A GROUP of Garrow Bay area residents wants West Van- couver District to rezone the marina-zoned property in the bay to give them access to their beach again. {In submitting a petition to council Monday night, Kathleen Matthews said the group wants the property, which currently supports a retail clothing business operated by property owner Marilyn Diligenti, rezoned to permit the beach use previously enjoyed by local residents and to make it more compatible with the residential zoning of the rest of the neighborhood. “We want our beach back,’ Matthews said. Diligenti began operating out of her marina-zoned boat-house after being charged and fined for runn- ing the business out of her water- front house. She is currently trying to obtain a business licence for her Cham- pagne Tastes store under the By MAUREEN CURTIS Contributing Writer marina zoning which allows for such ancillary uses as a sporting goods store. Diligenti has said she should be permitted some commercial use of the bozt-house, on which she claims she pays about $10,000 in taxes annually. But the residents’ group says marina uses are no more compati- ble with the beach use or the resi- dential zoning of the surrounding neighborhood than a retail use. “Any new zoning should also permit the introduction of comfor- table walk-in access to this water- front by all members of the com- munity, not just those with the agility and stamina of a mountaii goat,’’ Matthews told council. The residents claim they can no longer use the asphalt road that goes through Diiigenti’s property to the beach. The only other access, they say, is steep and unmanageable. The petitioners also want Gar- row Bay’s shoreline cleaned up. Matthews said the beach was much more attractive and well us- ed prior to the dumping of reck and fill by previous owners trying to establish a marina at the site. “A marina was not successfully established, and is not currently established, and what is left is a lot of crumbling debris,’? Matthews told council. Matthews also pointed out that further fill and the recent installa- tion of a grassed in area in front of the Diligenti boathouse exceeds the family's property line. A second petition from West Vancouver retailers also protested 3 - Sunday. Sentember 18, 1988 ~ North Shore News Diligenti’s being allowed to con- tinue her commercial operation. ‘*Let her be a legai entrepreneur with the costs that go along with the status,”’ the petition stated. Matthews asked council how Diligenti’s store can continue to operate without a business licence. “We have no physical means within our powers to prevent a person from violating a bylaw. We have to go to court,’’ explained municipal manager Terry Lester. ‘‘Mast people would cease and desist, but if a person refuses we need the full force of the courts,” Ald. Mark Sager said. Ald. Alex Brokenshire also cau- tioned the residents’ group about asking for a rezoning of private property and suggested consulta- tion with staff. Matthews said the group is aware the municipality tried un- successfully to initiate a similar 1ezoning. Doug Collins Editorial Page.......... 6 Fashion .... Bob Hunter,.. Lifestyles. .... Mailbox.... TV Listings.... Travel... ......0.. Sunday through Tuesday, sunny with highs near 20°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 LACK OF SERVICES AFFECTS SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN ash crunch causes stress From page 1 But it was Marshall’s ‘‘bitching and screaming’? about the wait that inspired a group of North Shore parents to do something about ft. They call (hemselves Parents for Special Needs and are fighting for their children’s fives. “It’s so unjust for kids to wait fike this,”’ Marshall said. ‘‘It’s not like a school building waiting for a coat of paint. The child’s potential is wasted.”’ Last month the Marshalls and Sharon and Randy Metcalf, parents of a two-year-old special- needs son, met with officials from the provincial health and social services and housing ministries, health professionals, and repre- sentatives of the North Shore Associations for the Mentally and Physically Handicapped to try to resolve the probiem. Local MLAs Angus Ree, Jack Davis and John Reynolds were also invited, but only Ree attend- ed. Marshall said the main obstacle to improving services is the gov- ernment’s inability to provide extra money for services once its annual budget has been set. “The government budgets one and a half years in advanee.”* Marshall said, ‘‘but how can they predict how many special needs babies will be born?’’ Six babies with special needs alone were born on the North Shore this summer, and that wor- ties Judith Stapieton, social worker for the North Shore Association for the Physically Handicapped. Stapleton said that with im- provements in technology, more babies with severe handicaps are surviving. And that, combined with Social Credit plans to close government-funded institutions in favor of home care with no extra funding, will create a tremendous burden on parents and ihe com- munity. “The government has given us an impossible challenge,’’ Stapleton said. ‘‘Has the com- munity been prepared to take that job on? No.’’ “If the ministers of social ser- vices and housing and health had clued into that, they would have built money for increased services into their budgets. They didn’t do that,” she said. ‘“‘They did a band-aid job instead,”’ At last count 28 Nortn Shore in- fants were on the [DP waiting list each waiting about six to ight months for services . Some suffer from seizures, severe brain dam- age, prematurity and Down's Syn- drome. Others have visual problems, speech and motor delays. Two in- fants died this year while waiting, and others are deteriorating. In almost every case, on-going home care is essential. Dr. Andrew Hamson, chief of pediatrics at Lions Gate Hospital, confirmed there are ‘‘some awful cases’ of children on the waiting list that need help ‘‘right now.” Delays in treatment mean that a child will be delayed, for example, in learning how to walk and will generally get worse. And families will suffer severe stress over a sim- ple process of feeding their child. Said Hamson: ‘‘Some of these kids are really desperate."’ There are currently only two part-time physiotherapists to serve $10 North Shore families. There are also three social workers, but only for the mentally-handicapped, not physicaily-handicapped children, and one occupational therapist also for the mentally handicapped only. A major problem Stapleton sees is that for a child five and under to receive adequate services, he must have a_ specific neurological disorder because, for that age cat- egory, the government provides funding for all North Shore special needs through the Vancouver Neurological Centre. Once a child turns six that re- sponsibility is the school board's. “Those who do not have a neurological problem are either placed on a wait list or have to pay for therapy,’’ Stapleton said. ‘Parents are insulted time and time again. They get nickled and dimed to death.”” Over the past five years, the number of families served by IDP has doubled from 61 to 120 an- nually. Average monthly caseloads increased from 22 to 80 for two staff who must spread their ser- vices between Deep Cove and Lions Bay, as well as outlying areas of Bowen Island, Squamish, ey NEWS photo Terry Peters JULIA STRETCHES to paint the top part of her painting in an infant development class. Funding shortages have left Nosth Shore special needs children like Julia awaiting adequate services. Whistler and Pemberton. Workers also covered the Sun- shine Coast until it was removed from their jurisdiction this year. Doug Willard, area manager of mental health services, said the Social Services and Housing ministry has agreed to provide funding for an additional full-time worker to clear-up the backlog of cases. Further, he said the gov- ernment will review the need for services yearly and ‘‘may have to look at increasing funding to the IDP program.”’ And while that is good news for the executive director of the North Shore Association for the Mentally Handicapped Rex Davidson, he says the waiting list problem is ongoing and ‘‘dumping 25 caseloads on a worker tomorrow”’ isn’t the way to go. “The commitment from the government must be not to have a waiting list at all,’’ Davidson said. Bradford Gee, director of special care services for the Ministry of Health, said his ministry does see the need for more physiotherapists. While he has included in next year’s health budget funding for an additional full-time physiotherapist, the money will not be available until next April. Meanwhile ‘‘we'll have to limp along as we do,”’ said Dr. Brian O'Connor, the North Shore’s chief medical health officer. O'Connor said local MLAs should be pressured to help come up with more funds for services: “They could make the money ap- pear if they find it in their hearts to do so.” But Ree does not agree. He said North Shore associa- tions are always asking for more money. “Granted they need it, but it’s like a bottomless pit,’’ Ree said, adding that a shortage of special- needs services on the North Shore is becoming a growing problem. Hamson said he was “really ir- ritated’’ when Ree suggested at the meeting that as much of the ser- vices as possible should be done on a volunteer basis. “We cannot leave the lives of the handicapped to the whim of charity,’ Hamson said. In the meantime, Stapleton said, “‘parents are having to grovel for services and be tossed between two ministries. ‘‘It’s absolutely chaotic. Parents have to make eight calls for one service and are told some- thing different each time. That process alone kills parents.’’ And Stapleton warns that fami- lies will continue to be fractured until one or both ministries make a political commitment to improve services to the handicapped. Meanwhile, there remain over 30 adults and between 16 and 20 children under 19 who are handi- capped and in desperate need of services. Some parents with one-year-cld special needs infants haven't even seen a physiotherapist yet. Said Sharon Metcalf: ‘You can’t predict what will happen. Everyone expects to have a perfect baby.”