Martin Mitlerchir

News Reporter miller@usnews.cait

THE Coach House Inn wiil bite the dust within a couple oft weeks.

North Vancouver Pyistrice Coun! unanimoust. approved a development perm Monday that will clear the wav tory replacement sinstorey hotel at the | Second Narrows gareway te the North Shore.

The new 86 toot feeh (26 m: hotel will be almost twice the height of the present building. ir will cost SUS million and be port of the Holiday Inn chain. It will also. be stratified, or open to limitcd investor Partnership, which was news ro both councillors andi statf Monday.

The Coach House has been in receivership twice since 1985 and was acquired by Knightsbridge

Properties Lid. at the beginning of

West Van plans a

Park Royai

Catherine Barr Contributing Writer

WEST Vancouver council wants to fence in pedestrians on Marine Drive near Park Royal mall.

This week, in response to an inde- pendent traffic study en Park Roval expansion, council voted in favour of amending the crattic bvlaw co curtail jaywalking on Marine Drive.

The move deals exclusively with the portion of Marine Drive located berween Lavlor Way and 13th Street.

Council called tor the immediate installation of a green chain-link fence to deter people trom illegally crossing that portion of the street. The rence would be built on the Marine Drive median.

Jaywalking signs will also be posted te intorm people of the change.

The existing street-level pedestrian crowing of Marine between the north and south portions of the mail will remain in piace.

But immediately after council voted unanimously to spend $25,000 to install the fence, Coun. Lis Bord called tor the matter to be delayed until the Advisory Design Panel could review the situation.

“A chain-link fence is just not acceptable,” she said.

Other councillors argued the barri- er would just He a temporary measure until the spring when council could consider other options such as planti- ng and landscaping.

But said Byrd, “We know the way this municipality works and once (the fence) is there, itl} be there for the next five vears,” she said. Byrd agreed that the issue needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. As a resuit, the nut ter will be sent to the panel for discus- sion.

Meanwhile, council awaits a related report from Barry Lambert, director of operations. Fle is examining ways tor the municipality to updace its 1996 plans for the area's “median restora- tion project.”

Lambert is also Jooking ai sways te implement council’s recent request for the installation of improved vehicle access lanes to the mall.

A staff report trom his departinent said that) plans for the medin

See Repairs paige §

i i

Itustration submitted by Knightsbridge Propertres Lid

AN artist's vision of the 162-room Holiday Inn planned for the Coach House site. The present beer and wine store will be retained but moved away from local homes.

this vear,

The company’s acquisition of the Necessary permits for the new hotel ran into a detour Jase month when council postponed a decision in order to host a public meeting on the

suc of redevelopment.

The Oct. 7 meeting demonstrat ed considerable support for the pro ject but raised a number of questions in addition to councils concern about stratificatian.

rep

Weanesday October 21. 1998 - Norn Snore News - 3

lace

Bat Rarghtsbrr Zan Bhatia sentnedh wath hus

tee pres dony able te odits

SORTED T AEE

Was

TUStTIC LIV COS CILINIES.

RB pouning that on ste parking wil be used solely tor hotel purposes and Not sold or leased.

B speanang thar the hotel roams would mot be converted te residen tal use:

Bspeaming a reute tar construction uratne thar would mnnaice the Impact on focal residents:

@ promising the tull cost ora signal ived pedestrian crossing at dhe inter secron of Mount Seymour Parkway and Lillooet Road: and

promising notte pamt the build: ing pink.

Phe tinal covenant caused some smiles around the counted table and was ultimately deteated in a 6-1 vote,

“Are we in the process of dictat ing taste?” asked Coun. Ernie Crist.

Only Coun. Glenys Deering- Robb continued to try to: prevent future owners from intlicting a garish

”

NV inn

pant seb csr awdarcd ce a landmtirs Daldnis oo the Nortit Shore Crt aise meted thar the

Hotel would: provide more robs and

TEM

shonucal plant CanQys carer in the agenda.

Bhatia ted) counei tar mast hotels are new built sath oa strata oepnen ta nerease their potential value and make obtaining financing an canter proposigony

‘The intent. he said. was to pra: vide Imvestment oppertunitics in the horel’s business and not create an apartment building. fn any case, said Bhatia. the units were 320 sq. tr. 130 sq. had no kitchens and the con- crete construction would prevent the removal of interior walls.

As part of the redevelopment. the present pub will be reduced: trom S10 seats to 2735 and the leunge from 112 seats to 40.

Bhatia told the News thar the new hotel will be ready tor its first guests by July 1999,

Slippery when wet

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

THE teen driver and lone occupant of this Volvo was not injured after a single-car mishap on Oct. 17 on the Upper Levels Highway, just west of Taylor Way in West Vancouver. Two other accidents occurred as cars tried to avoid the Volvo. No injuries were report- ed. The Voivo driver, from North Vancouver, was charged with driving too fast for road conditions. The accident occurred on a rainy

Saturday morning in an eastbound tane.

lurses ready for strike action

Katharine Hamer Contributing Writer

NURSES at Lions Gate Hospital and across the province may take strike action as early as Friday.

Mediators from the Health Emplove Association of B.C. (HFABC) and the Nurses’ Bargaining Association are due to meet at the nego- tating table today to discuss nurses’ concerns over workload and pay equity issues.

Last week, B.C. Nurses’ Union (BON)

members voted 85% in favour of jab action if

Negotiations prove unsuccesstul.

Erica O'Sullivan, head of the BONU's Coastal Mountain Region which inchides the North Shore, said: chat nurses’ working conditions have become unbearable, “Nurses are supposed to have two halt} hour meal breaks and three 15 minute breaks in a 12-hour shift, but [talked te one nurse whe was only allowed one fifteen minute break — it’s hap- pening all the teme and it just leads to burn-out.”

She said that nurses are expected to caver hospi-

tal duties which are not their responsibility, inchid- ing janitorial work. A third of nurses now sav they are unable to meet legal standards of patient care.

The problem dates back to downsizing in de health service a few years ago. Since then, B.C. has lot close to) 1,600) fulltime nursing positions. According to the BONU, the health service has become increasingly reliant on casual staff who are nor always available, Acute care units have been the worst hit. Nurses in these units sav they are short: staffed by a least one nurse ona regular basis.

“There just aren’t enough nurses to do the work,” said O'Sullivan. The BONC wants to create a regular pool of casual staff to alleviate this sitna- tion.

Pay equity issues focus on the position that nurs- es (Who are predominandy female) carn 17% less on average than employees in male-dominated protes- sions. B.C. nurses carn an average wage of $25 an hour. The BONC wants a 1% annual pay increase unt this discrepaney has been climinated.

Gary Moser, CEO of the HEABC, said the gap between nurses’ demands and emplovers’ ability to meet them are insurmountable. “Their proposals to

rn

resolve the problem of under-statting would cost the taxpayer S142 million.” he said.

RBCNU President Cathy Ferguson said that any initial job action would not involve picket Hines and would cause minimum disruption to patients, while increasing pressure on emplovers.

The 700 nurses at Lions Gate Hospital (LGH) have been wearing stickers and handing out intor- mation leaflets to patients and visitors, but hospital adimnistrators are not uaduly worried about the sit- WaUON so far,

“We're not anticipating a general strike” said Stu Madill, regional sice president of medicine at Lions Gate. A work-to-rule action by nurses is the most likely outcome it negotiations Ail today. Nurses would take all of their aborted breaks and fulfill only nursing duties.

LGH does have an Essential Services Plan (ESP) in place which it has agreed with the unions.

Should a picket dine be set up by nurses outside the hospital, the ESP would be instituted. Surgical procedures and the number of available beds would be reduced at the hospital, bur Madill emphasized that emergencies “would always be taken care of”