Arts celebration

MOTHER SPITWASH: (left to right) Alison Gowan, Dex and Richard Day perform traditional
bluegrass and Celtic folksongs at Dundarave Pier on Tuesday evening (8:30 p.m.) as part of the
Harmony Arts Festival. The second annual arts celebraticn runs from August 10-16 at various

‘

West Vancouver sites.

Parkgate Village pub applicants
defend shopping centre location

THE LATEST chapter in
the ongoing saga of pub
_licence applications in
North Vancouver is un-
folding in the Deep Cove

‘By A.P: McCredie
- News Reporter

William ‘Bayer, of West Van-
couver, and Jovanka Myers, of
Vancouver, are the directors of a
company that has been granted
preliminary site and applicant
(PSA) approval to open a neigh-
borhood pub at the Parkgate
Village Shopping Centre.

They..are now seeking from
North Vancouver District council
an amendment to the zoning of
Parkgate Village to allow a liquor
establiskment.

In January of this year council
adopted a new policy regarding
liquor licence applications. Under
the new policy, an applicant is re-
quired to send out an information
package to all property owners
and residents within a 350-metre

radius of a proposed pub two
weeks prior to the public meeting
date in council chambers.

The applicant must also hold an
information meeting in the com-
munity prior to the council
meeting.

The information meeting for
Parkgate Village took place on

_ July 28.

Although the Parkgate Village
site was approved as a svitable
tocation for a pub over a year ago
by the Liquor Control and Licens-
ing Branch, one local resident
feels the approval of amended
zoning to allow a pub next to Mt.
Seymour Parkway would be
followed by a marked increase in
automobile accidents.

Fairway Place resident Lorne
Rae also questions the need for a
pub in the shopping centre when
two public bars are already within
close proximity.

“*The public can walk in off the
street and order a drink from the
Seymour golf course located kitty
corner from the proposed site,’’
said Rae, ‘‘and half a mile away is
another neighborhood pub, the
Raven.”

Rae also sees the pub com-
pounding traffic hazards as
“apres ski’? activities from Mt.
Seymour wouki surely be drawn
to the pub after night skiing.

“The road gets in excess of 90
inches of rainfall a year, has
restricted visibility because of
hills, is dimly lit for much of it’s
length, and when it freczes the
road becomes a skating rink,”
Rae said.

In an information package to
the community, the applicants
propose three ways to address the
drinking and driving concerns of
area residents:

@ the proposed pub is on a ma-
jor bus route;

@ Mt. Seymour is well patrolled
by the RCMP;

@ walking distances to most of
the residential areas eliminate the
need for driving.

District. planning department
spokesperson Paula Huber said
the municipality has received some
of the comment sheets sent to res-
idents. “The application should
come to the standing committee
on Aug 24 for a vote on amending
the zoning,’’ Huber said.

Defining specific
breeds of vicious
dogs considered

Animal control professicnais
say amendment unnecessary

IN A bid to add bite to the
‘vicious’? dog section of
its’ Dog Tax and Regulation
Bylaw, North Vancouver
District Council is consider-
ing following Vancouver’s
fead and including specific
breeds in its’ definition of a
*‘vicious’’ dog.

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

At its’ July 20 meeting, council
deferred the decision until a future
meeting so that the North Van-
couver SPCA and the City of
North Vancouver could consider
the amendment.

Currently, a ‘‘vicious’’ dog is
defined as a dog with a history of,
or disposition to, attack another
animal or human without pro-
vocation.

The amendment cails for the
definition to include ‘‘a pit bull
terrier, American pit bull, pit bull,
Staffordshire bull terrier, Ameri-
can Staffordshire terrier or any
dog of mixed breeding which in-
cludes any of the aforementioned
breeds.’”"

But some people working in the
profession of animal control feel
that such a move is not necessary.

According to Jeff Lawson, su-
perintendent of the North Van-
couver SPCA, the current reading
of the bylaw is just fine.

“We have good legislation
now,”’ said Lawson. ‘In 1988
there were 350 bites reported in
North Vancouver, of which 24
were the result of pit bulls

Michael Weeks, director of the
Vancouver SPCA, also sees the
breed-specific legislation as un-
neccesary.

‘Regarding pit bulls, there is a
problem in proving a dog to be a

NORTH VANCOUVER
DISTRICT COUNCIL
pit bull,’’ Weeks said, adding,
“*Pit bulls are not a breed that is
recognized by the Canadian Ken-
nel Club and thus not capable of

legal] definition.’’

The question of how the Crown
would prove that a dog was in
fact a pit bull poses a problem to
the pending amendment.

Over half the bites recorded in
Vancouver between January and

Photo submitted

FOUR-YEAR-OLD David Jaeg-
gie was attecked on June 16.

Story page 1.

March were by shepherd dogs.

Both Lawson and Weeks believe
that the best way to address the
problem of vicious dogs is on a
case by case, dog by dog, basis.

Vancouver, West ‘Vancouver,
Port Moody, Coquitlam and New
Westminster have recently amend-
ed bylaws to include breed-
specific definitions of. “vicious”
dogs.

Police get additional help
to catch drinking drivers -

AN ADDITIONAL 200 road-
side screening devices are being
delivered this week to RCMP

detachments across B.C., br-
inging the total number used
throughout the province to
990.

Every traffic control vehicle
-in the province will now be
equipped with the device,
enabling police to perform
alcohol breath tests on
suspected impaired drivers at
roadside.

The devices, which were in-
troduced in 1990 to allow for
more accurate and efficient

detection of drinking drivers,
make it easier for police to
charge impaired drivers.

Said Attorney General Colin
Gablemann, ‘‘Roadside screen-
ing devices have proven to be a
remarkably effective weapon in
the fight against drinking driv-
ing.”’ :

Impaired drivers caused: 18
traffic fatalities and 5,276 inju-
ries in the province in 991, It
is estimated that drinking driv-
ing costs the people of B.C.
more than $130 million each
year in enforcement, court and
medical costs. .

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