So Mee IR BT once ASAT MRE TEREST EREUEEILA RN SE ATS ERR PRRAAEROT ve me mem ARGYLE AVENUE PROPERTY V tries 3rd expropriat WEST VANCOUVER District has launched its third bylaw to expropriate a controversial piece of waterfront property in the 1700-block of Argyle Avenue. The bylaw was introduced Feb. 15 to follow procedures in the new provincia) Expropriation Act, which was passed Dec. 24, 1987, just after the municipality adopted its second expropriation bylaw on Dec. 21, 1987. The timing of the act’s passage consequently created uncertainty over the validity of the second bylaw. In a statement issued late last week, West Vancouver Mayor Don Lanskail said the third bylaw was recommended by municipal solici- tors to address that uncertainty and (other) uncertainties over transitional provisions in the new act. Council, he said, ‘decided to follow the procedure under the Expropriation Act and serve a new expropriation notice...out of an abundance of caution and a desire to proceed fairly...."’ West Vancouver deputy municipal manager Doug Allan said Monday the third bylaw is “substantially the same as,’ but “builds” on, the second bylaw, which, like the municipality's orig- WEST VANCOUVER chief librarian Jack Mounce flips through some of the books th By TIMOTHY R News Reporter inal expropriation bylaw, is being challenged in B.C. Supreme Court by Thorcon Enterprises Lid., the owner of the 1734 Argyle Ave. property. West Vancouver's original bylaw to expropriate Thorcon's property was invalidated in December when Supreme Court Justice Mr. Josiah Wood ruled the municipality’s stated reason for the expropriation of “for municipal purposes’? was too vague. The revised bylaw, which replaced ‘'for municipal purposes’’ with ‘‘for pleasure, recreation or community uses of the public’’, as defined by Justice Wood, is again being challenged by Thorcon on the grounds that it too does not adequately specify the reasons for expropriation and that the bylaw should have been processed under the new Expropriation Act. Thorcon spokesman George Cragg said Monday his company has never been told by the district exactly what the land is being ex- propriated for and consequently does not know if the district indeed needs the entire 8,000-square-foot property. The district, he said, originally indicated that it wanted the land, along with four other properties between 18th Street and Ambleside Park, as part of long-range plans to acquire waterfront for future recreation development and to complete its waterfront scawalk and a hiking trail from 25th Street to Cleveland Dam. Thorcon purchased 1734 Argyle Ave. for $535,000 after West Van- couver decided the $700,000 asking price for the property was ex- cessive. Cragg said the district would not need the entire piece of property for a seawalk and that Thorcon is willing to negotiate with the district a deal for seawalk right- of-way. Original negotiations between the two sides reached an impasse in July 1987 after a Thorcon four- plex plan for the property was re- jected by West Vancouver follow- ing an offer from the municipality to upgrade the duplex-zoned prop- erty in exchange for the seawalk allowance, and a municipal offer NEWS photo Neil Lucente at could be banned under the proposed Bill C-54, currently under second reading in Parliament, Anthropology texts, art books and mainstream fiction from such well-known novelists as Henry Milter and Margaret Atwood might not be allowed within sight of minors under the bill's broad definition of pornography, A. Wednesdas, Pebeuary 24, 1988 on of a land. exchange was subse- quently rejected as being inade- quate by Thorcon. weaned wy DOUG ALLAN... municipal manager. depuly Allan said Monday the municipality ‘‘wants the property and has determined that it will be part of a park and a seawalk and as such we have the authority to expropriate the property. We would have much preferred, and still would prefer, to negotiate an agreement but they don't appear to want that.”* Locals North Shore News byla' But Cragg said the district ‘‘has never told us exactly what the property is being expropriated for. And | think it is my right as a land owner to know.... If they are going to use it for a park then why don’t they call it a park expropriation bylaw?”’ Unless the municipality specifies the expropriation’s purpose, Cragg said a seawalk could be installed and the rest of the property used for a restaurant or similar development, But Allan said the municipality had no doubt as to what it planned to do with the property, and has advised Thorcon'’s legal counsel that the sale of the property could be made subject to it being placed under a parks bylaw. Cragg emphasized that Thorcon, too, would much rather negotiate a settlement for the property. He added that if the municipali- ty expropriates instead of negotiating acquisition for the re- maining private Argyle Avenue properties, ‘‘they will have to fight cach one of us and it could take 20 to 30 years." A court decision on Thorcon's challenge to West Vancouver's se- cond expropriation bylaw is ex- pected in the next two weeks, strike curling gold NORTH VANCOUVER'S Linda Moore garnered Canada’s first gold medal in the ‘Winter Olympic Games Saturday when she defeated Sweden’s Elizabeth Hogstrom 7-5. But the win will not count in Canada’s overall medal standings as curling is ranked as a demonstration sport — not an of- ficial event — in these games. Moore, who turns 34 today, can now add Olympic gold to the earlicr world championship title she took home in a decisive victory in Sweden in 1985, “We played against the best curlers in the world and won," rink member and local resident Lindsay Sparkes, 37, said of their Olympic performance. “Tt was a great accomplishment for us.”" Early in Saturday’s game, Sweden took a 4-2 lead and assumed control for five ends. But skip Moore went on the of- fensive after the fifth end. In the sixth end she came back with two and the Swedish rink’s front end missed some key shots. “We just made sure we were re- ally patient,’’ said Sparkes. ‘‘We had had team meetings and when we went into those games we were really prepared."’ Further Swedish misses let the North Vancouver skip send a rock deep behind cover in the seventh end, counting as a steal and giving Canada a 5-4 lead. From that point, Canada racked up two points to Sweden’s one for WEATHER Wednesday, sunny with cloudy periods. Highs near 8°C. Thursday, cloudy. a 7-5 final. Sharing the win were fellow rink members Debbie Jones, 34, of Vancouver and Penny Ryan, 27, of Edmonton. NORTH VANCOUVER'’S Linda Moore ... skip of the curling rink that won Olympic gold. “*It wasn’t like the world cham- pionships,’’ explained Sparkes, ‘We were part of a much larger team (the Canadian Olympic team), so when we won the gold we won it for Canada.”’ In other Olympic news, North Vancouver's Neil Paterson finished in 16th place in men’s figure skating after a respectable showing in the open skating event. Business .. tea 27 Budget Beaters... Classified Ads... Doug Collins.... Comics........ Sports ............. TV lListings......