LEGISLATIVE MARL LAMENT SPUNID WEDNESDAY August 2, 1995 LLB RHR Y BUILDING ’ BUSINESS fo committee seat / A3 The Castlegar Sun petition Job placements Way up over last year /B30 SUNNY Weather Vol. 5, No. 37 84 Cents + G.S.T. Local couple locks horns wi land developer SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Staff A Castlegar couple is locking horns with a Penticton developer and the dispute has been so dirty that even local RCMP have been called in. Harvey and Diana Orser, own- ers of a mobile home in south Castlegar, have been given until next May to vacate their current home, or find a new location upon which to put it, after the land they were renting was pur- chased by developer Ron Bell. Bell has started construction on Emerald Green Develop- ments, which will create space for more than 100 new single refused the developer's initial buy-out offer of $17,000. According to the B.C. Assess- ment Authority, the appraised value has been set at $24,000. As a result, developer Ron Bell believes the Orsers are attempting to hold his company up for ransom. “These people own property right in Castlegar and we offered to put a new modular home there at cost. At first they accepted, and then turned us down. I really don't know what they are after,” said Bell. “And as for making threats against them, well, that just isn’t true.” Bell does acknowledge howev- er, that he has a legal blanket iti-family and modul: homeowners have relocated after accepting buy-out offers from the developer, the Orsers have not yet agreed. Now, the couple say they are receiving out-and-out threats from the developer. “He’s threatened to burn all the brush around our place and bring in a gravel crusher. He's also threatened to cut off our water services,” said Diana Orser. Police were called in earlier in June after the Orsers felt the con- struction crew that has been hired to begin site preparation was going to include their rented property in the process. “This is our space. It has to be left alone until we vacate it and we have until May,” said Orser. The couple have been looking for a new rental pad on which they can relocate their mobile home. As of yet, they have not found any facilities willing to accommodate them. The Orsers maintain that their mobile home has been assessed at $42,000 by Greg Marken, a local assessor, and therefore have on the property to repair and reroute waterlines as part of preparation for the many housing sites. Bell says the Orsers, if still on the property when this work is done, would then be placed on city water services, “Their well would be aban- doned, but it certainly doesn't leave them without water because they will.bs..on the. city's system. We also have to take out septic services, but theirs won't be touched until after they have moved,” said Bell. Before further services can be completed, Bell is requesting the Orsers to relocate a portable garage and car to another loca- tion on their rented property. The Orsers have refused. But a July arbitration ruling favored the developer. The Orsers have now applied for a second arbitration on the same matter. “All we‘re looking for is our premises to be left alone. We have a legal right under the Tena- cy Act to have our space left alone,” said Orser. Trailer park woes worsen in West Kootenay / A3 ‘The weekly newspaper with a dally commitment’ Pumped up: It was one big bike and 29 big hearts that took to the streets of Castlegar last Saturday afternoon for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Measuring eight feet across at the wheels, and extending 30 feet, the giant- sized bicycle was a spectacle that many on Columbia Ave. had a hard time missing. The miniumum pledge for each team member was $50, and all money raised went to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Jeff Gabert New legislation means big tax loss for city Property taxes on local rail lands set to be slashed by half DEREK ZEISMAN Itati between the province and Sun Editor The City of Castlegar is facing a loss of tax B.C. municipalities, to determine how to soft- en the heavy blow the legislation will be inflicting on some B.C. municipalities, such as Coons revenue from local railway op in the neighborhood of $60,000 to $70,000, as a result of recent provincial legislation aimed at cutting rail ies’ costs. Rossland-Trail New D. MLA Ed Conroy said the legislation, Bill 55, was passed to make up for a shortfall in provincial rail lost when 'the federal SUN STAFF Federal Tr: Airport contract goes to Edmonton firm Doug Young has the awarding of a one-year contract options are exercised by the government, the total contract value will be about $2.1 million. Kootenay West MP and for the day-to-day operations and of the Castle- gar Airport, as well as providing emergency response services,” said Young. “This initiative will help to ensure a continued high level of safety and efficiency at the Castlegar Airport was desig- nated a regional airport under the National Airports Policy, announced by Young in July 1994. Early last month, a letter of intent was signed to enter into negotiations with local officials to transfer ownership of the airport from Transport Canada to the municipality. Earlier this year, Frontec was awarded a short-term con- Reform Tr: Critic Jim Gouk said he has not yet had a chance to look over the govern- ment’s new contract with Fron- er was from Vancouver, but that company went bankrupt,” said Gouk. “Frontec was brought in from out-of-province as a replacement firm. I’d obviously like to see a B.C. company uti- government announced in its February budget that it planned to cancel the Crow's Nest Pass railway freight subsidy. “We needed the changes to keep B.C. rail lines competitive with their American counter- parts,” said Conroy. The bill, which passed through the B.C. Legislature in the final days of its summer sit- ting, calls for municipalities throughout the Province to cut their property tax rates for rail- way lands — track, buildings, storage sites and vacant land — by up to 50 per cent. Castlegar city administrator Jim Gustafson says the final bill for this tax cut could come in as high as $70,000 locally. The money would be taken from the slightly less than $5 million the city now collects in taxes annually. “That's certainly not small potatoes,” said Gustafson. “It's not the end of the world for There are six regional workshops planned for the discussion of Bill C-55, including one for the Kootenays in Cranbrook on Aug. 23. “The government wants to outline its rea- sons for proposing the tax decrease, as well as how the implementation will take place. There's probably going to be some kind of phase-in period for it.” Gustafsox. said the limited amount of CP land within the city limits means the loss in income will be relatively small. But he said it’s still too early to predict whether the cut would necessitate a one or two per cent tax increase next year. “Fortunately we're a growing community, so we should be able to absorb it all right without a significant tax hike.” Hans Cunningham, chairman of the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK), said other West Kootenay commu- nities will not come out so lucky. He said he sent a letter of concern to Premier Mike Har- court at the end of June, urging the govern- ment to abandon Bill 55 until its effects on B.C. railway communities could be fully assessed. He said he was “very disappointed” us, but it ly isa i qs However, he pointed out that there is con- Car accident leaves three teens dead Vehicle plunges 150 feet into Duncan Lake the gov did not heed the RDCK's advice on this matter. “I certainly think they were too hasty in their decision. But now we'll just have to see what we can do about getting maximum input into reducing the legislation’s effects.” Cunningham said Bill 55 doesn't have much good going for it. “There are no bright spots anytime any major source of public tevenue gets so deeply cut. When utility taxes get cut, it ends up being residents who have to take up the slack.” } Gustafson agreed, adding that “major changes” lie ahead if rumors are true that the tax cut may be the start of a trend for all utili- ties, including ion firms. . “All B.C. municipalities would be deeply concemed by that, because there is significant Tevenue generated from the utilities side of the budget.” However, he said Bill 55 may just be the result of unrealistically high municipal proper- ty taxes on provincial railways. “T'm not saying the municipalities are abso- lutely lily-white here. It's not a totally one- sided issue.” Gustafson said even Castlegar is guilty of hav- ing railway taxes that afe “a bit on the high side,” something that will be remedied by Bill 55. “The railways have been saying they need a break. They want to stay viable. They've been doing their own cost-cutting, their own ratio- nalization — now it's up to us to make our property taxes more competitive.” KAREN KERKHOFF Sun staff Three teens are dead after an . A lized at the airport, but under the circumstances using Fron- tec was a reasonable option.” Funding for the contract was provided for in the latest feder- al budget, brought down last February. y accident July 28 at Duncan Lake. Cpl. F.J.G. Leibel of the Kaslo RCMP say that Kevin Seafoot, 18, and Geoffery Matthew Sin- clair, 18, both of Kaslo, and Tamar Zoe Kronseth, 17, of Argenta died after the vehicle they. were in plunged 150 feet into Duncan Lake. The three were last seen by friends around 1 a.m. on Duncan Lake Road and were retuming to Pick up a vehicle which had pre- viously run out of gas. When they failed to return to Kaslo concerned friends began searching for them. On Friday €vening around 8 p.m. the friends found debris at the 31 km mark of Duncan Lake Road and oil was seen surfacing in the lake. Nightfall delayed diving attempts until the following morm- ing when a dive team found the vehicle and its passengers sub- merged in some 50 feet of water. Leibel said it's unknown if alcohol was a factor. An autopsy and toxicology studies have been ordered by coroner Shaun Jestley who was on the scene. For all your local news and sports — The Castlegar Sun Sports ................. AIO