expansion raises controversy PLANS FOR expansion of West Vancouver’s highly suc- cessful Collingwood private school have sparked resident controversy over whether area traffic created by the facil- ity will improve or worsen. The proposed expansion, which would acconimodate 600 Grade 1 fo 12 students, elicited an unprecedented 90 written submissions and brought 150 area residents out to Monday’s public hearing. The school’s enrolment has grown rapidly from 240 students vin Grades 1 to 8 when it opened ‘four years-ago in the closed ‘Glenmore. School site to the cur- ‘rent 507 students. cit has also been praised for its “education quality, which has helped divert the stream of ap- proximatety 500 West Vancouver private school students who were previously (ransported to Van- couver City or Vancouver Island facilities. _ “2’m not against better facilities for | _the students. It’s the ca Bene” ' —West Vancouver . resident ‘Linda Lambert. “There will .be.600: students at Collingwood next. year,» whether we, make the ‘addition or not,”’ Collingwood.” ‘Schoci; Koard ‘member Joe Houssian said. *. The school: expansion would ‘provide another’ gym, «a weight and fitness room,-a music room,’ ‘cafeteria, “Jecture. theatre ‘and | “three more classrooms, as well as nitre | and! more selence laboratories Architect Brian: Hume of: CP ‘Architects ‘alsa pointed out ‘that 105.parking ‘spaces will | be’ pro- “yided .on site — reducing the. ‘parking problem’. that’ exists on. the street. But. area residents opposed .to the expansion —.many of whom expressed ‘approval. ‘of the school — remain concerned about traf- fic congestion. created by parents ‘transporting « children to “school. from all over.(he North Shore. . “I’m not. against better: facili- ~ ties for the. students. It’s . the cars...’’ emphasized’ Linda Lambert of Glenmore Drive. Lambert presented a large area map showing red dots on. the . homes of all those against” the expansion. ~ “More study is needed...,"" she said. “It is unnecessary for every single parent to drive every Single | student to school.” . ; . Lambert estimated fhat only , eight to 10: students inthe ‘im mediate area and 35. from. the British Properties ‘attend Coll- | ingwood School. . But according to . Houssiar, about 80 per cent of Collingwood By MAUREEN CURTIS Contributing Writer students come from West Van- couver. ‘We send our daughter (> ihat, school because we feel that the quality of education she obtains here, both academically and discipline-wise, is nut available in the public system,’ said Phillip Mansftetd of Southborough Drive. Mansfield argued that property values in the area have increased since the private school started. Real estate ads for the area, he said, list “close to Call- ingwood,”’ as one of the assets. Other residents were just as cestain that) the school had decreased property values and complained of the increased noise and littering, as well as the traffic and parking problem. The hearing was punctuated by submissions from several Coll- ingwood students. Carolyn Wingate said, new facility will make “The traffic “flow easier — consider the posi- , fives, not the negatives."’ :, “If puts shout $2 million in revenue into: the community," added 17-year-old Theron Hor- Perc oe . 0 Houssian stressed that there “would: be no plans for accommo- ‘dating. more than 600 students in the future. The. expansion, he added, is ‘contaliied within school property, and there ore no plans to pur- _ chase either Glenmore Park or . neighboring residences for future schoo} purposes. Students are not permitted to ’ use.the park during schoo! hours. Retired schoo! principal Lioyd Wrean argued that overcrowding on the site would be “disastrous’’ for students. British. Properties Ratepayers _ president "Mahmoud Aziz, said his group feels that local streets and main arteries are not design- ed “to ‘accommodate the: traffic “flow created by the school. Other residents complained of _ fhe - dangerous situations that “result from large numbers of. cars on small curvy streets, as well as the inconvenience of waiting to get in and out of local driveways. Southborough Drive resident . Lawrence Fox said the communi- ‘ty «should support Collingwood >but. suggested the school find another location. But . Collingwood. supporters say they have already tried that avenue. Their bid for Hillside Secondary was unsuccessful and before that an attempt to put secondary students at a new off- site location in Westhill was criti- zed for skirting the 1200-foot level, above which construction is not aliowed.. The matter was referred to * pranicipat staff for study, with input. also requested from the {Parks ‘and ‘Recreation Commis- sion, Advisory Design Panel and Advisory Pianning Commission. The heering will reconvene March 28, at which time opinions ‘from council may be expressed. sundas, NORTH VAN CITY Council pians escort ban SERVICES will no longer be permitted to ply their trade in North Vancouver City if city coun- cil has its way, ESCORT Rs KAREN GRAM Cortabutiny Writer Council seted Monday to begin proceedings to ban escort services from North Vancouver after Ald. Stella Jo Dean discovercd the two emerprises that had eperated in the city had closed. “drs a bu of bouse cleaning," said Dean, adding council had wanted to ban the practice in the city earlier, but the existence of Comfort Zone and Interlude Escorts prevented a total ban. “When T discovered both the licences had been tarned in I decided it was a good time to bring the issue back to council,’ said Dean. NORTH Vancouver Ald. Stella Jo Dean..."Ht's a bit of house clean- ing.”* “Eh don't think it (escort services) is a good thing to have in a Marcoh 23, toa Neath Shor News munipality said Dean. when asked at the issue was a moral one. She added she thought some tias- payers object to such enterprises in the community. Dean said banning escort ser- vices Was similar) to banning sulphur, which she had achieved several years ago. The subject of escort services received wide public attention in 1985 when newspaper reports disclosed that services offered by a North Vancouver escort service in- cluded more than what was adver- tised, which prompted city council to call a public hearing on the business licences of two local enterprises. Council voted Monday to give first reading to a zoning amend- ment that defines escort services as a prohibited use and referred it to the Advisory Planning Commis- sion for report. It amended the city business licence bylaw, deleting reference to escort scrvices. NEWS photo Neil Lucente LIONS GATE Hospital employee Erie Ng tosses garbage into one of the hospital's incinerators. The hospital will stop burning its infectious wastes emission standards. Task force From page 1 workers at) North Vancouver's garbage transfer station refused to accept LGH waste early last year because they feared infection from handling disyarded hypodermic needles and other hospital garbage during baling operations. Though O'Dell said there is no record of anyone getting sick as a result of handling the hospital's waste, he added that there is ‘ta changing awareness of material that’ might be hazardous...a perceived danger.” He said the hospital is awaiting provincia! guidelines of exactly what is considered infectious, As a result of the problem in North Vancouver and similar pro- blems faced by other hospitals, the B.C. Task Force for Biomedical Waste Management was establish- les Bewley . Business................27 Classified Ads...........39 Doug Collins... Comigs . next month because LGH incinerators cannot be upgraded to meet air studies waste problem ed in October 1987, The task force, headed by pro- vincial environment official Dr. John Ward, will) classify biomedical waste from hospitals, animal hospitals, doctors’ and den- tists’ offices, funeral partors and nursing homes and determine how best to handie it and how best to dispose of it. Ward said products such as used syringes and broken glass con- tainers, collectively known as Sharps, present the most danger of infection to people who handle wasle, He added that information will also be assessed to determine whether hospital waste is any more infections than the waste produced by residential homes. Thus far, he said, nol appear to be “there does much dif- Fashion .... Bob Hunter... Mailbox . . TV Listings. . Travel........... What's Going On..... ference." The task force’s report is sched- uled to be completed in October. Biomedical wastes will not be burned in the new GVRD_ in- cinerator for the next few months until the incinerator is running at full capacity. A recent proposal to test burn bicmedical wastes in the facility was deferred by the GVRD board pending accumulation of addi- tional information. Though Thermal’s incinerator was recently ordered by Washington State officials to in- stall new air pollution control equipment, Ward said the Burnaby facility has extremely efficient pollution control capabilities. A unit similar to it, he said, has been used successfully in Europe to burn biomedical wastes. WEATHER Ni Sunday through Tuesday, mainly sunny. Highs near 9°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885