NIME-YEAR-OLD Neville Merriman takes aim with the fire hydrant at Mahon Park. Long weekend traffic Jams up Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal Overheight vehicle lineups make unhappy campers PACKED up Thursday night and headed for the Horseshoe Bay ferry CAMPERS terminal in hopes of catching all-night their recreational vehicles sailings to Nanaimo, but by Friday morning they were anything but happy campers. The B.C. Ferry Corp. (BCFC) issued a press release last week saying it was expecting a busy B.C. Day long weekend and that ferry travellers should use the Horseshoe Bay’s 11 p.m., 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. sailings and the Tsawwassen terminal during the day. But that plan backfired starting on Thursday night when literally hundreds of overheight vehicles descended on Horseshoe Bay hop- ing to catch ferries. By 7 a.m. Friday, the backlog of overheight vehicles was enough to fill four ferries. And the lineup only got worse. “There is a real big backlog, and it started last (Thursday) night,"” BCFC spokesman Bill Bouchard said Friday morning. “We left about 130 overheights behind at 1 a.m. and a similar number at 3 a.m. It’s (lineup) just ‘continued.”’ While Bouchard said ferry traf- fic does ‘“‘go up a little bit’? on the By Surj Rattan News Reporter B.C. Day long weekend, he at- tributed part of the Horseshoe Bay lineup to ‘‘two big events’’ happening over the weekend on Vancouver Island: a dog show and an air show. He added that a 50% fare dis- count on the | a.m. and 3 a.m. sailings also attracted a large crowd. “It’s 9:30 (a.m.) right now, and we have enough overheights at Horseshoe Bay for the 1 p.m, sail- ing. People have been in the lineup for about five hours now,”’ said Bouchard. ‘*We’re telling people to go to Tsawwassen.” Pete Peters, spokesman for Capilano Highway Services Co., which provides the staff at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, said the lineup for overheight vehicles had stretched to the Eagle Ridge and Nelson Creek areas at {0 a.m. Friday. He added that overheight vehi- cles were continuing to arrive at 10 a.m. “At 3 a.m. this morning we had traffic backed up to Cautlfeild, and in all the years I’ve worked here I've never seen it backed up to Caulfeild,’’ said Peters. He added that the main message ferry terminal staff were telling travellers Friday morning was “don’t be in a hurry.”” Peters said the tempers of the ferry travellers stranded in the five-hour lineup wasn’t ‘‘that bad,"’ but he said tempers couid rise as the heat rises. Horseshoe Bay resident Ingrid Fischer criticized the BCFC for implementing its 24-hour ferry schedule, saying the new service, which was designed to cut down on lineups, has been a failure. ~ She added that it would make better sense for the BCFC to en- courage ferry travellers to use the Tsawwassen terminal. “There is a bad guy here and it is the B.C. Ferry Corporation. It’s just so ridiculous. They (ferry users) block up one lane of the highway, and you have no idea the amount of garbage they leave on the side of the road.” Sunday, August 2, 1992 - North Shore News - 3 New subdivision proposed above Upper Levels elopment to include estate lots, townhouses on WV site WEST VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL A DEVELOPMENT §sap- plication for a 77-lot sub- division above the Upper Levels Highway in West Vancouver has been sent to West Vancouver’s advisory planning and parks and rec- reation advisory commis- sions and the advisory design panel for review prior to a public hearing later in the year. By Maureen Curtis Contributing Writer British Pacific Properties Ltd.'s (BPPL) proposed Canterbury subdivision will accommodate 71, 13,200 sq. ft. lots, six large estate lots and 39 townhouse ‘‘lots’’ — or a total of 116 dwelling units. The 46-acre site is located just below the 1,200-foot elevation level, which is the official upper limit for development in West Vancauver, west of Lawson Creek, east of MacDonald creck and north of the Chippendale Road extension. But most of the discussion at council’s July 27 meeting con- cerned the five creek crossings that council approved on July 20. Over the past week, BPPL decided to make a few changes to the plans for the crossings, in- cluding turning the large crossing of Lawson Creek’s east branch in- to a three-arch ‘‘Roman bridge.”’ Coun. Rod Day said the cross- ing designs are getting away from box culverts to a larger, more rounded archway over the creek. “We have taken this very seriously, and we have refined our designs,’’ said BPPL repre- sentative Walter Thorneloe. The crossings are better than culverts because they do not disturb a creek’s stream bed, but, like culverts, they are filled in with soil. Last week, former West Van- couver councillor Carol Ann Reynolds asked whether the sub- division and the creek crossing plans complied with the 1972 Dayton and Knight Drainage Survey Report, which is described in the Official Community Plan as a primary guide for development. Creek preservation and flood control is particularly important in the higher, undeveloped regions of the North Shore, because the lower developed regions are often affected by what happens in higher elevations during heavy rainfall. Accerding to West Vancouver planner Laura Lee Richard, an investigation of the top of the creek banks is required to define the areas for protection of the creeks and vegetation. Dayton and Knight, as’ quoted by resident Roy Bartholemew, recommended generous municipal right-of-ways along: @ Lawson Creek East: 125 feet; @ Lawson Creek West: 70 feet; @ and MacDonald Creek East: 60 feet. Reynolds, who was surprised that permission had been given to begin work on the crossings be- fore the public meeting and de- velopment permit process for the project, agreed that the proposed 44 We have taken this very seriously, and we have refined our designs. 99 — BPPL representative Walter Thorneloe crossings look ‘‘way better’? than the culverts and riprapping of previous Upper Levels develap- ment. “But now I understand that there will be some cutting away of the creek beds,’’ said Reynolds. Thorneloe confirmed Wednes- day that there will be some stream-bed disturbance at the smaller crossings of Lawson or MacDonald creek, but not be nearly as extensive as the distur- bance caused by previous creek culverts in other West Vancouver developments. The BPPL crossings are being built now to minimize disruption ee glo = WV MAYOR Mark Sager... municipality will monitor the Canterbury construction. to creek fish habitat. Mayor Mark Sager said the municipality will monitor the Canterbury construction and en- sure that it adheres to the Dayton and Knight report. The developer has pointed out that the proposed subdivision in- cludes {5% parkland — 5% is re- quired — and a layout that is less dense than it could be. The development will include a park on the west bank of Lawson Creek’s east branch, with a trail connection to Woodward Park and a neighborhood park adjacent to the west branch of Lawson Creek that will also have linkage trails. BPPL uaisc commissioned an environmental evaluation report from E.V.S. Consultants Ltd. that recommended a tree retention strategy and protection of the creeks, A geotechnical report prepared by Golder Associates Ltd. ad- dresses engineering and terrain issues and an evaluation of the old log dam built on Lawson Creek years ago to supply a lumber mill with water. BPPL plans to remove the dam, which is in bad shape and ir- reparable. Access to the Canterbury site includes the now-completed Chippendale Road connector and the proposed Pinecrest Drive, which would run just below the 1,200-foot elevation level.