for the costs the
developer incurs.** Hundal said.

But Pike said the agreement
provides five different grounds on

NEWS phiote Cindy Goodman

AMANDA MULLOCK, 8’ months, discovers the pleasure of the pool with mom
Maureen. The two were cooling off at the North Shore Winter Club recently.

which council could reject the golf
course proposal without any fur-
ther obligations.

Those points range from en-
vironmental feasibility. to the
pubic mterest. as) determined by
council,

Pike describes the points as a
“broad clause for the municipality
backing away."

But Hundal also charged that
the process agreement permits
CRGL to start selective clearing,
including old-growth trees, on the
350-acre site, despite Mayor Don
Lanskail’s assurance in a prior
council meeting that no clearing
would be allowed before the
public hearing.

“If the mayor states there won't
be any clearing then why don’t

they state that in the agreement?”
Flundal said.

But Pike said the process
agreement states that any clearing
of cpecified development areas re-
quires his approval and the only
work he would permit to be done
before the public hearing would
be some low-level work for
surveying.

“We don’t see any major work
done until 1991 season until the
snow's off that (area),"" he said.

But Friends of Cypress are still
holding out for a referendum on
the issue.

Said Sue Cameron, *‘We want
all the concerned citizens of West
Vancouver to have a voice in the
final decision, is this to be forest
or fairway?”

Tanker biaze doused

NORTH VANCOUVER City firefighters had a potential
disaster on their hands Thursday morning when they were
called to battle a fire aboard an oil tanker docked for
repairs at Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc.

A fire department spokesman
said the 10:30 a.m. blaze broke
out on the New York-registered
Omi Dynachem after sparks from
a welding torch ignited hydrolific
fuel.

The fire was confined to the
tanker’s pump room, but
firefighters were concerned about
2,200 gallons of left-over fuel, or
slop, which was contained in one
barrel on the ship. The barrel also
contained [0 per cent gasoline.

City firefighters, working with
Versatile fire department crews,
poured water on the barrel to
keep it cool while extinguishing
the pump-room blaze with high
expansion foam.

A total of 15 city firefighters
spent four hours fighting the
blaze.

“It was hot and it was
smokey,’” said the fire department
spokesman. ‘‘Under the cir-
cumstances I think they (fire
department crew) did an excellent
job.”

Ironically, North Vancouver Ci-
ty Fire Chief Tom Cumming had
inspected the tanker on Wednes-
day, and the fire department had
held a practice session on what
they would do if there was a fire
aboard the tanker.

“*We were notified that the ship
had docked and Chief Cumming
looked at the ship and we did a
pre-plan on what we would do if
there was a fire on the ship,”’ said
the spokesman. ‘‘We always do a
pre-plan fire drill depending on
the ship and what its cargo is.’’

Streetcar battle looms

A BATTLE is brewing at North Vancouver City hall over

a streetcar named Lonsdale.

City Ald. Barbara Sharp plans
to introduce a notice of motion at
Monday night’s council! meeting
asking for a feasibility study on
the installation of a streetcar that
would run up and down Lonsdale
Avenue.

But while Sharp has the support
of at least one other alderman
(Bill Bell), Mayor Jack Loucks
said he will vote against Sharp's
motion.

“There’s all kinds of people
who would like to use a Street-
car,’ said Sharp. ‘It think it
would be so exciting. That's
definitely one of my visions, and
you have to look down the road
and plan for things.”’

She added that the streetcar,
which is currently being restored
at the North Shore Museum and
Acchives building, could be cost-
effective.

“fT have talked about this for
the past couple of years. Just the
whole concept of a streetcar...I'd

Ambulance chief fears staff shortages

From page 1

ed to three canyon calls this past
week alone, is worried about the
tise in the number of rescue calls
coming from Lynn Canyon.

“It’s getting to be not if it
(canyon call) is going to happen,
but when. It’s never a surprise
when we get a canyon call,” said
Joues.

He added that most of the ac-
cidents are alcohol-related, and
said canyon rescue calls have a
severe impact on the ability of
emergency crews to respond to
emergency calls elsewhere on the
North Shore.

“In May we had a canyon call
where a man broke his neck and it

was a very busy night that night.
We had three crews in the canyon
and we had to call in cars from
Vancouver to handle our street
calls in North Vancouver,’’ Jones
said.

**It (canyon calls) is a real drain
on our manpower. Once you go
into Lynn Canyon, you can’t get
those crews out so fast. Once
they’re in there they are commit-
ted.”

Jones added that two = am-
bulance crews usually respond to
one canyon call.

He said people who go to the
park should be obeying the posted
safety signs and should not take it
for granted that rescue crews will
respond once they get into trou-

ble.

While he admits his crews have
yet to be caught short-staffed this
summer as a result of a canyon
call, Jones said it could happen.

He added that if a canyon call
had been received at the same
time as last Saturday’s fatal motor
vehicle accident on Mount
Seymour Parkway, emergency
crews ‘‘would really be stretching
their manpower.”’

North Vancouver District Fire
Department Chief Rick Grant
agreed with Jones that canyon
calls are becoming a major prob-
Jem.

“ft does put a strain on us if we
have other calls,’’ said Grant.
“You're tying up a number of

men for a number of hours.”’

Grant added that his depart-
ment usually responds to a canyon
call with an average of 12 people.

“The other thing that comes in-
to it is, the use of alcohol,’’ Grant
said. “That seems to be getting
higher each year. 1 don't know
what can be done about that.’

He added that the different
emergency services in North Van-
couver are now ‘‘brainstorming"’
on ideas that may cut down on
the high number of canyon calls.

North Vancouver RCMP Insp.
Dave Roseberry said in 1989 and
thus far this year there have been
14 serious injuries and two deaths
resulting from Lynn Canyon acci-
dents.

like to see it,’’ Sharp said.

But Loucks said city staff
should not be using their time to
study the feasibility of an idea he
called ‘‘unrealistic.”’

“It cau be costly. There would
be more problems involved with
that than six: (Sharp) realizes,’’
said Loucks.

Me added that one big question
to auswer is whure to put a street-
car on Luoasdale.

lf it cperated in the middle of
the avenuz, said Loucks, disem-
barking passengers would be faced
with the hazardous prospect of
trying to cross Lonsdale.

And if i? operated on the side
of the st:#et, Loucks said parking
on Lonsc:> would be adversely
affected.

“fm committed to renovating
the streetcar. But trying to com-
pare North Vancouver City to San
Francisco is a bit unrealistic,’’
said Loucks.

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