CENTRAL LONSDALE RESIDENT
FED UP WITH NEIGHBORHOOD
SQUABBLES; WILL SELL HOME

A FIVE-month-long neighborhood squabble over illegal
suites has caused one Central Lonsdale area family to put
their home on the market in a bid to find a more peaceful

patch of property.

Rick Winters bought his house
five months ago. The house is
situated in a single-family zoned
area. But he alleges the houses on
either side of him each contain
three suites.

With 12 cars and only two
off-street parking stalls between
the two neighboring houses,
Winters says he’s had it with the
noise and friction.

In addition he says the owner
of a house adjacent and to the
right of his house, who a city in-
spector confirms is operating two
illegal suites, had someone cut
down trees along Winter’s prop-
erty line three months ago and
has been calling city hall regular-
ly in an attempt to have building
inspectors investigate improve-
ments Winters has been doing to
the exterior and interior of his
house.

About a week ago, an exasper-
ated Winters posted a large sign
in front of his home to draw
public attention to his private
dispute. He took it down after a
couple of days and has since
decided to sell the house.

“I was getting too much
response to it (the sign). It caused
a couple of accidents on the
street and people were leaving
notes on the door. With
teenagers living next door I was
getting nervous,”’ he said.

In a letter received by the city
April 2, Winters invited inspec-
tors to visit his house, but asked
land-use bylaw inspector Percy
Melville to investigate the homes
on either side of him as well.

Said Melville, ‘‘I went there
(Thursday) and confirmed that
one did, in fact, have a couple of
suites, and I wrote the owner a
letter. It has three suites, two of

By MICHAEL BECKER

News Reporter

which are illegal. The other
property | haven't been able to
get in yet, but ['ve written the
lady a letter. I have to get invited
in first.’*

Melville said the city is current-
ly investigating complaints of il-
legal suites, but is not following
through to enforce zoning regu-
lations.

‘*We're just putting people on
notice,”’ he added.

In February, North Vancouver
City council declared a
moratorium on the enforcement
of illega! suite regulations in
response to public outcry aver
the disappearance of affordzble
rental accommodation in the
municipality.

The city is now polling city res-
idents on the suite issue.

A study, which will assist
council in defining its illegal suite
policy, is expected ta be com-
pleted in the next few months.

A large triplex adjacent and ta
the left of Winter’s property is
built sideways on its lot with
sundecks and windows facing his
home.

“‘Pve been here five months
and this is their fourth set of te-
nants,’’ he said.

“They're all sitting there all
day long on the sundecks looking
down on the top of my house and
my yard. I’ve got all these people
fighting over the parking spots,
looking at me all the time and
phoning the city on me — it’s
just a joke. The final straw was
when this developer (the owner
of the house to the right) asked
the city to inspect my place to see
if I had an illegal suite,’’ he said.

3 - Sunday, April 8, 1990 - North Shore News

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

NORTH VANCOUVER City resident Rick Winters says he’s being squeezed out of a single-family Central
Lonsifale area due to friction caused by neighbors living in and operating illegal suites.

Beceuse of the current cooling
of residential real estate prices,
Winters expects to lose money on

the sale of his house.

Charged Winters, ‘‘The devel-

oper (to the right) is on my case

Residents continue Neptune fight

RESIDENTS living near North Vancouver’s Neptune Bulk
Terminals (Canada) Ltd. say they will continue their fight
against a proposed $22-million expansion of the facility’s

potash storage operation.

And they have vowed to come
out in full force for a public
meeting expected to be called on
the issue next month.

Neptune has applied to North
Vancouver City for a permit to
build a $22-million, 120-foot high,
700-foot long potash shed to meet
a projected world-wide increase in
potash demand.

And the city and Neptune are
currently negotiating a deal to have
the project approved in exchange
for Neptune assurances that it will
address pollution concerns.

But Andy Baak, president of the
Cloverly Residents’ Association,
which discussed the issue Wednes-
day at a general meeting, said the
city should not agree to any deal
until Neptune takes care of curreni
pollution problems from coal and
potash dust emissions.

“Why should they (city) give

7

By SURJS RATTAN
News Reporter

agreements to them (Neptune)
when they haven’t kept promises
to clean up their polluiion prob-
lems,’ said Baak. ‘‘It doesn’t
make sense. They’re trying to get
an agreement from Neptune to
rectify past problems in exchange
for a permit. That’s a flawed pro-
cess.””

He added that other than pollu-
tion concerns, the residents’ group
is also worried about view loss
from the shed expansion.

‘““We're concerned about the in-
creased threat of pollution, of
noise and the impact of views.
We're also concerned about pollu-
tion in respect to increased tanker
traffic,”’ said Baak.

He charged that city council has
not listened to the concerns of the

residents and that both council and
the Vancouver Port Corp. would
be making an_ environmental
mistake if they allowed the expan-
sion to proceed.

“In recent communications
from Ports Canada to city hall, it’s
evident they are not up to speed on
the environmental aspects,” saic
Baak. ‘‘They're not aware of the
environmental impact of Nep-
tune.*’

Baak also said Neptune has vio-
lated pollution guidelines in the
past but has not been prosecuted
for those violations and said that
the company has done little in the
way of installing pollution-control
devices.

“The Roberts Banks facility,’’
he said, ‘‘has spraying facilities in
place and here (Neptune) they only
have two spraying poles. They
should have at least 20. It’s grossly
inadequate.”’

But Neptune president John
Willcox, while agreeing the com-
pany and the city are trying to
work out a ‘development agree-

ment,’ said Neptune has taken
measures to cut down on pollution
and will continue to do so in the
future.

“We have every intention of

carrying out what we said we
would do in terms of dust collec-
tion,”’ said Willcox. ‘‘If you look
at our dust collection system to-
day, you'll see that system is 75 per
cent in place and it will be in
operation by May.”’

In a previous News story,
Willcox estimated that Neptune
had invested approximately $4.3
million in environmental! controls
in the past 10 years.

Willcox added that Neptune is
**confident’’ that it can answer any
resident concerns about pollution.

But while area residents vow
they will continue to lobby against
the expansion, Neptune has receiv-
ed strong industry and business
support for its expansion plans,
including support from
longshoremen’s unions, the North
Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
and the Vancouver Port Corp.

News to cover religious, spiritual matters

STARTING today and running regularly in its Sunday edi-
tion, the North Shore News will provide coverage of
religious and spiritual matters in its new Spiritually Speak-

ing feature (see page 10).

Through articles and listings of
spiritual events, Spiritually Speak-
ing will attempt to raise awareness
of the meaning behind the religious
festivals and events that take place

on the North Shore and in our
multi-cultural society.
It will also focus on the various
religious sects on the North Shore.
Canada and the rest of North

America is witnessing a resurgence
of interest in spiritual matters —
for some it has meant a return to
the traditional religions of their
own culture, for others it has
meant taking elements from the
spiritual practices of other coun-
tries and other ages to forge new
mystic paths.

Spiritually Speaking will rely on
community input to keep its

readers informed. If your religious
group is hosting an event, such as
a speaker series, grand opening,
rummage sale or ordination of a
new leader, or will be celebrating
an upcoming festival, write and let
us know.

Send submissions to Spiritually
Speaking c/o The North Shore
News, 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North
Vancouver, B.C., V7M 2H4.

not to fix the house. He wants to
get it cheap because [ had it on
the market before.”

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Sunny Sunday. Monday and
Tuesday, mostly cloudy with
chance of showers. Highs
near 14°C.

Second Class Registreiion Number 3885