’ Th re er one crak oe SEE TM Obert er AURA pet Regn merpretet cae tr sneha ent Jo e eal ems cipste pes pe yeep enact comming i ? RARE treatin een Maree Samet ei agents’ «Amal Ore nen ONT a Rte oT serene meme apr gee magpees ee Se pa rep nat Thee it ey, WS photo tan Smith “CAPILANO MP Mary Collins, Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Tom Siddon, and West Vancouver Mayor Derrick Humphreys survey the architect’s model of West Vancouver’s uew fisheries research facility on Friday. Work on the $8 million project will begin: Monday. Burnaby’s Belmont Construction Ltd. has been awarded the $6 million contract to build the facility that will replace ihe old West Vancouver fisheries research laboratory. esidents boil ~YPFOSss. Vit flood controls Vancouver’s Cypress Creek has hit another stretch of white . -water. os - Residents affected by the pro-: posed ‘construction of a debris pit dn’ the. creek valley behind theit chomes say West Vancouver ‘ ‘municipality’s alternative plan ’ ‘recently unveiled is just not good " -enough. “Doug Quance.of 4115 ‘Burkeridge Place said the slide how’ and engineering report: pres- > rented to, 40 area residents in coun- ‘cil chambers gave a single alter- native to the original plan opposed “so vehemently by Burkeridge Place ‘residents at an Aug. 19. West Van-. ‘couver council meeting. . UNACCEPTABLE _ “We were- expecting to see sev- ‘eral alternatives,’? Quance said. “The one presented was virtually the same’as the original plan.and “as far as I’m concerned it is still “unacceptable.”’ - -The alternative plan, drafted by West Vancouver’s Dayton and ‘Knight Ltd.,. calls for the debris pit to be constructed 57 metres : “(187 feet) further up the creek. aa ‘merely the reaction to what he said But Quance said the plan is awas one suggestion made at the August council meeting. “The 50 foot wide by 15 foot high ‘concrete pit would, according. to ": ithe new plan, move from Quance’s backyard to the backyard of fellow ~-Burkeridge resident Charles :Mayrs, ~* “The. value of my. property "would -drop by $30,000,’" _Mayrs ‘said. “‘So- even’ though the. four: - “residents affected in this area by ~~ are. being’ designated as the ones "who will pay. for the problems of “the construction of the debris pit are not threatened by flooding we the lower creek residents. It’s Outrageous.”” , Mayrs said he realizes the flood danger presented by Cypress to its lower creek. residents, but said he does not feel upper - creek homeowners should be forced to sacrifice their properties as part of the solution. . Concerned Burkeridge residents, he said, had suggested to the municipality at a Sept. 19 meeting an alternative plan to build the debris pit where Cypress. Creck runs beneath the Upper Levels Highway, ‘‘where no resident pro- perties would be affected.”’ Quance said the project’s second phase, an underground storm channel diversion, would result in pipes being run across various properties in the area. Funds to complete that phase are as yet unavailable, ‘‘but they want (© construct the debris pit anyways, even though it will be useless without the second phase,”’ Quance said. The diversion channel could be located south of the B.C. Railway tracks, Quance said, where again no resident properties would be af- fected. - CONTROL THREAT But West Vancouver Mayor Derrick Humphreys said the alter- - native plan was drafted to address - initial resident objections to the debris pit. 2° ’: The .whole plan, he said, was aimed at controlling ‘‘once and for all the threat of serious flooding’’ posed by the creek. “We took their objections and moved ‘the debris pit up the creek over proposed reek “THE controversy over proposed flood control for West 25 they requested and they're still not satisfied,’’” Humphreys said. “The project will fix the threat of a once in a 100-year flood for the next 1,000 years,'? Humphreys’. said with exasperation, ‘‘and here we have these three or four obstructionists opposing us at- every turn. It’s bloody sad, real- ly.”” The debris pit, Humphreys has said, is vital to protect approx- imately 100 homes at the creck’s mouth and would catch large boulders that are brought down the creek every few years ‘forcing water to’ overflow and threaten downstream homes, Quance said the municipality’s plans to control flooding were admirable, but added that there ‘had to be a better alternative to the one offered. One third of his property, he said, will still be appropriated under the new plan, ‘“‘but instead of a concrete bunker in my backyard, I'll have a truck tur- naround.”’ ° $3,006 COUNSEL Mayrs said he will sacrifice 15 per cent of his property under the new plan. He added that the four Burkeridge residents were given nine days in 1985 to react to the original debris pit proposal. Legal counsel to prepare defences of properties that he said were going to be appropriated had cost $3,000. Regardless of the new. plan, Maytrs said he would not allow the debris pit to be built on his Pproper- ty. . Estimated cost of the pit, Hum- phreys said, would be approx- imately $400,000, while the total cost of the pit. and second phase diversion channel would be close to $2 million. Thus far the legal, financial, and engineering logistics of both pro- jects have not been worked out. woe the sas re or a ST a | 3 ~ Sunday, February 9, 1986°- North there Shore News