Hired guns for ‘Towers’

design wearing two hats

THE PRICE OF ADVICE seems to be rising in West Van under the complex system of counci] committees invented by Mayor Don Lanskail to keep down the heat in the coun-

cil kitchen itself.

The basic system for approving the design of new developments is (or was?) to pass proposals to the Advisory Design Panel — a group of unpaid professional volunteers qualified to judge design merits — which in due course advises council whether it thinks the planned design acceptable. A tidy, work- manlike arrangement, you may think.

Now, however, an additional advisory organ has been inserted into the process —- the council's Planning and Land Use Committee chaired by Ald. Rod Day, which is presently grappling with tte design of ‘Fawlty Towers.”? This, you'll recall, is the controversial highrise project by Newcorp Properties at 320 Taylor Way which just over 50 per cent of West Van voters in last November's referendum told an

ALD. ROD DAY ... ADP side- lined?

often from

Tragic reminder

HE DEATH of North Shore Rescue Team

member Robert McGregor is a loss not only to

his family, friends and team mates, but to the rest of the North Shore community as weil.

For eight years, in good weather and bad, McGregor volunteered his time rescuing others who became lost inexperience our within the North Shore’s rugged ferrain.

His untimely death is a sharp reminder of the perils that the rescue team members face when they are hun- ting for a missing person. Too often, the dangers they are subjected to are overlooked by the public in its concern for the missing hiker or skier.

McGreger’s deuth will not only give local out- doorspeople a renewed sense of appreciation for the selfless efforts of the rescue team members, it might make people more aware of the unexpected hazards that can be encountered on a focal mountain.

If any good can come from such a iragic occurrence, perhaps it will be that someone else wili have second thoughts before embarking on an adventure un- prepared or before making careless mistakes.

If this is the case, then Robert McGregor will con- tinue to save lives — in death, as he did in life.

unheeding council to kill.

Council! has now given Ald. Day’s committee three experts to advise it in its task. Prominent local architects Terry Cattell, Ernest Collins and Barry Downs will reportedly be paid ‘‘about $75” an hour for their professional services. Nor quite clear, however, is what happens once the commit- tee and its hired guns have settled on a design.

Will their proposal be passed via council in the normai way to the Advisory Design Panel, which will then have its own kick at the cat? Or is the ADP being side-lined and told to sit this one out, leaving the final recommendation to come from the Day committee and its paid pros?

In either case it gets interesting for us ignorant peasants, because two of the gentlemei in question wear two hats. Paid pro Ernest Collins is also chairman of the ADP and paid pro Barry Downs is likewise an ADP member.

So if the Day committee’s even- tual proposal does go back to the ADP, what happens if other. Pane! members disagree with what their chairman and a fellow member have already endorsed? Is there (shudder!) a conflict of interest here?

Alternatively, if the ADP were to cut out of the design approval process for ‘Fawlty Towers,’’ would it mean that council has lost confidence in that body and now prefers to pay Selected experts from it for advice which the Panel has hitherto provided free of charge?

Just asking, Your Worship!

kak

TAILPIECES: Congrats to Cap

College student Diane McConnell,

reckless actions —

recipient of this year’s Gerrie Turner Award for her excellent performance as 4 financial student in the Office Technology Program. Presented annually for outstanding achievement in that program, the award commemorates Gerrie Turner’s many years of service as a senior staff member at Cap... Lots of western joliity later this week in Dundarave, beginning Thursday, Aug. 10, with the tocal Reform Party’s $15 ‘*Chuckwagon Sup- per’? in the garden of a stately waterfront Dundarave home — call Mary-Jane Shaw, 925-2097, to check whether any tickets are left... Then Friday, Aug. II, it’s

on to the annual Dundarave Hoe

FINANCIAL WHIZ ... Cap College's Diane McConnell (left) receives the Gerrie Turner Award from Beverley

Down, rapidly becoming a major North Shore calendar event, when the village turns itself into a cross between Calgary and Nashville... Which reminds that the North Shore’s 10th annual Coho Festival, Sept. 6-10, still needs volunteers for the many fun activities at Park Royal and (Sept. 10) in Ambleside Park — call Tracy Indra, 926- 6600, if you’d like to help... Meanwhile, a toast tomorrow,

Harnett, associate dean of the career/vocational division,

[ SEN

August !0, to North Van’s Louis and Marjorie Cordocedo on their 53rd anniversary... And tomorrow again, happy birthday to North Van’s Flerence Currie.

kek

WRIGHT OR WRONG: As Robert Frost saw it, the world is full of willing people — some will- ing to work, the rest willing to let them.

Photo submitte

TINEL Class 79.

‘LAST AND BEST OF THE 70S/

SENTINEL SECONDARY’S Class of ‘79 gathers for a photo taken in exactly the same location as the graduating photo 10 years ago. Classmates were recently reunited for the usual whirlwind of dinner and

reminiscences.

Publisher a Managing Editor. Associate Editor ....

envelope

.Peter Speck Barrett Fisher Noel Wright

Advertising Director Linda Stewart

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