Saturday, October 10, 1992 ™@ Southcentre Mall gets approval in principle @ Citizens question character, council questions property split Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER The City of Castlegar has been thrown a curve. Council has held off on its decision to grant Rick Holdings Ltd. a develop- ment permit after receiving a letter from the company Wednesday. The Al- berta-based developer has plans to con- struct a new mall across from Blue Top , Burger. But the city wasn’t aware that the company “intends to subdivide a portion of the property (on behalf of Sandy Reid) that is inclyded in the de- velopment permit area.” : At a special meeting of council Thursday, the city decided to suspend its decision to grant a permit and will wait until a number ofconditions are met. That includes entering into a ser- ? vice agreement and providing a secu- rity for landscaping. oF A handful of residents were at the meeting to express their concerns. Gabe Ferreux said the design of: the ' mall was outdated and unappealing. “That’s an ugly 1950s design,” Fer- reux said. “Put an overhang on it. It looks like a cheap box to me, anyway. Give some character to it.” The company’s engineering consul- tant, Chuck Kucera, said he doesn’t have any control over the design. “This is a subjective issue,” Kucera said. “I will have to refer this to my clients and discuss it in detail.” ‘Traffic concerns were also a big issue with the residents. With an ady congested’ Columbia Avenue, some wondered how much a new mall would aggravate the problem, “The situation on Céfumbia’ Avenue can’t get much worse, but that will change with the new (Castlegar-Rob- son) bridge,” Kucera said. “There’s nothing we can do about it, ro and we'll all just have to live with it.” Mayor Audrey Moore asked Kucera to respond on “cynicism in the commu- nity” regarding the promise of a new mall Kucera replied, “(Rick Holdings) owns this piece of property. They in- vested hundreds of thousands of dol- lars up to this point. cs “I hope we can allay your cynicism by our performance,” Kucera said. Asked if the company would be us- ing union or non-union construction workers, Kucera would only say, “we will hire sub-trades on their ability to meet our budget concerns and con- straints.” Si The artist's conception for the Southcentre Mall TheFARSIDE By Gary Larson were unveiled Thursday, amid comments that Castlegar’s long-awaited complex was ugly and looked like a cheap box. “That's why | never walk in front.” For OPENESS Vote GR EEN Douglas W. ee a 22 ALTO MELISSA, Happy 14th Birthday Love Mom, Dad & Leigh DAD Love Mom, Courtney & Jocelyn DAN, Happy 19th Love from Dad, Mom, Gene & Matt JOCELYN Love Mom, Dad & Courtney % i birthday wish or THIS WEEK'S WINNER IS INDICATED BY THE DAIRY QUEEN LOGO. Phone in your y ! drop by the Castlegar News office. We will print it free of charge. All birthday greetings must be in by 10:00 a.m. Thursday for our Saturday paper. Our phone number is 365-7266. Pick Up Your Royal Treat At The Castlegar Dairy SINGLE BURGER OR SINGLE SHAKE i, CASTLEAIRD PLAZA CASTLEGAR 365-5522 a ghee aie @ Saturday, October 10, 1992 The News z S 7 Ss ~ Q : “* CALL THE NEWS @General Inquiries 365-7266 OUR HOURS The News is located at 197 Columbia Ave. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on weekends and statutory holidays. SUB RATES The News is published by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Ltd. Mail mail registration number 0019. City noise bylaw takes bite out of bark Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER Shhh... Castlegar has a new noise bylaw. The new noise bylaw was adopted at Tuesday’s city council session and a number of areas are intentionally vague. Section 4 of Bylaw 622 states “No owner or occupier of real property shall allow such real property to be used so that-a noise or sound... tends to disturb the quiet, peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort or convenience of a person in the vicinity.” The bylaw does not specify what kinds of sounds are restricted, and Coun. Lawrence Chernoff says that is intentional. “You have to have some leniency in your bylaws,” Chernoff said. “Bylaw enforcement is complaint driven,” he said. “We want to be able to enforce our bylaw. “If you don’t have an enforceable bylaw there’s no sense having one at all.” To come up with the updated version of the bylaw, Chernoff said other municipalities were consulted. “We took our noise bylaw from the best noise bylaws from other communities such as New Westminster,” Chernoff said. Bylaw 622 also addresses noise from pets in a similarly vague manner. It states, “No person shall own... any animal or bird which, by its calls, cries barks or other noise whatsoever, disturbs or tends to disturb the quiet... of a person in the vicinity.” Here, the bylaw doesn’t specify any types of animals or their uses. The general statements in the bylaw are intentional because it is supposed to close up existing loopholes in the legislation. “If there is a dog complaint we want to be able to enforce the bylaw,” Chernoff said. What the bylaw does specify is the types of noise that are exempt. Noise from emergency vehicles and city maintenance equipment are allowed. Lawnmowers and the like can only be operated from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on any day of the week. Construction or renovation work on buildings can be done on weekdays only from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m. Anyone violating the bylaw can be fined up to $2,000. Chernoff hopes this is a good step in updating all the city’s bylaws. “You have to start somewhere,” Chernoff said. “When someone fights this we’ll know how good it is. We have to try it out once and we'll know.” NEW FOUNDATIONS News photo by Neil Rachynski Al-Lang of Tamarac Homes begins construction on a new foundation for this home along Crescent Street. The house was removed from Columbia Avenue as part of the plans for the Castlegar-Robson bridge. OTEU-WKP talks break off... again Corinne Jackson NEWS REPORTER The Office and Technical Employees Union and West Kootenay Power called off negotiations Wednes- day at 12:45 a.m. over continuing disagreements on pensions. Negotiations broke down only hours after a deal was struck between WKP and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. “Basically the value being offered to OTEU is less than (what was negotiated with) IBEW,” Paula Stromberg said. The OTEU has been offered the same deal the IBEW got for the first two years of a three-year pact, minus one per cent to a pension package in the third year. Stromberg said her membership can’t accept the one per cent difference between the two contracts. “The pension issue is so critical that we need to get it resolved,” she said “It’s the number one issue and reason that negotiations broke off.” WKP has a different story, however Communica- tion officer Mike Bradshaw said “we offered both par- ties the same wage increase on a percentage basis over a three year term.” As for the pension offer Bradshaw said it is “con- siderably better” than what was in place in the past. Bradshaw also said that the pension plan is “ex- actly the same plan that was accepted by the IBEW.” “(OTEU president Ron Tuckwood) must see a slight difference that he’s going to have to clarify.” Tuckwood. was unavailable for comment, but Stromberg said “any union contract has an overall cost for a monetary package. “The overall value offered us was less than what was offered to IBEW.” As well, she said that WKP has refused to offer signed guarantees on pension benefits. “They can make promises but we want it in writ- ing,” Stromberg said. “It’s not the content, it’s the fact that the company has been refusing to make a guar- antee.” OTEU workers walked off the job July 20 in sup- port of IBEW members who went on strike July 17. The OTEU and WKP headed back to the table with mediator Don Cott on Monday — their first meeting since Aug. 26. Meanwhile, the IBEW strike is all but over. On Tuesday, IBEW voted 75 per cent in favor of a con- tract that brought their 11-week strike to an end. The IBEW, however, will honor OTEU picket lines until a deal with WKP is reached. Local NDP to select successor Scott David Harrison EDITOR Kootenay West-Revelstoke New Democrats are making history. For the first time in the federal riding’s history, a woman will carry the New Democrat banner to the polls. The only question that remains is which one? Nelson’s Heather Suggitt and Revelstoke’s Mengia Nicholson will complete for the party’s honors at next Saturday’s nomination meeting in Trail. The two are vying to replace two-time MP Lyle Kristiansen, who is retiring from politics. “I think they are both excellent candidates,” Kootenay West-Revelstoke constituency president Sam Simpson said Thursday. Simpson said she was surprised that only two hopefuls chose to enter the race. But, she added, that was a clear reflection on the abilities of both Suggitt and Nicholson. Simpson said she expects to have some 200 New Democrats in attendance at the Cominco Arena nomination meeting. She said the party has also taken measures to ensure full representation from Kootenay West-Revelstoke. Simpson said all party members have been issued mail-in ballots. In addition, she Said the party will have a live phone link with Revelstoke to ensure members voices are heard. “We’re hoping that (mail-in ballot and phone links) won’t affect the attendance at the convention, but we want to get as many people involved as we can.” Voting begins at 1 p.m.