7 Happy New , ! ‘Open De 1 3bst 212 noon Spm Closed Jan. 1/96 inside news & Fashionn.......... in 9 WW Hunter. eee 7 B insights. 8 Mailbox. MN. Shore Alert.............3 @ Quotes of the Week.6 B Sports. wonsnee 1G @ Sunshine Girl...........12 STV Listinge................14 @ Wright fashion - Resolution No. 1: Gress for success: 9 & Shopping tips formen: | On the cover: One-year-old Clare raises her block to toast a bonnie New Year to everyone on the North Shore. Weather Monday: Cloudy with showers High 9°C, low 4°C. A BRITISH PROPERTIES resident is offering a $500 reward after vandals struck his home for the fourth time in six tnonths. By lan Noble News Reporter “Nobody can stop them. Nobody seems to care.” said Alvin Blaise from his West Vancouver home on Chippendale Road. The most recent hit on his house occurred Dec. 21, when vandals jumped his fence and threw rocks at a large window with decorative etching. A tock hit the window, causing $20,000 dam- age and waking Blaise with a crash. “These little bastards keep coming up here and wreaking havoc,” he said. © On Halloween evening, vandals caused $2.000 damage to his home. Blaise’s frustration boiled over after the most recent act. Blaise said the vandals travel to undeveloped lots above his home and get drunk. Then they come down the hill and raise hell. “I'm so frustrated with this I want to move,” he said. Blaise calls himself a target because of his approximately 9 sq. 66 Nobody can stop them. Nobody seems to care, 99 — Alvin Biaise tm. (100 sq, ft.) window. Police can't do anything, he said. “They're sympathetic, but that doesn’t go very far.” In an effort to catch the crimi- nals, Blaise has offered a $500 teward for information leading to perpetrators being arrested and charged. West Vancouver Police spokesman Sgt. Barry Nickerson said nine vandalism complaints have been recorded in 1995 in the Canterbury area, which includes Blaise’s home. Four of the com- plaints have come from Blaise. Nickerson said the amount of complaints is not unusual considering the number of homes in the area and the fact the area is under construc- tion. However, he said four com- plaints = from one house is unusual and leads to speculation someone is targeting Blaise. Investigators arc attempting to determine if there are reasons peo- ple are secking out Blaise, said Nickerson. He added the undeveloped area is used as a gathering place for local and other youths. One way to access the area is to drive by Blaise’s home. Nickerson cautions that a drunk adult could just as likely cause the damage as a youth. Sunday, December 31. 1995 ~ North Shore News - 3 Vandal action shatters British Properties homeowner left with lots of broken glass NEWS photo Brad Leawkdga SoPPENDALE ROAD homeowner Alvin Blaise is offering a $500 reward after his $20,000 etched-glass window was bro- ken by rock-tossing vandals. Parkgate facility delayed PART OF the price for North Vancouver District Council’s promise of no tax increases for the next three years is a shortage of cash for capital expenditures and an increased cost to business and development in the district. NORTH VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL By Martin Millerchip As a result, the often planned but never built Parkgate Recreation Centre once again failed to make the funded portion of North Vancouver District’s capital budget recently. Council adopted in principle a $27 million capital budget for 1995 but the $8.9 million rec centre was not included. Also adopted at a Dec. 18 council meeting was a raft of fee increases that range from as lit- tle as one dollar more for a dog licence to a 400% increase for preliminary examination of subdivi- sion plans. The tmajority of the fee increases are set at 8.1% to reflect an anticipated 3.1% rise in infla- tion next year and a 5% hike to capture more of the real cost of staff time. The 8.1% increase will apply in such areas as: @ rezoning applications; @ development variance permits; @ minor development permits for signage and small additions; Bi building permits; Hi inspection fees. All business licence fees will rise by the 3.1% inflation rate. The district's land department will increase its administration charges from $410 a day to $450 a day and its covenant fee for awnings and canopies from $100 to $150. Fees relating to lot subdivision will increase a ot. in addition to the 400% increase in prelimi- nary examination: @ approval in principle will double in cost to $500 plus $100 per lot; W@ the cost for approval of construction docu- ments will rise by 15%: B the cost for final approval will double to $600. Staff point out the subdivision process has become much more involved and requires con- siderably more time now than in previous years. They expect to capture the actual cost of $1,700 and up for processing subdivision appli- cations. Meanwhile, the cost of the Parkgate Recreation Centre could conceivably go to a public referendum that would coincide with the 1996 municipal elections. That is if council fails to agree on a scaling back of the project or other sources of income. Council unanimously approved a motion from Coun. Ernie Crist that will see staff reporting on a variety of funding possibilities to an in-camera meeting of council. “The priority is not to expend our Heritage Fund at this time,’ said Crist. “Let’s turn it over to staff and see ap \ \ what the private sec- ZRE 4 * ae tor can come up with.” NVD COUN. Crist... Director of look to private sector. recreation Gary Young told the News that several possibilities could be examined by council. They include: Mi forms of private sector sponsorship or partner- ship; §@ the possibility of using the space above the rec centre to generate income, probably in the form of housing units; @ removing the proposed childcare wing and/or going to a “warehouse” style of building. The need for a recreation centre to service the Seymour area was formally embraced by council of the day in 1984 when $200,000 was ear- marked for a study to determine recreational requirements and architectural drawings. The $28,000 user needs study was quickly completed and suggested a $4 million facility housing a 2,160 sq. m (24,000 sq. ft.) triple gym. Meanwhile, council shuffled the rec centre around the Parkgate area as the anticipated 1987- 88 opening receded. In 1988 it was determined that the ree centre should anchor the mall and a smail study was undertaken to confirm that gym space was still the prime requirement. In 1991 the design concept was the subject of much debate by a new council committee: The Seymour Facilities Review Committee. By this time the project had been downsized somewhat as the population of Seymour was not increasing at the rate previously predicted. Nevertheless, the committee confirmed that what was now a 1,260 sq. m (14,000 sq. ft.) dou- ble gymnasium should be the major component of the rec centre. But when the rec commission pointed out that the $170,000 it had left from 1984 was insuffi- cient to pay for architectural drawings in 1991 dollars, council took back the funds and awarded the prestigious architectural company of Downs- Archambault the contract to design the Parkgate Civic Centre, which now included the Parkgate Library. The cost of the rec centre, as designed by Downs-Archambauilt, is now more than double what it would have cost to build a larger facility in 1985. David Naysmith, manager of facility engi- neering, estimates the building will cost up to $8.9 million to complete. For this the community will get a double gym and an introductory climbing wall, a farge muiti- purpose room, a pottery and a paint studio, com- munity offices and meeting space and a youth drop-in centre. Included in the $8.9 million is approximately $1.2 million for a child care wing. Naysmith and Young say that while almost $250,000 in design costs would be lost, it might be more cost effective to redesign a more utili- tarian building without the daycare wing for approximately $4.5 million. Young acknowledges “It would look some- what out of character with the library, but we are interested in people walking in and using the building. “Our mandate is to get that ree service deliv- ered to the community.” Young said. Young is not opposed to a public referendum on the cost of the facility but hopes the criteria for choice will apply to all major capital projects. He also wonders what role the rec commis- sion would play in helping the public understand the background to what is now a 12-year-old story and counting. a