Gadsby wants solution for poor election day turnouts NEWLY-ELECTED North Vancouver District Ald. Joan Gadsby said council should consider penalizing ‘eligible voters who do not cast ballots during municipal elections. By Surj Rattan Jews Reporter Gadsby, a 10-year incumbent alderman before she lost last November's district mayoral race to Mayor Murray Dykeman, made the comment after she defeated three other candidates in Satur- day's byelection. The byelection was called aiter former district alderman Bill Rodgers resigned late last year when he was appointed a provin- cial court judge in North Van- couver, Gadsby captured 2,968 votes to win Saturday’s election. She was followed by paramedic Tim Jones, who received 2,!88 votes; engineer Bruce Edwards, with 1,354 votes; and lawyer An- thony Jasich, who won 200 votes. And 90 per cent of those who voted in the byelection voted yes to a referendum question asking if all of the land in the Lynn Can- yon Park area shoud be dedicated as park land: 5,927 residents voted yes; 682 voted no. Out of an_ estimated district population of 73,205, only 6,789 people turned out to vote in Saturday’s byelection. Gadsby, who said she was “‘delighted’’ to be back on coun- cil, said something must be done to increase voter turnout in municipal elections. “*My concern was with the lack of voter turnout. | think we should look at having an incentive for people who vote, like maybe a reduction on property taxes and have a penalty for those who :6 don't vote,"’ said Gadsby. “*{ feel voters had a problen. finding the polling stations,"’ Gadsby added. ‘‘The signs for the polling stations should be on main streets and the signs and dates of elections should be posted on community service boards."* Gadsby added that signs an- nouncing municipal elections should be illuminated. . At) Monday night’s council meeting, Gadsby raised the issue of campaign funding. “Er think the time has come when we all recognize that it costs a lot more to run an election campaign, and { will be working towards disclosure of funding,’’ said Gadsby. Prior to the meeting, Gadsby said that candidates running in municipal elections should be re- quired to disclose all of their campaign funding. Candidates should not be en- dorsed by any groups or individu- als, she said, and ‘party politics should not exist’’ in elections. index @ Budget Beaters ...... 43 MB Business........-... 13 @ Lifestyles... 2.2.2... 39 M@ Dr. Ruth........... 40 Sports...... 0-20. e ee 415 @ TV Listings......... 34 Weather Thursday, period of rain. Friday. cloudy with showers. High of 9°C. lows near 0°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 te Wednesday, March 13, 1991 ~ North Shore News - 3 NEWS photo Nall Lucente REACHING FOR the winning duck in this year’s Great Capilano River Duck Race is incoming Rotary Ciub president Rick Graves. Jana Coway of Surrey won the grand prize of a two-week holiday for two to Europe. Complete results of the race are on page 44. Potash shed approved for waterfront Review panel supports controversial project THE VANCOUVER Port Corp. (VPC) board has ap- proved the proposal to construct a controversial $24- million potash storage shed at the North Vancouver water- front terminal of Neptune Bulk Terminals (Canada) Ltd. * Tuesday’s announcement by the VPC board followed a report from an independent review panel that recommended approving the shed project. Neptune officials have argued that the company needs the new $24-million storage shed to ac- commodate an additional t.2 mil- lion tonnes of red potash annually and to keep it competitive with facilities in other West Coast ports, such as those in Seattle. But North Vancouver City Council and area residents oppose the expansion project because they say it will create additional pollu- tion-related problems at Neptune. Earlier this year, the VPC, which leases the waterfront prop- erty to Neptune, struck a three- member independent review panel to decide if the proposed expan- sion should proceed. On Monday, the three-member panel announced its support for the potash shed project after it found that no environmental danger existed with the construc- By Surj Rattan News Reporter tion of an additional potash storage shed at Neptune's North Vancouver City waterfront loca- tion. . The panel also recommended Neptune prepare an environmental management plan and submit the plan for approval to the VPC within three months and that it be reviewed annually. According to the panel, the plan should also include: *a monitoring system for waste water quality, noise and dust; *a good housekeeping program that identifies activities and responsibilities of staff for main- taining a ‘‘reasonably pollution- free environment;”’ * an operations manual that lists enhanced site spill procedures and the actions that should be taken during mechanical and other failures of pollution-control equipment. The panel also recoramended: «that consideration be given to moving Neptune’s coal-loading operation to Roberts Bank; that regular off-site monitoring of the Cloverly area be carried out to identify coal dust; eand that the VPC obtain assurances from Canadian Na- tional Railway that trains will not move faster than five miles per hour while operating on the Nep- tune site. “Potash storage and loading facility expansion proposed by Neptune can proceed without un- due environmental or social cost and that more specifically the economic benefits of proceeding are sufficient to override jurisdic- tional concerns raised by the City of North Vancouver,’ the panel wrote in its report. The city had asked the panel to recommend that the VPC withhold approval of the storage shed until city council had ap- proved site rezoning and until the long-term solutions for potash shipping through the port and the need for Neptune as a state-of- the-art facility were known. The city had also wanted Nep- tune to show that it is complying with environmental regulations, including specific recommenda- tions from North Shore Health. City council had twice rejected rezoning requests made by Nep- tune for the shed project. Neptune president John Willcox said Tuesday that he was ‘delighted’ with the panel’s deci- sion. “We think it's wonderful news. I'm always an optimist. We had the expectations that the merit of the project would result in this decision,’’ said Willcox. He added that he hopes the ex- pansion project could begin by the summer. But North Vancouver City Ald. Bill Bell criticized the panel’s decision, saying concerns of area residents and council should have been listened to. “Industry, pollution and = ex- cessive noise come first for the © Vancouver Port Corporation and the federal government, while community and municipal objec- tions don’t count,”’ said Bell. “They (Neptune) have been given the green light to proceed with the expansion without ade- quately assuring the city and Cloverly residents that the noise, air and water pollution will stop.’ He added that the environmen- tal review report was ‘ta public- relations exercise."’ Bell said the panel should have come up with tougher recornmen- dations before allowing the ex- pansion project to proceed. Cloverly Residents Association president Andy Baak said he was disappointed with the decision. “*We are concerned! that the in- terests of big business won out over the concerns of citizens.” Police make $100,000 pot seizure A JOINT investigation by North Vancouver RCMP and West Vancouver Police resulted in the seizure Friday of more than $100,000 worth of marijuana. Police dismantled a marijuana- growing lab set up in the base- ment of a home located at 1905 Mahon Ave. Eight officers raided the opera- tion at approximately 10 p.m. One man was arrested, The pot haul is described as ‘fair-sized’’ by police. According to Sgt. Richard By Michael Becker News Reporter Lawrence, the man in charge of the North Vancouver RCMP drug section, police seized four pounds of marijuana, dried and packaged in one- and two-ounce bags; 10 pounds of bulk marijuana; 21 plants approximately two to 2% feet in height; 60, six-inch mari- juana plants, eight mercury-vapor, high-pressure sodium lights; clec- trical equipment and several car- bon-dioxide tanks. Police also seized a number of gardening guidebooks, including one titled Gardening Indoors Under Lights. Said Lawrence of the set up, “I's not as sophisticated as a hydroponic operation — they had soil, fertilizers, insecticide — basically it’s growing indoors. They had it worked out.’’ Police believe the lab was not fully operational when it was shut down and had been located at the address for a few months. Albert Henry, 45, the occupant of the home, faces charges of marijuana cultivation and posses- sion of a narcoti¢ for the purpose of trafficking. The police anticipate that more arrests will be made as a result of the marijuana seizure.