Bright Lights ~ Celebrations Classifieds Crossword Home & Garden North Shore Alert «oo 8 Seniors oes 22 Talking Personals e+ 44 "ort. Shore Free Press L12 Pusisher Pe VG Longaaie Avene Cara tan Puticateur: 52 Pages make watershed a park Strict sit graveyard Rezoning ends plans for mausoleum Martin Millerchip News Reporter martin@nsnews.com IT’S a muddy hole in the ground into which lot of people have thrown their life savings. It was to have heen North America’s dargest nuausoleum. A home for the dead — 90,0000 of them. Rut the 3.5 i ‘ole acre plot behind ce still sits silent and ars alier Seasons ne. received a devel: opment permit for the site trom North Vancouver District. The origina’ plan called tor a 96 foot, five stores: building with anoth er rourlevels below ground. That plan has since been scaled down since rhe district deemed the ariginal persnit had Lapsed because of no work on the i id sanked it March 20, 196 Seasons president Alvin: Mitchell told counal Tuesday ata pubtic hes ing called to rezone the site to single tamily one-acre dots thar one of the problems he had taced was access to the site. Many arca residents had sup ported the miausofeusr project because of asoutherly access road that was to be built around the eastern perimeter of Capdano College that would have diverted: traffic off busy Litlocet Drive. Mitchell said a three-way deal benveen his company, the district and Crapilana College tell dough when the college failed to come up with i $600,000 share of the four-lane road plus bicycle paths and sidewalks the district asked for. Capilano College planning director Alan Smith told [a c I SHE council that phins were discussed bur no such contract Was ever presented. Mitchells bigy ble Was finding. Eran Morty. Corp. which collapsed in October 1997, was the company financing He proje Somewhere between $7 mithon and $9 milion had been raised tor Seasons. Bankruptey trustee Campbell Saunders Lid. appiied tor a new devel opment permit fora smaller 40 foot: htgh mausoleum this vear ins the hopes of recouping some of the investment. But that perroit way with- held be council for 9O days while the district, proceeded with a resouing of the stte to residential use that would prohibit the mausoleiuar. That move does not sit well with Peter Kuok who chairs a committee of the S2 investors who are out or pocket a minimum of § FOG.000 cach, “We have been cheated once by Fron Mortage Corporation already and hase never dreamed: thar our pohtiodd deaders wall de te us what (these; whe ran Fron Mortage Corporation have done ta us” wrote Kwok ipa March 16 letter to council Subdaed vestars tram as tir atch? as Richmond, ba yo oand White Rock attended Tuesday's hear ing to tell stories of vanished [ite sas ings nd plead for an opportunity to recoup sore of their Tasses, North Vancouver resident: Paul Loik echoed Kwok's senument when he sand. "Po ftel we're being jerked around by counad. Ho you want to build housing here, vou'd donate a similar piece of land if vou wanted re help us out.” Marje Hartman told the News she borrowed money against her house to See lavestors page 10 af Grad glamour 3335 Emphasis on ornate design say fashion forecasters Cap Valley Gatekeeper lobbies to A storybook vacation aboard the Star Flyer Travel 134 NEWS photo Terry Peters THE financial future looks bleak for these investors in a mausoleum project near Capitano College that has been placed on hold by North Vancouver District. Clockwise from bottom are: Russell Jennings, Jack Merritt, Peter Foerderer and Rob and Karen Bertini.