NEWS photo Nel! Lucente

KEITH BARKER, North Shore coordinator of the Sterling Community Service Foundation, staps 2 coat of paint on Chesterfield House in North Vancouver. Barker and a dozen other volunteers donated time, muscle

and skill to beautify the family counselling facility.

3 ~ Friday, September 30, 1988 - North Shore News

NORTH VAN DISTRICT

School fields’ repairs okayed

THE 32 playing fields in North Vancouver District will be brought back to acceptable standards at a cost of about

$108,000.

North Vancouver District 44 School Board members voted in favor of the expenditure at its Tuesday meeting, which was well- attended by representatives of the North Shore Recreation Commis- sion, the commission’s Advisory Committee and the volunteer coaches and team organizers who have been pushing for the field maintenance that had lapsed since 1982.

“It’s been a long time coming. We've been frustrated for a long time and concerned for the kids,”’ commented Joanne Bland, chair- man of the Lynn Valley Soccer Club.

Bland said there were ‘*boulders literally growing up through the fields’? and ‘‘holes that are craters.”’

About $3,000 will be spent per field to address the damages that have occurred since 1982, when public spending was restrained.

“We were unable to keep the fields in the condition we would have liked,”’ said board chairman Margaret Jessup.

Tree overgrowth, drainage ditch degeneration, encroachment of weeds and grass and loss of the playing surface have combined to create conditions that approached dangerous.

About half of the total cost of repairing the fields will come from the 1988-89 school board budget, and the rest from an accumulated capital reserve from previous years.

Not all members of the board were enthusiastic about the expen- diture of the funds on the fields.

School trustee Roy Dungey was concerned about the school district

By MAUREEN CURTIS spending so much on ‘“‘non-educa- tional’ items, and wondered if other users of the fields were going to take some responsibility.

“1 don’t like it that we’re being viewed as the biggest piggy bank on the North Shore,’’ said Dungey.

Dungey said the fields would not be in the condition they are if they were fenced and locked (although he did not recommend doing this).

“In excess of 90 per cent of the evening and weekend use of the fields is by students,’’ protested trustee Richard Walton.

“We may not have a legal re- sponsibility, but we have a moral responsibility,"’ said Walton.

Chairman Jessup argued that the condition of the field could soon get to the point when school children would start to have acci- dents.

“1’m in favor of the motion, but I'm advising caution,’’ said Dungey. ‘‘Let’s start talking to these other people about sharing responsibility for these fields.”’

But trustee Don Bell pointed out that some 70 per cent of the people paying school taxes on the North Shore do not have children in the schools.

“We have to work with the municipalities,’ he said.

David Pink, vice-chairman of the Recreation Commission Advi- sory Committee said the people he represented are already doing their share by coaching and organizing the more than 3,000 sports teams on the North Shore.

GVRFRD to study dam power possibility

THE GREATER Vancouver Regional District board of directors approved $75,000 Wednesday for a study into the feasibility of producing hydroelectric power from the North Shore’s Capilano and Seymour water systems.

The power would te sold to B.C. Hydro under long-term agreements that have yet to be ne- gotiated.

But GVRD spokesman Bud Elsie said Thursday the power would only be generated with surplus water from the two reservoirs.

“Our first priority is the delivery of quality water,’’ Elsie said. ‘‘We would not be using water that we need for water purposes.”’

He said power would likely be generated only during the eight months of the year in which there

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW is normally surplus water at the two reservoirs.

Currently any surplus spills over the Cleveland and Seymour Falls dams.

Updated estimates from a 1978 preliminary study into the produc- tion of power from the Seymour Falls Dam indicate that net power revenues from the Seymour system alone would be $8 million over 20

IVD plan wins

NORTH VANCOUVER District’s Planning Department was as surprised as anyone when it received the National Award for Excellence for its Alpine Area Community Plan.

It was the first time the depart- ment, headed by district planner Kai Kreuchen, had competed for the award presented annually by the 3,000 member Canadian In- Stitute of Planners.

The cities of Vancouver and Toronto received honorable men- tion.

““We were very pleased. It’s good to know that your peers think you are reasonably compe- tent,’ Kreuchen commented.

Kreuchen said he wanted to share the credit with study coor- dinator Desmond Smith and the whole planning department, as

By MAUREEN CURTIS Contributing Writer

well as with the many district resi- dents who contributed their input to the award-winning plan.

The plan, concerning the 25,000 acres of mountain terrain in the upper part of the district, dealt with complex planning issues, such as the conservation of en- vironmentally-sensitive land, the need for recreation and the de- mands for tourist facilities.

“It’s an area that is important to the whole region in that it forms

years.

Elsie said no revenue estimates had been done on the Capilano system.

The 1978 study was abandoned because the GVRD could not secure any long-term contracts to sell power, but B.C, Hydro is now encouraging smal! hydroelectric projects and has indicated it is prepared to negotiate long-term deals to purchase power from such projects.

Though the GVRD does sell steam generated from its new $75 million waste incinerator in Bur- naby to area industries, the plan to harness the two North Shore water systems is the first of its kind for the GVRD,

nati

the mountain backdrop for which Vancouver is famous. It is impor- tant that it is kept intact and that arbitrary development is not per- mitted to infringe on the area,” Kreuchen said.

Making up about half of the district, the ‘‘alpine’’ area is con- sidered ecologically delicate. There are small residential communities in the Indian Arm part of the area, and some maintenance logg- ing is permitted in the waterstied and Seymour Demonstration Forest.

But for the most part, the area is to be limited to recreation and conservation.

Kreuchen said there has been some development pressure on the area from cabin owners wishing to

ional

Elsie said revenue generated from the two North Shore water systems would probably go into the budget of the Greater Van- couver Water District.

An estimated $20,000 of the $75,000 study will be used by the GYRD to apply for provincial water licences that would permit the use of water for power genera- tion.

Environmental impact on fish, water and visual aesthetics of the electrical turbines will be a large component of the overall study.

Turbines on the Capilano system, according to initial sugges- tions from GVRD_ engineers, would be placed at the base of the Cleveland Dam, while those on the

nonor

expand and mining companies wanting to put in an access road.

The award-winning plan was praised for being succinct, and yet dealing with a number of topics with implications for the alpine area.

“The District of North Van- couver has shown innovative and effective leadership in dealing with a traditionally non-municipal mat- ter. These awards are highly coveted amongst planning profes- sionals in that they recognize in- novation and originality. They are the most prestigious type of award for planners across the country,’’ commented Jili Davidson, presi- dent of the B.C. Branch of Cana- dian Institute of Planners.

Seymour system would be installed just east of the Second Narrows Bridge at the GVRD’s North Shore beach yard, where large mains carry Seymour water to Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland,

But Elsie said the new study would determine the best location for the turbines, which he added, would be ‘hardly visible.”’

Though he estimated the study would take between three and four months to complete, Elsie said, the project, if indeed feasible, would not be operational for three to four years.

“We have a lot of hoops to jump through,’’ he said.

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