home in West Van A fire on Monday that likely started in a garbage can extensively damaged a carport and attic of a home in the Westmount area of West Vancouver. Parts ofa new Honda car in the carport melted in the blaze ara house in the 3300-block of Craigend Road, according to West Vancouver Fire Department spokesman Martin Ernst. No one was in the split- level home when the fire start- ed at 4 p.m. Ernst said the liv- ing area of the house sustained smoke damage. Firefighters spent one hour containing the blaze. Four new firefighters who are in training assisted. West Vancouver fire offi- Cials continue to investigate the fire’s cause. — Anna Marie D’Angelo y Michael Backer News Editor aesehacl@nsnews.com NORTH Vancouver District council heard the latest plans for public waterfront access in the community behind closed doors on Tuesday. Waterfront task force members presented their interim report to councillors. Task force recommenda- tions have yet to be approved by council. The force was originally suggested by Coun. Ernie Crist in 1994 as a way. of developing long-term strategies for protecting and increasing public access to the Deep Cove-Dollarton waterfront. Earlier this year some waterfront homcowners said they feared reduced real estate values as a result of the 50-year planning process. : The Panorama Drive Ratepayers Association (PDRA) was particularly csitical of many of the interim recommendations made carlier this year by the dis- trict’s phase-two waterfront task force. PDRA chairman Peter Dunsford questioned the fairness and financial implications of the task force’s targeting of approximately 70 “high end” properties for possible purchase by the district at a projected cost of about $50 million. _ The PDRA alse called the task force recommenda- tion that the district take over the Vancouver Port Authority’s power to issue water surface licences “fis- cally irresponsible.” . Other general concems raised by the community in response to a newsfetter circulated by che municipality in November and input reccived at two open houses ateriront Task force recommends reduciion in privaie waterfront lot purchases held by the district in December included: the plan’s potential cost; B rejection of the recommended closure of the Deep gr Yacht ee F a perceived disregard for private property; a loss of neighbourhood character. 4 & damage to habitat by increased visitors. . Highlights of the amended plan as presented to council on Tuesday: a mainly natural continuous trail af about 13 kilo- metres stretching from the Seymour River to Deep We; @ a viewpoint jutting into Burrard Inlet at Park Street; a new waterfront park on Dollarton Highway; a: a trl along the water from Cates Park to Harris act Hla new pedestrian pier at Cates Park; @ a new pedestrian suspension bridge over a creck at Harris Road; an expanded Strathcona Park; @ Grey Rock Island as a new marine refuge area linked by a hand-pulled cable car to Strathcona Park; Wa new boardwalk along the south side of Deep Cove; Ga better swimming beach in an expanded Panorama arK, @ restored beach access off Panorama Drive; Ba new pedestrian viewpoint adjacent ta Seycove Marina; @ better pedestrian access to Quarry Rock above Deep Cove. The task force now recommends that the district defer for 15 years the purchase of most of the private properties needed for the project. The trail route will make use of district lands as much as possible and the district would then acquire strategic waterfront land for public ownership as it becomes available. ‘The task force recommends that the Deep Cove Yacht Club lease should be renewed for an initial 10- year period. The recommended purchase of 27 Dollarton area foreshore lots has been dropped with the trail re-rout- ed along Dollarton Highway. The trail has also been re-routed elsewhere to avoid some other purchases of _ private property. The task force advises that use of the government dock at Deep Cove be restricted by limiting visitors to a one-night stay and prohibiting overnight commuter moorage. The task force also called for a scasonal ferry link for Bedcarra, Cates Park, Deep Cove and Strathcona. Private docks and boat shelters should be replaced with communal docks. All encroachments and barriers to beach access should be removed, according to the task force. But according to a PDRA response statement, intentional obstructions of the waterfront “are quite rare. These should be dealt with by the Vancouver Port Corporation on a case-by-case basis, not through a board-brush reactive response.” Said the statement, “The foreshore is a fragile environment. The area's attraction is its relative lack of development. Alterations to this environment, whether as low-tide paths or full- blown seawalks, are the last thing that we need.” ° Photo Ronaid Issacs WEST Vancouver flrefichters battled a biaze on Monday that damaged a Westmount-area house. The people whe lived in the house in the 3300-block of Craigend Road were not home at the time of the fire. Mo one was injured. ; Pot owner exposed A North Vancouver man who dropped off the wrong photo film canister for develop- ing on June 29 received an unexpect- ed visit from a North Vancouver Mountie. According to an RCMP spokesman, an employce processing film at a large grocery store in the Seymour area opened the canister and found it filled with marijuana. Police were called. North Vancouver ROMP Const. Tom Scaman said the canister’s owner was surprised to see a Mountie at his door and “more surprised to. learn that he had dropped off the wrong canister.” “That’s why we tell kids it’s called dope,” quipped. Seaman. . The canister contained abour four grams of mari- juana. wt No charges are contem- plated. Po a —Anne Marie D’Angelo Complaint charges that unions in line for social service windiall : . NEWS photo Brad Ledwiige JOANNE Patterson (ieft) and Peter Juri (right) work with North Shore Association for the Mentally Handicapped worker Susan La Rochelle at the non-profit com- munity service organization’s North Vancouver office. The NSAMH and other non- union groups complained to the Labour Relations Board, citing the NDP govern- ment for uniair fabour practices. From page t said residential care workers employed ‘by NSAMH are paid $14.07 an hour, a rate that’ hasn’t changed since 1996. The recent settle- ment by the government with the Community Social Service Employers’ Association will pro- vide unionized residential care workers a 55- cent-an-hour raise on Oct. I to $15. By 2002, the rate will be $16.83 an hour. NSAMH employces, the complaint said, have rejected numerous attempts to join a union. The B.C. Government Employees’ Union failed to sign enough employees for a vote during a 1997 campaign. NSAMH received an order to prevent further organizing by the BCGEU until July 5, 1998. Within days of the recent CSSEA settle- ment, both the BCGEU and the Hospital Employees’? Union sec their sights on the NSAMH. The HEU even used its web site to muster support for its campaign. The NSAMH’s complaint estimates that if all 8,190 non-union, full-time equivalent com-" munity social service positions around. the province were unionized, the unions would have a windfall of $3.79 million-a-year in membership dues. During the 1996 provincial’ election campaign, the BCGEU donated - $151,000 to the NDP and the HEU gave $19,600. ‘ one Mowles’ co-complainant in the action is ° Ken Pook of the Burnaby-based Community Living Sociery. Another 32 organizations are — -supporting the complaint, including the North Shore Disability Resource Centre. Mowles said he hopes the matter will be heard by the LRB within 90 days. : Vancouver law firm Lawson -Lundcli Lawson & Mcintosh and public relations firm Labrador Communications have been hired to represent the complainants in the battle with Victoria. : An official in Boone’s office referred phone calls to MacPhail, who did not retura News’ calls. an