FRIDAY
June 14, 1996

District 44 staff
fear education
compromised

BY IAN NOSLE
News Reporter

AS North Vancouver students
prepared for summer holidays.
government-appointed trustee
Bob Smith presented a balanced
budget Tuesday that retains mil-
lion in controversial school cuts.

In the 1996-97 fiscal-year, which runs
from July 1996 to June 1997, 92% of a $97.8
million portion of the preliminary operating
budget for School District 44 will go to
salaries and benefits.

Approximately $1.1 million in the operat-
ing budget has been held in reserve by the
schoo! board and will be allocated in the final
budget in February.

For the 1995-96 year, 92% of a $1004
million operating budget went to salaries and
benefits; in 1990-91. 85% of district 44°s
$82.3 million budget was earmarked for the
same area,

The $2.6-million drop in the preliminary
operating budget for the coming school year
reflects the cuts implemented by Smith.
More than $2 million has been shaved in the
area of teachers’ salaries and $208,975 in
support salaries.

At the sume time. the budget will lead to
larger class: sizes, fewer elective choices for
senior secondary students, and the loss of 70
full-time District 44 staff.

. “This budget is a difficult budget.”
acknowledged Smith. but he added it’s also
manageable.

But four teachers who aired their views on
the cuts predict long-term harm to the school
district from Smith's attempts (o get the dis-
trict finances balanced. Last year, the district
ran a $2.3 million deficit.

Martin Stuible, a six-year teacher at

See Budget page &

SCHOOL trustee Bob Smith heard
teachers criticize his cuts Tuesday.

Fish fight to
hit courtroom

BY ROBERT GALSTER
Contributing Writer

HE battleground for a North Vancouver fish fight
invalving a controversial development on the banks
of Mosquito Creck has shifted to the courts.

The Wild Salmon Coalition is initiating the law suit after North
Vancouver City council's approval last Monday of a plan to build a
martial arts studio on the edge of the fish-bearing stream,

Jane Luke, a Sierra Defence Fund lawyer handling the case, said
“litigation is imminent. m hoping it will be filed (in BC Supreme
Court) within a diay ar two,

She sent a short notice to both the city and developer Daniel Lo

.. my cHents have instructed me to proceed with an applica-

Office, Euitorial § 98-217

NEWS photo Brad Ledwidgs

tion to quash the Mosquito Creek rezoning bylaw.”

A May public hearing into the proposal initially drew criticism
from environmental groups because of its proximity to the fish-bear-
ing creek. Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) guidelines sug-
gest the minimum setback from a fish-bearing stream for a comimer-
cial or industrial site be at least 30
metres (100 feet). The entire develop-
ment proposal site is only (5 metres
wide.

According to DFO Habitat
Management Unit's Brad Mason the
latest compiled fish escupement counts for Masquito Creek date back
to the period 1976-°85. The figures show the average annual fish
count stands at five coho salmon,

While Mason warned that the numbers are far from exact, they do
provide an indication of the creek’s fish population. An updated
inventory is currently being compifed,

Meanwhile the law suit is based on alleged infractions by the city
in its handling of the development’s proposal application. These
include allegations that:
® # notice of an impending public hearing published in the North
Shore News was inaccurate and misleading;

north vancouver
City Council

Weather
Saturday: Sun and cloud
High 23°C, low 10°C.

raises
chiorine
concerns

BY MARTIN MiLLERCHIP
Contributing Writer

NORTH Vancouver
District Council struggled
with the issue of life and
death as a trade for zoning
on Tuesday.

Chlorine manufacturer Canadian
Occidental Petroleum Ltd. (COPL)
has applied for rezoning on land hold-
ings cither side of the realigned
Dollantion Highway.

and a highly unusual decision
demonstrated that council is taking its -
responsibility seriously.

Coun. Pam  Goldsmith-Jones
received unanimous support for her
notion adjourning the hearing in
favor of a public information meeting
“to share research findings and clarify
understandings of this relationship
between the district. and Canoxy
(COPL)”*

Ssid Goldsmith-Jones, “ft's scary
and shocking to be talking about life
and death as a trade for zoning or
business opportunity or both,

“The public hearing process lends
itself to a pro-con situation and I think
we can do better than that”’

COPL and the district have spent
four years negotiating a land deal that
will re-route a portion of the
Dollarton Highway through COPL

See Chlorine page 3

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