NEWS-CLIPS Jan 16/2020 to Feb 19/2020

33 tons of dog waste diverted in CNV.pdf A Role for Canada in an Uncertain World.pdf Answering the call for housing and workspace solutions.pdf BC Ombudsperson in Metro Vancouver soon to hear your complaints.pdf Businesses under pressure from high property tax.pdf Cantina Norte set to revive family legacy in Edgemont Village.pdf Cap and town.pdf CapU on side with off-campus housing proposal.pdf Condo buildings unable to secure insurance.pdf Construction of Seylynn tower on hold for now.pdf Councilor Muri wants pigeon ban petition dismissed.pdf Developer seeks 35 more units for Earls site tower.pdf DNV council splits twice on Lions Gate townhouse project.pdf DNV looks to cap max house size.pdf DNV plans to restrict maximum home size.pdf DNV simplifies coach house rules.pdf Edgemont neighbourhood still thriving.pdf Edgemont Village merchants ditching single-use plastic bags.pdf Expect heavy traffic on Marine Drive as CNV replaces bridge.pdf Facing a climate emergency - what gives hope.pdf Global climate change could affect local real estate markets.pdf Grouse Mountain set to evolve under new owners.pdf Health authorities and schools on North Shore combat coronavirus fears.pdf Inspect heritage carport before demolition.pdf It is too late to fight climate change.pdf Kokomo is opening in Edgemont Village on January 18.pdf Lane closures on Marine Drive are a necessary growing pain.pdf Lots to learn from school smudging complaint.pdf Lynn Canyon Park closed due to snow.pdf Marine Drive headed for 5 months of lane closures in North Van.pdf Modernize Canada privacy laws - UK information commissioner.pdf Muri defends DNV pigeon ban - rejects charges of impropriety.pdf North Shore councils need to give rentals their due.pdf North Shore population growth stats revealed.pdf North Shore rents among highest in Metro Vancouver.pdf North Van cannabis shops set for public hearings.pdf North Van mayors talk transit and housing affordability.pdf North Van school district to seek IB status for Norgate.pdf Notice - early input opportunity - about 3700-3718 Edgemont Blvd.pdf Now you can report crime online in North Vancouver.pdf Public to have say on District of North Van first pot shops.pdf Purchase plastic offsets to support 2020 Run Against Plastic.pdf Questions remain as ride-hailing finally arrives.pdf Residents of flood-prone condo building wonder why.pdf Snowy winter scenes are OK with this Boomer.pdf Split assessment needed to help small business.pdf There is gender gap in the North Shore cycling community.pdf Those living near major roads at higher risk of dementia and Parkinsons.pdf Very little money is actually spent on climate research.pdf Warning of collapse in BC condo market.pdf We need to take a look at what taxes are used for.pdf West Van plans to impose 1 percent climate tax.pdf What archaeology of the Seymour Valley reveals.pdf Why small commercial owners should appeal assessments.pdf With bold action the zero-carbon economy will come before it is too late.pdf Worst and Best case scenerios for the climate in 2050.pdf 33 tons of dog waste diverted in CNV

Photo: CNV January 28, 2020 11:55am https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/33-tons-of-dog-waste-diverted-in-cnv/

The City of North Vancouver says it diverted 33 tons of dog poop to the dog waste bins the city started installing two years ago.

The city said that in 2019, it diverted five more tons of dog poop than the previous year.

CNV has 30 ‘Dog Waste Only’ red bins strategically located throughout the City.

The city empties the bins on a weekly basis at the wastewater treatment plant.

In 2016, CNV found high percentage of dog waste compared to other waste in the content of the public trash bins the city audited.

In 2017, the city started a pilot program by placing red ‘Dog Waste Only’ bins in off-leash parks.

The pilot program has been expanded to 30 more locations, with red bins located throughout the City.

In 2019, almost 33 tons of dog waste was diverted from the landfill. City staff continues to monitor the program and may expand it as required.

While small amounts of dog waste are permitted through the regular waste collection, large amounts are harmful to public health and the environment.

Dog waste is more effectively treated through the regional wastewater (sewage) treatment plant, CNV says

There are roughly 10,000 dogs in the City of North Vancouver, producing 103 tonnes of waste a month or 1,241 tonnes a year.

Under Metro Vancouver regulations, pet waste is prohibited from the region’s garbage, although small amounts are accepted in household garbage or public garbage cans, in parks or in streets. FRIDAY, JANUARY17, 2020 north shorenews nsnews.com OPINION | A9

SPONSORED CONTENT MAILBOX Jonathan Wilkinson Goodbye Amillion thanks NORTH VANCOUVER’S MEMBEROFPARLIAMENT mother to Canada January 2020 Spoken wordartist Maryam Zarenejad imagines apas- Thank you, Canada, for making us feelathome. senger on Flight 752 saying Thank you, Canada, for not calling us secondclass ARole for Canada in an goodbyetotheir mother: residents. Thank you, Canada, for not judgingusbyour opinions. Uncertain World Goodbyemom. Thank you, Canada, for not judgingusbyour colour. Ihad gone to Iran to patchmy Thank you, Canada, for respecting our belief. These past ten days have been atime Over the past days, Canada has been torn heartfromthe impact of Thank you, Canada, for respecting our ethnicity filled with anxiety and terrible sadness working with partners in Europe and forced migration andcome Thank you, Canada, for respecting all genders. for many in our community. elsewhere to assist with humanitarian back. Ihad gone to soothe the and de-escalation efforts. The Prime sores of my heartpreparingto Thank you, Canadafor healingour wounds. We witnessed the killing of asenior Minister has sent aconsular service continue thebattle againstthe Thank you, Canada, for your humanity. Iranian military official by the United team to assist families on the ground challenges of immigration. Thank you, Canada, for respecting human rights. States, and retaliatory missile strikes Mom, Iwanted to stay with Thank you, Canada, for believing in justice. in Iran. He and Foreign Affairs by Iran -including at abase housing you longer but yousentme Thank you, Canada, for believing in equality. Minister Champagne have been in close away with your tearfuleyes Thank you, Canada, to acknowledge Cyrus the Great Canadian soldiers. Most tragically,we communication with several European saying that:“go my dear,I as the leader of human rights. learned that Ukrainian Air 752 had countries, with the Ukraine and with want youtobesafeand secure been shot down, with the loss of 176 the Government of Iran, to work to in Canada, maybe awar will Thank you, Canada, for beingapioneer in assistingthe passengers, including 57 from Canada de-escalate tensions and to facilitate the happen here, go my dear, go innocent victims all over the world. -seven of whom called the North process of identifying remains, reuniting baby,gotoyoursafe home.” Thank you, Canada, for your friendship, kindness and love. Shore home. families and pursuing acomplete When theplane took off, you Canada, we knowwhat “love”isverywell. investigation of the crash. took adeep breath and raised We come from the countryoflove. Youwill have read the stories of their your hands to thesky saying: Canada, we comefromthe land of Saadi, Hafez, Khayyam lives cut so tragically short. They Over the longer term, Canada and other “Thank God, now my child is Rumiand Cyrus. were husband and wife Daniel Saket like-minded countries must continue safe.” and Faye Kazerani, Langara college Yousent me across theworld Thank you, Prime MinisterTrudeau. to foster dialogue aimed at creating but youdidn’t know that I Thank you, ministers and MPs. student Delaram Dadashnejad, doctors better and more peaceful pathways for would be flying to heaven. Thank you, MLAs. and parents Naser Pourshabanoshibi reducing tensions. Such constructive Mom, when yousent me away, Thank you, mayors. and Firouzeh Madani, and business engagement is consistent with the you didn’t remember that we Thank you, University of BritishColumbia. owner Ayeshe Pourghaderi and her history of Canadian foreign policy post- areMiddle Easternchildren Thank you, Simon FraserUniversity. daughter Fatemeh Pasavand, astudent World WarII. Canada’sLester Pearson and we arenot safe anywhere Thank you, presidentofUniversity of Alberta. at Carson Graham Secondary School. earned the Nobel Peace Prize for in the world. We areeither Thank you, presidentofYork University. My very,very deepest condolences go establishing peacekeeping as an integral killed in war, drowned in the part of the United Nations mandate. sea, killed on roads or in plane Thank you, Canada, for provingtobeour bestchoice out to their families. crashes. forasecond home. Our community and our hearts are Canada maintains arespected place Goodbyemom!Iam gladthat Thank you, Canada, for lowering your flag as respect. in the international community in your image was thelastthing Amillion thank-youstoall Canadians for your support. shattered by the loss of our friends this regard; our country must remain that Ihad in my mind.Iwish Thank you, Canada, for beingagreat godfather for Iranians. and neighbors. They touched many focused on furthering conversations you patience. Thank you, Canadianmedia. lives. They were mothers, fathers, Goodbyedad!Don’t worry Thank you, North ShoreNews. sisters, brothers. They worked in to try to bridge difficult issues in the about me anymore. Ihopeyou Thank you, Canada. We standfor you. many capacities to enrich our city. international arena in thoughtful, canendurelosing me. OCanada, my homeand my land. They contributed to our community creative and peaceful ways. Recent Goodbye Iran!May God and our country.They helped us events have underlined how important protect you from theenemies, Sid Mirhashemy such efforts are. We live in uncertain in our ongoing mission to build a lies and drought. North Vancouver times internationally.Ibelieve - more vibrant, respectful and peaceful Goodbye! especially now -that continuing and Farsi version at nsnews.com. society.They will be greatly missed. deepening Canada’sefforts in the area Prime Minister Trudeau has of international peace and security is underlined that the Government of something that should be an important LV folkswarm this bus driver’sheart Canada is committed to ensuring and ongoing focus, irrespective of which that the impacted families receive the party is in power. 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Iwas stuckfor of cheese and crackers, andan need in the face of allthe has deeply affected all Canadians – two hours in front of atown- apple as well. He commended unpleasantness in the recent of those who tragically lost their regardless of background or region. house complex. While there, a me forbeing outworking in past on our planet. lives. Our communities and our entire resident approached my bus such nasty weather andafter a Aheartfelt thank-you to the country are mourning…Canada will Personally,Ifeel very deeply the with ahot cup of coffee and handshake he left. During my residents of Lynn Valley. not rest until we get the accountability sense of shock and profound sadness some chocolate. delay,two otherpeople walk- Charles Balsor and justice and closure that the experienced by many in our community. After my initialsurprise,I ing their dogs stopped at the Maple Ridge families deserve.” Any North Vancouver residents These recent events point to the urgent requiring assistance relating to these DNV crews areour unsungsnowheroes need for engagement to de-escalate matters are encouraged to reach out tensions in the Middle East, both in to my office in North Vancouver.My An open letter to District unprecedented snowfall: throughout the day and well the short term and into the future. of North Vancouver staff Travelling from DNVinto into the evenings. Youare staff and Iare committed to providing who do an extraordinary Dunbar, our district’sroads reducing car accidents as well This is something to which our the support you need at this very job in keeping our streets arefar better maintained as human accidents with your Government is firmly committed. difficult time. clean from ice and snow and cleared of snow.Thank diligence. It is appreciated! during winter,espe- you foryourdedicationout Joy Fai cially during the recent thereearly in the morning, North Vancouver CONTACT INFO:

CONSTITUENCY OFFICE: 201-East Esplanade, North Vancouver Followusand have your say: Facebook: North ShoreNews,Twitter:@NorthShoreNews EMAIL: [email protected] | TEL: 604-775-6333 Opinion: Answering the call for housing and workspace solutions Telecommuting and floating workforce housing just two of the innovative ways local companies are solving problems

Anne McMullin / Urban Development Institute https://www.nsnews.com/opinion-answering-the-call-for-housing-and-workspace-solutions-1.24078630

February 18, 2020 10:29 AM

Bowen Island’s Union Steamship Co. Resort's floating workforce housing. | Image submitted

If our collective world wisdom can launch rockets that fly faster than the speed of sound, create driverless cars and invent life-saving medical marvels,surely we can find a way to cure the housing crisis. And, as Albert Einstein famously said, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

In a region where we have too few homes for a growing population, we must consider some fundamental changes in traditional thinking about how we work, commute and, yes, create housing. Traffic congestion costs an estimated $1.5 billion to the Metro Vancouver economy, which includes delayed commercial goods, health issues, increased greenhouse gases and lost employee productivity.

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s More Homes More Choices 2019 Housing report says 73 per cent of employers reported “that housing affordability has affected their ability to recruit and retain employees.” Further, it adds, “37 per cent of businesses are considering relocating from the region.”

These realities have many companies searching for solutions. By embracing telecommuting, it is possible to avoid many of these pain points around staff commutes, employee housing and the need for more costly office space. For example, Jill Schnarr, VP of corporate citizenship and communications at Telus, recently spoke at an Urban Development Institute event, advising that 70 per cent of the firm’s 26,000 Canadian employee workforce, including approximately 9,000 staff in Vancouver, are “mobile or working from home.”

The telecommuting trend is growing. CBC reported a Statistics Canada study that found “more than 1.7 million paid employees — those not self-employed — worked from home in 2008 at least once a week, up almost 23 per cent from the 1.4 million in 2000.” That same study stated “self-employed work from home participation rate climbed from 54 per cent in 2006 to 60 per cent in 2008, for a total of 1.8 million workers.”

Increasingly, apartment builders are catering to home-workers by integrating more shared workspaces for residents. These areas, featuring sophisticated audio-visual equipment, high-speed wireless internet and even coffee bars, are becoming the “home offices” of the future. In a blog post, real estate marketing group Rennie says these collaborative spaces “give you an opportunity to interact with other professionals in the area,” mitigating some of the social isolation of working from home.

While telecommuting can be effective for tech industries and many home-based businesses, that doesn’t work for Bowen Island’s Union Steamship Co. Resort. They rely on as many as 90 summer staff to operate the boat marina and Doc Morgan’s restaurant/pub. With very few rental homes available, the resort owners created their own workforce housing.

They launched two prefabricated floating duplexes, housing up to two staff on each side with plans for five more, including quadplexes, once they obtain provincial permits they hope will come soon. “We had a certain pool of people on the island who want to work in a restaurant, but had to pull many (staff) from the mainland,” said general manager Oydis Nickle. “They couldn’t find somewhere to live.”

The experience at Union Steamship is a world away from the telecommuting trend at Telus. But they share one striking similarity: Both companies are using innovative thinking to adapt to change. No single factor caused the housing crisis we are in – and no single solution will solve it.

Solutions will come when we innovate, think creatively, and work toward providing quality homes to rent or buy for our growing population.

Anne McMullin is president and CEO of the Urban Development Institute, a non-profit and non-partisan industry association of the residential, commercial and industrial builders

BC Ombudsperson in Metro Vancouver soon to hear your complaints

Chris Campbell / Burnaby Now https://www.nsnews.com/bc-ombudsperson-in-metro-vancouver-soon-to-hear-your-complaints-1.24075713

February 13, 2020 10:46 AM

PIXABAY

If you feel you been treated unfairly by a provincial or local public organization like ICBC, BC Hydro, a government ministry, or a school district or local municipality, then you now have a place to air your complaint.

TBC Ombudsperson staff will be holding in-person appointments to hear complaints from the public the week of Feb. 24 in Metro Vancouver.

“This is a chance for us to hear first-hand from people who have complaints about how they were treated when receiving public services,” said Ombudsperson Jay Chalke, in a news release. “It may be you didn’t receive clear reasons for a decision that impacts you, it could be you feel specific policies or procedures weren’t followed properly, or maybe you’ve experienced a lengthy delay – these are the kinds of areas we may be able to address,” said Chalke.

The Office of the Ombudsperson is independent of government with the legal power to impartially investigate complaints and recommend system improvements that promote fair treatment for all British Columbians. The Ombudsperson has wide-ranging jurisdiction over more than 1,000 public sector bodies. The office receives the most complaints about the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and ICBC.

“We encourage anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly to call us. Whether it’s an issue with a small municipality or a large complex government ministry, let us know if something has gone wrong and we’ll see if we can help make it right.” said Chalke.

To make an in-person appointment, call 1-800-567-3247. Complaints can also be made by phone, mail, fax, online or in-person at the Ombudsperson’s Victoria office – 947 Fort Street. For more information visit www.bcombudsperson.ca.

Businesses under pressure from high property tax, triple net leases Skyrocketing assessments lead to calls for tax breaks Jane Seyd / North Shore News January 23, 2020 04:27 PM https://www.nsnews.com/news/businesses-under-pressure-from-high-property-tax-triple-net-leases-1.24060163 Owner Pete Turcotte of Big Pete’s Collectibles had to move his shop in lower Lonsdale because of skyrocketing lease rates. Many local businesses are struggling to hold on in the face of rising assessments and increased property taxes. photo Paul McGrath, North Shore News If you want to find a gym or a bank in North Vancouver, you’ll have no trouble finding one by walking down the street. But a quirky independent dress shop, a print store or artisan bakery? You’ll likely have to look a little harder. That’s because commercial assessments that keep rising even as residential values are falling mean many smaller local businesses are facing pressures to stay afloat on the North Shore. The types of leases most businesses have to sign –requiring them to pay any increase in property tax tied to those assessments –are proving too much for some, causing independent shops to close and be replaced with financial institutions, chain stores and medical offices –among the few who can afford the rent. “Edgemont has five banks,”said District of North Vancouver Coun. Lisa Muri, who has voiced concern for the past several years about costs driving out local businesses. “It’s three blocks long.” “In the past, [commercial areas] were such an eclectic mix,”she said. But that colourful mix of mom-and-pop style of business is buckling under pressure. Patrick Stafford-Smith, CEO of the North Vancouver Chamber, shares those concerns. “I’m really concerned about losing businesses that have been valuable to the community,”he said. “They are pushed out because of factors out of their control. We are seeing businesses leave.” As a commercial real estate agent who specializes on the North Shore, Ross Forman has a front-row seat on many of those changes. “I think retailers in general are struggling,”he said. “Just before Christmas I think we had six retail vacancies come up in the Lower Lonsdale area. We usually have maybe one or two at a time.” Overall in North Vancouver, commercial assessments this year are up between two and seven per cent while light industrial properties are up between nine and 18 per cent. But that’s on top of stratospheric rises last year of 21 per cent for commercial properties and 27 per cent for light industrial properties on the North Shore last year. And some increases in assessment have been far higher. Forman said one property owner of a two-storey industrial building on East Esplanade has seen his assessment jump 34 per cent this year. Another owner of buildings in the Pemberton and Welch light industrial area has seen her commercial assessment jump over 40 per cent. Commercial real estate agent Ross Forman says a number of recent vacancies in Lower Lonsdale are indicative of the struggles facing many local businesses. Photo Paul Mcgrath, North Shore News With relatively few sales of commercial and industrial land, it only takes a couple of high-priced transactions to set the market ticking upwards. One of the biggest transactions last year in North Vancouver was the sale of the longstanding Windsor Plywood property at 309 Kennard Ave., along Cotton Road. Four years ago, that property with a single-storey 1960s warehouse was assessed at $3.66 million. It sold in February for $12 million. Another 15,000-square-foot property in the commercial and light industrial area near Pemberton sold for $6.55 million last year –over twice its assessed value just four years ago. Forman points to another commercial property at 266 East First St. with just over 3,600 square feet that sold for $3.3 million at the end of 2018. “A brewery bought it,”said Forman. “That’s $911 a square foot. That is probably $200 a square foot higher than what it should have sold for.” “When you get two or three sales like that in that price range, that’s where it starts to affect where the market sits.” In the world of residential real estate, when an assessment rises much faster than the average, it’s the property owner who ends up footing the bill for increased taxes. But in commercial real estate, it’s different. Not so long ago, “there were lots of gross leases,”said Forman – in which costs like property tax were included in the price. But in the past decade especially, that’s changed to something called a “triple net” lease, in which additional costs like property tax are paid by the tenant. “Ninety-five per cent of the leases are all triple net leases,”said Forman. “Which means that if the property taxes go up, it just automatically falls on the tenant. The tenant has to pay the bill.” If assessed value suddenly skyrockets, that could see a small business forking out an extra $1,500 a month, just in tax increases. “I’ve had merchants tell me the taxes are substantial for them,” said City of North Vancouver Coun. Don Bell, who has raised concerns about the issue. “They’re struggling. They’re competing with big box stores and the internet. This is the straw that is breaking the camel’s back.” Exacerbating the problem is the way properties are valued by BC Assessment on their “highest and best use.” Under that system, properties aren’t assessed on their current use but on the potential value of what the property would be worth if it was redeveloped to the maximum density allowed. That’s how aging one- and two-storey retail buildings get assessed as though a mixed-use highrise is already standing on the site. Buildings in Lower Lonsdale, lower Capilano and lower Mountain Highway are among those recently impacted. That’s also what happened at Westview Shopping Centre last year, said Forman, when the property assessment jumped 43 per cent in value – from about $40 million to roughly $57.5 million. “The assessment authority went in and said, ‘You know what? It’s time that this is a redevelopment property. We’re going to base it on highest and best use that says you can put towers on it,’”said Forman. But in the meantime, “We have leases that go till 2032. So they’re paying higher taxes for the next 12 years.” The sale of the former Windsor Plywood site for $12 million helped propel assessments up. Photo Mike Wakefield, North Shore News Alarmed by the number of local businesses who can no longer make it in an environment of skyrocketing assessments, local politicians have lobbied the province to change the way commercial properties are valued. In the last week, the province has indicated it’s working on a fix, although the details of that are still scant and it’s possible it may create as many problems as it solves. According to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, legislation will be introduced this spring that would give municipalities the ability to provide a tax break to small businesses they identify as paying high property taxes. The interim legislation would allow municipalities to exempt a portion of the value of some commercial properties from taxation, according to the ministry. But exactly how that would work is raising another set of questions. “The devil is really in the details,”said City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan when city council discussed the issue Monday night. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions. Some people think it’s easy to do tax policy. It’s not.” Making municipalities choose which properties qualify for a tax break and which don’t could easily lead to friction as businesses lobby town hall for exemptions, said Stafford-Smith. “I think it’s going to be a nightmare,”said Derek Holloway, a recently retired BC Assessment assessor. “I think what will happen is it’ll put the municipalities in the position of playing favourites – the pie shop versus the car dealership.” It also isn’t clear yet whether the tax break would apply just to rented properties or also to those which are owner occupied. “To fix it, it may create even more problems,” he said. Chief among those is that municipalities still need to collect the same amount of tax revenue, regardless of who’s paying. And if some businesses are paying less, inevitably someone else is paying more. “Somebody pays eventually,” said Holloway. This map shows the top 10 commercial property sales on the North Shore in 2019 using data provided by BC Assessment. image Birgit Brunner Pete Turcotte, owner of Big Pete’s Collectibles, has experienced first hand the stresses that rising assessments and taxes can bring during his 29 years in business in Lower Lonsdale. In his last location in the 100 block of Lonsdale, Turcotte had what he felt was a “very fair” gross lease for his shop. “We were paying $5,300 a month,”said Turcotte. But when it was time to renew, his landlord wanted to increase that to more than $8,000 a month, he said. His counter-offer – of more than $7,000 – was rejected. Turcotte had no choice but to move to a smaller nearby location at 121 East First St. He considers himself lucky to have found a landlord who wanted a stable tenant. This time, though, the lease is triple net. Turcotte said he questions whether anyone should be asked to pay the taxes for their landlord. “There just comes a point when landlords shouldn’t expect tenants to cover everything,”he said. “If you’re going to own a building, maybe you should be on the hook for that increase in value yourself. It’s win-win for them and lose-lose for us.” But most businesses don’t have a choice. Whether it’s space in an old building with a rising assessment or space in a newer and more expensive building “there isn’t a better option,”said Turcotte. “It just gets more expensive.” Meanwhile his old space on Lonsdale is still sitting empty – something that’s happening more frequently as local businesses are forced out. Turcotte questions whether government could help with rules that ground floor properties must be retail – not occupied by services. He also wonders why there’s no provincial vacancy tax on commercial units – something he suggests might prompt landlords to set more reasonable rents. Empty retail space left by vacating local business don’t help anyone, he said. “There’s no businesses in it. There’s no employees in it. They’re not doing anyone any good.” © 2020 North Shore News

Cantina Norte set to revive family legacy in Edgemont Village Menu will feature the subtle and nuanced cuisine of modern urban Mexico Chris Dagenais / North Shore News January 18, 2020 09:00 AM https://www.nsnews.com/lifestyle/taste/cantina-norte-set-to-revive-family-legacy-in-edgemont-village-1.24055477

Siblings Jeremy Mitchell and Katie Moody are poised to relaunch a contemporized but reverential reboot of their family’s Café Norte, to be called Cantina Norte, in the Grosvenor Building, right next to Bufala, in Edgemont Village. Photo Supplied, Jamie-Lee Fuoco What will be your legacy? Will you be remembered for a cultural contribution that wields influence beyond your time? Will you live on through family, your offspring and extended lineage flourishing in the world due, in no small part, to your efforts to raise them a certain way? Maybe your legacy will be more subtle, evidenced through the so-called Butterfly Effect wherein your engagement with the world shaped, in imperceptible but still significant ways, the history that unfolded around you. The legacy question does my head in, to be honest, confronting me with the stark inevitability of mortality and infusing my passage through finite time with a sense of existential urgency. For siblings Jeremy Mitchell and Katie Moody, a concrete sense of legacy informs their life today. You see, they have undertaken an ambitious program of renewal and reinvigoration, bringing a much beloved, still often discussed, restaurant back to life in its original environ. Those who have lived on the North Shore for a while, long enough to have been dining out in the late 1980s and mid ’90s, may recall being served housemade tortillas and salsa by five-year-old Jeremy Mitchell in a venue called Café Norte. Jeremy and his sister Katie worked their way through every position within that original restaurant and its ultimately ill-fated Lonsdale counterpart, Norte, imparting to the siblings an enduring love for the industry and an appetite to see their restaurant endure. Cantina Norte's Shrimp Taquitos - Baby shrimp and cream cheeses rolled in crispy corn tortillas topped with house guacamole and served with Pineapple Salsa. - Supplied, Jamie-Lee Fuoco Jeremy explains, in a tactfully non-specific but nevertheless impassioned way, that at the height of their popularity, the two Norte businesses fell victim to nothing short of what he categorizes as fraudulence, a legal technicality related to the operation of a second Norte location ultimately causing the premature demise of both restaurants. The legal battle to overcome the technicality was to be too costly and onerous for the family to endure and so, almost overnight, the two Nortes went from bustling to shuttered. Edgemont Village has, until very recently (as described in this column on at least two occasions) been an exceptionally challenging environment for restaurant businesses. The shift to the promising hospitality landscape that now prevails in the Village began with the welcome opening of Bjornbar, was followed up by the heavily anticipated Nicli Antica, and was most recently strengthened by the arrival of buzzy Bufala, situated in the longtime-coming Grosvenor Building on Edgemont Boulevard. The Mitchell siblings are poised to relaunch a contemporized but reverential reboot of Café Norte, to be called Cantina Norte, in the Grosvenor Building, right next to Bufala. The project has officially been in the works for three years, since the development of the Grosvenor space was announced and a fortuitous encounter with the architect transpired, but Katie and Jeremy explain that, in fact, the rebirth of their parents’ popular modern Mexican eatery has been on the cards since its lamented demise in 1998. “The most important thing about Café Norte was that it was a neighbourhood mainstay,” relates Jeremy Mitchell. “That connection to the community was a fundamental piece of our family identity.” Anecdotally, as a recipient of reader emails, I can confirm the enduring appeal of the restaurant. With some frequency I have received plaintive messages from North Shore residents on one topic or another that conclude with some form of “but anyway, the restaurant scene has gone downhill ever since Norte closed down.” Closer to home, my wife DJ worked at Norte when she first emigrated from the U.K. and has nothing but fond memories of both the staff and the food. It is against this warm sepia canvass of nostalgia that the Mitchells seek to reclaim their rightful mantle of purveyors of fine Mexican fare in a storied part of town. The menu, co-developed by Phillip Mitchell, owner and chef of the original Café Norte, has been developed in such a way as to appeal to the fond memories of turn-of-the-millennium North Shore diners, but will nevertheless remain firmly rooted in a much more contemporary understanding of Mexican food. Cantina Norte’s Chorizo Quesadilla – Spicy Mexican chorizo folded in a grilled flour tortilla served with red pepper jelly. - Supplied, Jamie-Lee Fuoco “I get to spend quite a bit of time in Mexico City,” says Jeremy. “And I can tell you that it is one of the greatest food cities on the planet. Mexican food is so much more sophisticated than the way it was being interpreted in the ’80s.” He explains that Cantina Norte will not be a place where you will find deep fried, heavy foods slathered in cheese and sour cream. The menu will be much more in line with the ingredient-focused, lighter, more subtle and nuanced cuisine that informs modern urban Mexico. The Mitchells explain that the design, spearheaded by the accomplished wife and husband team that is Box Designs (responsible for many high profile dining spaces around the city, including the Glowbal Group’s Trattoria Italian Kitchen), is a radical departure from the original Café, speaking much more to their vision for a modern Mexican cantina. “We wanted to create a connection to the history of Café Norte but not a carbon copy of it.” With most of the cumbersome bureaucratic permitting processes now largely behind them, the Mitchells anticipate opening the newest Norte iteration on March 15. Cantina Norte represented by co-principal Katie Moody and her father, executive chef Phillip Mitchell, will do a cooking demo on the celebrity stage at the upcoming Vancouver Wellness Show, taking place Feb. 1-2 at Vancouver Convention Centre. The duo will prepare ceviche, foreshadowing the restaurant’s lighter, more contemporary menu in its new incarnation. © 2020 North Shore News

EDITORIAL: Rental development for students a good step in Capilano University's evolution North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial-rental-development-for-students-a-good-step-in-capilano-university-s-evolution-1.24065377 January 30, 2020 03:44 PM Students at Capilano University's dorm rooms. photo supplied Abigail Saxton Even from an era of polyester suits and pet rocks, there’s no trend that causes quite as much embarrassed anguish today as the assumptions that guided the creation of Capilano University. Students could reach the campus by driving “much more rapidly and easily than by any other conceivable mode of transportation,” a planning report concluded prior to the school’s 1973 opening. That same report noted a third crossing was in the “planning state.” related  CapU on side with off-campus housing proposal CapU has evolved in the past 50 years. Commuting patterns, however, are still mired in the lava lamp epoch as many of the school's 12,000 students drive from Deep Cove, Dundarave, and across the bridge to jockey with each other for scarce parking spots on the asphalt-rich campus. But just because it’s been that way doesn’t mean it was to be that way still. CapU is currently backing a 330-unit rental development for students, staff and faculty just a short hop from the school. Even as this would help undo decades of unrelenting wrongheadedness while creating the fabled but rarely seen walkable community, we understand much of District of North Van council has misgivings. After voting against affordable developments at Delbrook and Burr Place, a few councillors are questioning this development, due to its lack of affordability. And it’s true we need to see some concrete numbers. But after that, we need to see some concrete. For anyone who’s been packed into buses and crammed parking lots, we wonder if they can afford not to do it. Back in the ’70s, Lynnmour might have been a bad place for a university. But today, it’s the perfect spot for a town. © 2020 North Shore News

CapU on side with off-campus housing proposal DNV councillors warn project may be close to school but will be far from affordable Jeremy Shepherd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/capu-on-side-with-off-campus-housing-proposal-1.24065391 January 30, 2020 03:33 PM New housing is “essential” to attracting and retaining students at CapU, says university president Paul Dangerfield. image supplied DNV.org This article has been amended to include a statement from CMHC. Faced with more students than student housing, Capilano University is backing a 330-unit development just off campus – and just outside the District of North Vancouver’s official community plan. During an informal meeting Monday evening, district council debated swapping the dog kennel and dog daycare at 1310 Monashee Dr. in favour of Darwin development company’s proposed pair of six-storey rental buildings housing CapU’s students, faculty and staff. “It seems to me that this is progress,” Coun. Jim Hanson said. “Here we have a situation where our housing goals and our transportation goals actually align.” Located east of the school’s northern transit exchange, the development could reduce traffic congestion and increase the number of students commuting by walking paths, agreed university president Paul Dangerfield in a letter supporting the project. “Time spent out of the car is time for study and for wellness – both of which contribute to the quality of life in North Vancouver,” Dangerfield wrote. But while the location was a feature for Hanson, it was a bug for Coun. Megan Curren. “I really question this location,” she said. “The student housing should be a non-profit endeavour on the property.” Coun. Mathew Bond disagreed. “This is currently dog Airbnb,” he said. “We can do much better.” A student working a minimum wage job for 20 hours a week could afford to pay rent of $360 a month, Curren said. There’s “no way” the rents will be close to that level, she added. Capilano Students’ Union president Emily Bridge also voiced concern about rental rates. “Students continue to struggle to afford the unrealistic cost of living on the North Shore and Metro Vancouver,” she stated in a release. “While we hope this development will meet the needs of students, we would like to see some concrete numbers.” The project could be partially subsidized by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. – meaning total residential rental income would have to be 10 per cent below the top achievable level. Additionally, 20 per cent of the units would have to be discounted by 30 per cent based on a formula using median household income. CMHC is in the preliminary stages of studying the project to see if it meets critera for financing, stated CMHC media officer Len Catling. Given that median income in the district is $104,000, Coun. Betty Forbes suggested even reduced rents could be beyond students’ means. “Affordability is a concern,” Bond agreed. “But in this neighbourhood specifically, and for students and staff at the university, availability is just as much of a problem.” In a 2019 university survey, 87 of 127 CapU employees said either the high cost of housing or the dearth of availability kept them from living closer to campus. Slightly more than half of the project’s 330 units would be affordable – costing no more than 30 per cent of pre- tax income – for CapU staffers in single-income households, according to a report from Darwin. For staff with dual household incomes, 85 per cent of the units will be affordable. While suggesting the rents might be more high end than council wants, Coun. Jordan Back was generally supportive, suggesting the project could be “the start of a nice community.” The project includes 217 parking spots, which would serve tenants as well as the pubs, restaurants, cafes or grocery stores that would occupy the project’s 17,060 square feet of commercial space. “Why would you need that many parking spots if long term it truly is meant to remain as student housing?” asked Coun. Lisa Muri. “Or, are we starting off at student housing and if we don’t get an uptake ... then does it turn into market rental?” Muri also suggested the project wouldn’t be affordable for students. “We can’t afford it, and we all work full time,” she said. Hanson emphasized the project is on private land. “If we’re talking about prohibition of profit on private land ... that, perhaps, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said. If council rejects Darwin’s proposal they could end up with a development “that doesn’t serve the needs in any way of CapU,” Hanson concluded. CapU’s leased dormitories at 2420 Dollarton Hwy. are full with demand exceeding capacity, Dangerfield stated. The school’s plan is to build 1,000 new units of housing over the next five to 10 years, which is an “essential component” of the school’s ability to attract and retain students, according to Dangerfield. Situated on a nearly three-acre site, the project’s floor space ratio – which measures a building’s total floor space against its lot size – is 1.76. “It must be entirely to the benefit of the university or I’m not interested in these kinds of densities on this space,” said Mayor Mike Little. While Little joined some councillors in expressing concern about the property’s steep slope, he disagreed on the subject of market rents. “It’s not market rates competing with someone making $170,000 working downtown,” he explained. “It’s competing with market rates amongst the student body, the faculty and the staff.” Darwin’s application needs further review by district staff before it can come before council for first reading. In December 2017, council voted to give third reading to 184 housing units at 1923-1959 Purcell Way in concert with 60 micro-suites in a university-owned building on Greg Lee Way. However, the project hasn’t received final adoption and is not scheduled for council consideration. © 2020 North Shore News

'Strata market in crisis': Some B.C. condo buildings unable to buy insurance Condo Association director knows of 11 B.C. stratas currently unable to secure building insurance. In a normal year, he said, there wouldn't be any stratas in that situation. Dan Fumano Updated: February 13, 2020

Bruce Campbell, strata council president at 1135 Quayside in New Westminster, on Feb. 10, 2020. Mike Bell / PNG Share Adjust Comment Print More B.C. stratas are reporting unpleasant surprises when they try to renew their condo insurance, with some facing shocking hikes in their premiums while others are unable to secure building insurance at all. At least one federally regulated insurance provider has ceased selling new policies in B.C., citing “rapidly emerging challenges,” in a statement to Postmedia. An increasing number of stratas have been shocked to learn they’re unable to renew their insurance, a development that experts say could throw the local condo market into a state of uncertainty unlike anything they can recall. Brokers are reporting condo insurance renewal premiums increasing between 50 and 400 per cent over last year and deductibles increasing from $25,000 per claim to $500,000 or more. But the precise cause of the situation remains unclear. When the issue was raised Thursday in the B.C. Legislature, Finance Minister Carole James cited increasing real estate prices and climate change. New Westminster condo owner Trevor Morgan learned this week that his building’s insurance would run out at the end of the month, after Hub International Insurance Brokers sent the strata formal notification that they were “not currently able to secure insurance for the building and coverage will cease Feb. 29, 2020.” When Morgan read the news, he said: “My heart was beating in my chest, I felt like I’m ready to throw up.” The strata had voted overwhelmingly in favour of selling the building to a developer and a tentative sale is in place, Morgan said. Now he worries this news will jeopardize the deal. Many of the building’s residents are seniors on fixed incomes, and “they’re freaking out,” he said, at the possibility of the insurance problem scuttling the planned sale. If building insurance rates end up doubling or tripling — as they have done in many Metro Vancouver condos in recent weeks — many of these seniors won’t be able to afford to keep their homes, Morgan said, “and they are going to have to walk away from their properties.” Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C., said Morgan’s strata should be making a series of calls: to his association office, to a new insurance broker, and to a lawyer. Hopefully, Gioventu said, the insurance problems won’t scuttle the sale of the building, but strata members “should be deeply concerned.” Morgan’s strata — or any other in a similar situation — should try not to panic, Gioventu said. “But they should stay on high alert and be concerned about how they are going to get insurance.” Gioventu said Thursday he knows of roughly 11 stratas in B.C. currently unable to secure building insurance. In a normal year there wouldn’t be any buildings in that situation, Gioventu said. “This is certainly unusual.” There are generally two kinds of insurance in condos: building insurance, which stratas are required to have under the Strata Property Act, and condo unit owner insurance, which owners can choose not to carry to carry their own contents. Building insurance premiums have been skyrocketing in the first weeks of 2020, and Gioventu expects condo homeowner rates might increase too. Chuck Byrne, executive director of the Insurance Brokers Association of B.C., said his group is hearing, anecdotally, about more “non-renewals,” where stratas can’t secure building insurance. He’s not sure exactly how many “non-renewals” there are around B.C., he said, but he expects more to come. “We didn’t hear about them, usually, previous to now,” Byrne said. “I’ve never seen anything this bad for a long time.” Sonnet Insurance, a federally regulated insurer, confirmed Thursday they were “temporarily pausing the sale of new policies in B.C.,” with senior vice-president Roger Dunbar writing in an email: “The B.C. property insurance market has encountered rapidly emerging challenges that require us to make adjustments to our property offering in the province.” Existing Sonnet property customers “will not be impacted by this decision,” Dunbar said. The issue was raised Thursday in the B.C. Legislature, where Liberal housing critic Todd Stone said: “British Columbia’s strata market is in crisis.” Jane Thornthwaite, Liberal MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour, rose in the legislature, quoted a Vancouver Sun story from this week, and said: “This is a crisis that demands immediate action.” James said her government was “very concerned” about impacts not only for condo owners, but also for tenants renting strata units, who could see cost increases passed along. The issue is also affecting other parts of the country, James said, adding: “that’s why we’ve had a call with our federal colleagues and provincial colleagues.” [email protected] Construction of Seylynn tower on hold for now, developer says

Brent Richter / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/construction-of-seylynn-tower-on-hold-for-now-developer-says-1.24068678

February 5, 2020 06:00 AM

Denna Homes’ Compass and Beacon towers at Seylynn Village rise above the foundation of the 32-storey Apex luxury condominium development, now on hold. photo Paul McGrath, North Shore News

What was to be the tallest tower on the North Shore is stuck underground, at least for the time being.

Denna Homes, the developer behind the Seylynn towers on Mountain Highway, is putting its 32-storey Apex tower on ice while the company focuses on another North Shore project. related

 North Shore’s tallest tower to start construction

Denna had already completed the foundation and underground parking for the Apex but found itself waiting several months in 2019 for superstructure permits from the District of North Vancouver.

“We got to a point where our construction company was going to just have guys on site for the sake of being on site,” said Dan Thomson, vice-president of marketing for Denna Homes. “We were not even able to do additional work until we had that superstructure permit so the decision was made to prep the site to wait, which is box up the rebar and protect it.”

Long waits for permits are now the norm across Metro Vancouver, Thomson said. The superstructure permit finally arrived on Christmas Eve, but by then Denna had already decommissioned the site and decided to focus its efforts on The Sentinel, a 26-storey tower at 303 Marine Dr. in West Vancouver.

Darwin Properties rezoned the land in 2018 but sold it to Denna in 2019. Denna has since asked West Vancouver council to consider a proposal that would allow for an additional 35 units within the same building footprint by making some of the larger condos into smaller ones. The District of West Vancouver has scheduled a public hearing for the altered proposal on March 30.

Thomson said Denna has every intention of resuming work on the Apex. When that happens, though, will likely be tied to a rebounding housing market.

“It’s not frothy by any means, but you’ve got projects that are starting to launch and single-family home sales that are starting to increase, so those are all good signs in the right direction,” he said. “If all of a sudden tomorrow the market went crazy, we would probably try and figure out how to get our energies on both Apex and Sentinel, but right now we only have the capacity to deal with Sentinel.”

At the peak of the market, flips of rezoned but not-yet-built projects were quite common and profitable, Thomson said.

Now though, some junior developers may find themselves in over their heads and having to sell or wait for more favourable market conditions to start construction.

“Three, four years ago, everyone was buying land and becoming a developer,” he said. “They buy their land at a high price and the market turns and now they’re in trouble.”

Also impacting the decision was the fact the relatively small developer also lost one of their key team members, Daniel Saket, who was killed in the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash in Tehran last month.

“That has had a really big effect on us,” he said.

Pigeon ban: Coun. Muri wants ‘baseless, frivolous’ petition dismissed

11 people had filed a petition in December 2019, asking the court to remove Councillors Lisa Muri and Betty Forbes for their role in the pigeon ban STAFF REPORT January 17, 2020 9:12am

Councillor Lisa Muri wants the court to dismiss an alleged conflict-of-interest petition that calls for her removal from office for her role in the banning of pigeons in the District of North Vancouver.

“The Petition is baseless, frivolous and an abuse of the process of the court,” asserts a response filed by her counsel in the BC Supreme Court.

“The only affidavit presented relies on third-hand or media reports, contains inadmissible hearsay, and does not support any allegation against Councillor Muri at all, and in particular pursuant to ss. 100 or 101 of the Community Charter.”

Muri’s response states that the petitioners have “completely failed” to establish that any councillor had any financial interest in the matter.

“The Pigeon Bylaw is about pigeons – it has no pecuniary or monetary implications for anyone, and specifically not Councilor Muri,” the response states.

The response states that Councillor Muri wasn’t aware, and could not have been aware, of any pecuniary interest that Councillor Forbes had other than “an interest in common with electors of the municipality generally”.

If the petition is allowed to proceed, it would seriously undermine the democratic process, and interfere with the proper functioning of the council, the response asserts.

“Councilor Muri was exercising her duty as an elected Councilor in good faith. She was not acting on behalf of any individual, including Councilor Forbes,” her response states.

The petition is also politically motivated, the response notes.

“The serious and scurrilous allegations made against Councilor Muri, without reasonable facts, are made for collateral reasons or an irrelevant political purpose and call for an order for special costs in favor of Councilor Muri.”

Councillor Forbes has yet to file a response in the court.

Click on this link to read Muri’s legal response

Form 67 (Rule l6-l(5)) NO. S-1914300 VANCOUVER REGISTRY o i., Þ THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

( JAN 16 þ TTER OF THE COMMUNITY CHARTER. S.B.C. 2003, c.26

WAYNE MESSENGER, JOHN HARVEY, HARSH K. SHARMA, GURDIP SINGH DULAY, PALA SINGH, KA\TNEET SRA, KRISTA PAGE, WILLIAM COWAN, PHYLLIS PAGE, ROB GRANT and JOSIE GRANT

PETITIONERS

AND:

BETTY FORBES, LISA MURI and THE CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER

RESPONDENTS

RESPONSE TO PETITION

Filed by: Lisa Muri (the "Respondent")

THIS IS A RESPONSE TO the petition filed 20lDECl20l9.

Part 1: ORDERS CONSENTED TO

The Respondent consents to the granting of the orders set out in the following paragraphs of Part 1 of the petition: NIL.

Part2: ORDERS OPPOSEI)

The Respondent opposes the granting of the orders set out in paragraphs 1-5 of Part I of the petition.

The Respondent Muri requests the Petition be dismissed with costs, and on a special costs basis. -2-

Part 4z FACTUAL BASIS

1 Councilor Muri moved and voted in favour of Pigeon Prohibition Bylaw 8402,2019 (the ooPigeon Bylaw") in the best interests of all of the electors of the District of North Vancouver (the "District") and not to support her own interest or the personal interest of any other individual.

2 The Respondent Muri is in her 8th term as an elected councilor, having faithfully served the District since 1996.

3 Councilor Muri was not influenced in her voting for the Pigeon Bylaw by any other councilor, including Councilor Forbes. Councilor Muri was aware of Councilor Forbes concerns, but had her own concerns, motivated by the best interests of the District residents, and cast her vote for the District interest.

4 Councilor Muri was exercising her duty as an elected Councilor in good faith. She was not acting on behalf of any individual, including Councilor Forbes.

5 The legitimate reasons to support the Bylaw were similar or the same for Councilor Muri as the other 3 Councilors that supported the Pigeon Bylaw.

6. Based on information provided to the District of North Vancouver Council (the "Council") by District staff in advance of the Council vote on the Pigeon Bylaw, Councilor Muri reasonably believed that:

(a) pigeons have historically been kept at multiple residential locations in the District,

(b) complaints about pigeons have been received by the District since at least 1995;

(d) since some keepers of pigeons, including one petitioner, do not apply for permits, the number of unpermitted pigeons kept at residential locations in the District is unknown: the previous bylaw was enacted at a time when keeping pigeons might have been more appropriate given the rural nature of the District, but it is now inappropriate to the more urban residential environment.

Part 5: LEGAL BASIS

1. Councilor Muri had and could have no pecuniary interest in the Pigeon Bylaw.

2. The Pigeon Bylaw is about pigeons - it has no pecuniary or monetary implications for anyone, and specifically not Councilor Muri. -J-

3. The test for pecuniary interest under the Community Charter is an objective one. The Petitioners have completely failed to establish an actual pecuniary interest by anyone.

4. The Pigeon Bylaw applies equally throughout the District. It bans the keeping of pigeons to protect any and all residents from existing and potential future pigeon keepers that might otherwise adversely impact them or their property.

5. Councilor Muri was not aware, and could not have been, of any pecuniary interest that Councilor Forbes had in respect of the Pigeon Bylaw other than "an interest in common with electors of the municipality generally'' as contemplated by s. 1Oa(l)(a) of the Community Charter. The Pigeon Bylaw is not applicable to a single residence, block or subset of the District. Rather, the Pigeon Bylaw applies to the entire District and therefore benefits all electors in the municipality.

6. The affidavit in support presented by the petitioners fails to assert or establish any factual basis for any of the petitioners' unjustified allegations against Councillor Muri.

7. The Petition is baseless, frivolous and an abuse of the process of the Court.

8. The only affidavit presented relies on third-hand or media reports, contains inadmissible hearsay, and does not support any allegation against Councillor Muri at all, and in particular pursuant to ss. 100 or 101 of the Communíty Charter.

9. The Petitioners are not entitled to discovery under Ihe Communíty Charter to supplement the absence of facts, or the inability to establish the case required to justifu this Petition. The cannot make serious allegations of conflict of interest based upon "ways presently unknown to the petitioners", without facts, and to then seek to subject an elected councilor to a cross-examination on a public bylaw vote.

10. Such a process would seriously undermine democratic process and interfere with the proper functioning of Council, in a manner that is not contemplated under the statute or Canadian law.

I l. Further, the Petition is fundamentally flawed and a nullity under the Community Charter, including because:

a. the Petitioners have not established that they each, andlor at least 10 of them, are "electors of the municipality'' as required under s. 111(1),

b. the petition was not served "within 7 days" after filing as required under s. 109(2), and

c. the petition was not filed "within 45 days after the alleged basis of the disqualification comes to the attention of ... any of the electors bringing the fpetition]." under s. 111(4)(a). -4-

12. T\e serious and scurrilous allegations made against Councilor Muri, without reasonable facts, are made for collateral reasons or an irrelevant political purpose and call for an order for special costs in favor of Councilor Muri.

Part 6: MATERIAL TO BE RELIED ON

13. In the absence of admissible facts put forward for the Petition, the Respondent has no case to answer.

The Respondent's estimate of the time that the application will take: N/4.

Date: I6/JAN/2020 of [ ] petition for petition

GREGORY J. MoDADE, Q.C

Petition respondents' address for service: Ratcliff & Company LLP Suite 500, 221West Esplanade North Vancouver, BC V7M 3J3

Fax number address for service (if any): (604) e88-14s2

E-mail address for service (if any): [email protected]

Name of the petition respondents' lawyer, if any: Gregory J. McDade, Q.C. Developer seeks 35 more units for Earl’s site tower

Brent Richter / North Shore News

January 18, 2020 06:00 AM https://www.nsnews.com/real-estate/developer-seeks-35-more-units-for-earl-s-site-tower-1.24055603

On the left: the tower approved by District of West Vancouver council in 2018. On the right, a tweaked version that would contain more units, albeit with the same building footprint and number of storeys. The slightly higher appearance is due to changes in design. images supplied

A developer is seeking to add more units to an already approved but not yet built tower project in the District of West Vancouver, bordering the District of North Vancouver.

In June, 2018, Darwin Properties successfully rezoned the former Earls Tin Palace restaurant site at 303 Marine Dr. to include 141 units (93 strata and 42 market rental) in a 26-storey tower, plus six townhouses to be rented out at below-market rates for single mothers. related

 Tower at former West Vancouver Earls site goes to the public

But in 2019, Darwin sold the project and land to Denna Homes, the same developer behind the Seylynn towers.

Now Denna says the makeup of the building has to be changed to reflect changes in the condo market and is seeking to add another 35 units within the same building footprint by making some of the larger condos into smaller ones. Smaller units will sell faster than larger ones, the company’s managing partner Abo Taheri, told council on Jan. 13.

The number of parking spaces would grow from 201 to 204, about 1.25 stalls per unit, which is within the district’s guidelines, according to staff.

District staff said the changes were small enough that a third-party consultant determined there would be no need for the municipality to go back and seek more community amenity contributions from Denna. But that did not sit well with Coun. Craig Cameron.

“I just don't buy that it's not worth something for the developer because there's no way the developer comes forward and spends the time and effort on your services or this uncertainty without it being financially remunerative. So, I would like to see a benefit from this,” he said. Cameron suggested that at least five or six of the proposed new units should be purpose-built rental, if council agrees to the changes at all.

Mayor Mary-Ann Booth said she was fine with asking the developer to look into making more of the units rentals, but she noted council does have a goal of approving smaller and more affordable units.

“I also don't want to cut off our nose to spite our face. I think the smaller units are more meeting our needs,” she said.

Council voted unanimously to send the latest version of the project to a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 3.

Asking for substantial changes once a rezoning had been approved was once unheard of, but this is the third time in the last year West Vancouver has considered a similar request. In July 2019, council was asked to consider adding more storeys to the new residential towers already under construction at Park Royal. That proposal remains under review and staff are targeting bringing it forward for first reading in March. In December, council agreed to British Pacific Properties’ request to add - through unit size reduction and increased building height – more than 400 strata and rental units to its long approved plans for development in the Rodgers Creek area.

DNV council splits twice on Lions Gate townhouse project Jeremy Shepherd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/dnv-council-splits-twice-on-lions-gate-townhouse-project-1.24060751

January 24, 2020 11:38 AM

A lengthy discussion led to an inconclusive result Monday as a majority of District of North council opposed proceeding with or postponing a proposed 15-unit townhouse project at 1920 and 1932 Glenaire Dr. image supplied Council opposed moving forward and opposed postponing a forward move during Monday’s meeting. The discussion was meant to offer developer PC Urban early input on their application to build a three-storey townhouse on the 1900 block of Glenaire Drive, with council voting to either proceed with, defer, revise or reject the project. But at the end of a 35-minute discussion three councillors favoured deferring, three supported proceeding, and Coun. Megan Curren said the project should be revised. The project might be acceptable if “we weren’t staring down two urgent crises” of growing inequity and the climate emergency, Curren explained. Curren noted that replacing two-single family homes with 15 townhouses aligns with the district’s aims on housing diversity. She also praised the applicant’s pledge to produce significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than mandated during construction. Ultimately, however, the district needs largely car-free, purpose- built rental and social housing as opposed to “million-dollar plus market townhomes,” Curren concluded. “We need transformative, not incremental policies.” “I don’t believe this is a transformative council,” replied Coun. Mathew Bond. While Bond said he’d endorse six floors of rental on the site, he opted to back the townhouse development as opposed to a “hypothetical project.” “We’ve got three people on council that aren’t going to approve any market development at this point in time,” Bond said. “If you don’t have any market development you’re not going to get any portion of that being rental or non-market rental.” Coun. Betty Forbes took umbrage at Bond’s characterization. “I’m offended that a councillor would assume what my vote is going to be,” she said. Forbes also defended council’s record. “As far as I’m concerned we are being transformative.” Explaining that she would prefer to offer housing for families who have been evicted or renovicted, Forbes voted to defer the project pending a review of the district’s official community plan. “There’s a lot of reasons why I think this needs to be deferred at the moment; and it will be.” Noting nearby developments in various stages of completion, Coun. Jim Hanson also supported deferral, explaining the community’s desire to “take a pause.” However, Hanson added he would support a rental development on the site. “I will vote in favour of any and all rental-only zoning proposals,” he promised. Council previously approved a 150-unit development just east of Dollarton Avenue. There are another 151 units in Lions Gate either approved or under construction. The community centre at 2035 Fullerton Ave. is set to open this spring. Coun. Jordan Back voted to proceed. “While we wait to define affordable and define those types of housing that we’re actually prepared to approve, I think we should approve something that’s relatively modest like this one,” he said. It might be rental but that doesn’t mean it will be cheap, Coun. Lisa Muri said in voting to defer. “You can’t just build rental for the sake of rental and somehow have that suggest that it’s going to be affordable,” she said. “This was a single-family neighbourhood at one time. It has been completely wiped out.” The project has “enough good going for it” to send it to public hearing, Mayor Mike Little said. Little asked Curren if she would break the deadlock by voting to proceed or defer. “There isn’t a path forward unless you’re willing to change your vote,” he said. “I’d like to see a different project, a better project,” Curren replied. Council voted 4-3 against deferring, with Bond, Back, Little and Curren opposed. Council then voted 4-3 against proceeding with Muri, Hanson, Forbes and Curren opposed. “Council, sorry, I wish we could give staff more clear direction,” Little said. © 2020 North Shore News

DNV looks to cap max. house size

Jeremy Shepherd / North Shore News

January 20, 2020 08:53 PM https://www.nsnews.com/news/dnv-looks-to-cap-max-house-size-1.24057044

New restrictions may coming to the last limitless zone in the District of North Vancouver. On Monday evening council gave third reading to a motion that would institute a 5,813-square foot maximum on new houses in the district’s single-family residential one acre zone. file photo Cindy Goodman, North Shore News

There may be some unhappy acres in the District of North Vancouver.

In a 4-3 vote Monday, council moved a step closer to instituting a maximum size of 5,813 square feet for new homes in the municiipality’s single-family residential one-acre zone – the only neighbourhood in the municipality not currently bound by a cap on house size.

Mayor Mike Little made an unsuccessful motion to send the issue back to district staff for reconsideration, suggesting the proposed limit isn’t fair to owners.

“I don’t think we’ve hit the number,” Little said.

“If it’s not this number, what number is it?” Coun. Lisa Muri responded.

The days of sprawling orchards sharing lots with modest homes have past, she said, noting even small homes in the district sell for more than $1 million.

“Why are we doing this? Because it’s fair,” Muri said. “It’s not perfect, but no number is.”

There are 51 lots on which homeowners could currently exceed that square footage limit. Staff estimate seven homes in the zone already loom over that limit and would become legally non-conforming if council adopts the bylaw. There isn’t a pressing need to change district rules, Coun. Mathew Bond said, suggesting he was uninterested in devoting council time to an issue affecting only a small number of homeowners.

Both Couns. Jim Hanson and Megan Curren differed with Bond, emphasizing the environmental harm of clearing large lots for huge, energy inefficient homes.

Each of the district’s 14 other neighbourhoods has a limit on house size, noted Coun. Betty Forbes. Forbes suggested homeowners could still request a variance to go beyond the municipal envelope.

Coun. Jordan Back voted against the new limits.

“We really didn’t hear any support for this,” he said.

The motion raised the ire of several homeowners who wrote to council charging that the proposed limit was arbitrary and encroached on property rights while not valuing years of property taxes which were based on building potential.

“The market value a one-acre lot is almost totally about the size of the house that one can build on it,” one anonymous homeowner wrote. “This whole proposal seems like it is designed to punish those that made good investment decisions who are already being taxed unfairly.”

Basements and garages would be exempt from the limit. However, due to proximity to streams, many of those properties would be unsuitable for basements, Little noted.

Other maximum sizes in the district range from 2,045 square feet to 5,940 square feet in Queensdale.

DNV plans to restrict maximum home size

The bylaw is for RS1 zoning, the only single-family zone in DNV that doesn't specify a maximum house size Staff report https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/dnv-plans-to-restrict-maximum-home-size/ January 20, 2020 11:51am District of North Vancouver council will debate plans for a new bylaw that would limit maximum housing size in the RS 1 zone.

It is the only single-family zone in DNV that doesn’t have a maximum house size.

The bylaw change would limit the new homes to 5,813 square feet, the maximum size allowed in other DNV zoning areas.

RS 1 is the only single-family zone that doesn’t specify a maximum house size, something that has been voiced as a concern by the district council.

Under existing bylaw, a 20,000 square feet lot permits a new house of approximately 7,350 square feet, plus areas such as a basement.

Under the proposed bylaw, the same property would be permitted a new house of 5,813 square feet, plus the basement.

Reducing impact of construction and preserving greenspace as well as neighbourhood character are some of the reasons why council wants to restrict housing size.

A staff review shows the change would impact only lots larger than 15,608 square feet in the district, and there are 51 such lots that staff has identified.

Any existing house that is larger than the proposed maximum house size of 5,813 square feet may become “legally non-conforming”.

If the bylaw is approved, any new application for a home size bigger than 5,813 square feet would have to be approved by the council.

The average house size in the RS1 zone is estimated at 3,160 square feet. In fact, a large number of existing houses in the RS 1 zone would be within the proposed limit, staff says.

Some citizens have criticised the move as unnecessary and too restrictive.

“As an owner of an RS1 property where we are currently building a new home that exceeds the proposed limit, I would be astounded at such a limit and would likely move out of North Vancouver District as a result,” said one citizen in a letter to council.

Another person has written saying they have been paying property taxes for several years based on the market value of being able to build a house on their 13,000 square feet lot.

“It seems totally unreasonable to cut this in half after all of these years,” the letter writer noted.

Council debates giving second and third reading at a meeting today, January 20, at 6 pm at the council chambers. DNV simplifies coach house rules, reduces council’s involvement Jeremy Shepherd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/dnv-simplifies-coach-house-rules-reduces-council-s-involvement-1.24060922 January 24, 2020 02:15 PM

While you're welcome to visit municipal hall any time, homeowners hoping to build a small coach house can now skip council chambers and head straight to the building permit stage. file photo Cindy Goodman, North Shore News After approving 17 coach houses in four years, District of North Vancouver will now let some homeowners skip council chambers and head straight to the building permit stage. Council voted unanimously Monday to streamline the coach house process and essentially remove themselves from the equation when an owner wants to build a one-storey coach house. The new process, which received final adoption Monday, applies to owners of lots that are at least 49.2 feet wide. Owners hoping to build two-storey coach houses or a coach house not on a property with open lanes or a corner lot will still need council’s approval through a development variance permit process. Coach houses cannot be bigger than 968 square feet and also won’t be allowed on properties where there is already a secondary suite or where a home already has more than one boarder. Coun. Jordan Back previously suggested that a less complicated system could result in more coach houses. “I think that they can be an effective housing solution in many cases, particularly for intergenerational housing,” he said. The City of North Vancouver allows coach houses, which can be as large as 1,000 square feet and as tall as two storeys, on residential lots. Secondary suites are also permitted. West Vancouver allows either a secondary suite or a coach house. However, one off-street parking spot must be provided for the resident of the coach house. The coach home also has to be 4.9 metres from the main house. © 2020 North Shore News

LETTER: Edgemont neighbourhood still thriving, despite councillor's comments North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/letter-edgemont-neighbourhood-still-thriving-despite-councillor-s-comments-1.24063581 January 29, 2020 06:31 PM

file photo North Shore News Dear editor: While I am concerned about small businesses being responsible for covering their landlords’ ever-rising property taxes, and the financial pressures of a high-rent municipality, Coun. Lisa Muri picked the wrong neighbourhood as her sample. Yes, Edgemont Village has five financial institutions. Four of them have been there for over 40 years, and the “newest” addition for at least 20. Today’s Edgemont Village has two butchers, two bakers, a candlestick maker and a large variety of other independent shops that meet almost every need of the surrounding population. Yes, some small businesses have closed and the face of the Village has substantially changed since we moved into the area 35 years ago, but so far, it is a successful retail area, and not one to be held up as a what-not-to-do. Jennifer Duholke North Vancouver © 2020 North Shore News Businesses in North Vancouver's Edgemont Village are ditching single-use plastic bags Majority of stores set to enact voluntary bag-bag on March 1 Ben Bengtson / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/community/businesses-in-north-vancouver-s-edgemont-village-are-ditching-single-use-plastic-bags-1.24077491 February 15, 2020 02:50 PM

Peter Young of Columbus Farm Market is one of almost 60 Edgemont Village businesses that have voluntarily pledged to stop offering single-use plastic bags at their storefronts come March 1. photo Ben Bengtson, North Shore News Business owner Peter Young remembers when the switch from paper to plastic was first made at his parents’ family shop. At one point in the 1970s, he says, his parents, who had started the former Queens Market in Edgemont Village the decade prior, happily made the transition along with other businesses. Plastic bags, they reasoned, offered a cheaper and lighter alternative compared to paper bags, and they also didn’t take up as much space in the storefront. related  Horseshoe Bay businesses are ditching single-use plastic bags  Anti-straw crusaders look to save Deep Cove from environmental harm “This box here holds 2,000 plastic bags. Five-hundred papers bags is a bundle about two and a half times the size,” says Young, gesturing to one of the final stashes of plastic bags his business is likely to harbour. He acknowledges there will be challenges when it comes to switching once again, this time back to paper bags, but knows the benefits to the planet and the environment make it more than worth it. Young has since taken over the family business, now called Columbus Farm Market, and is one of almost 60 Edgemont Village businesses that have pledged to ditch single-use plastic bags come March 1. “The reason I was on board personally is because I read the news, I know what’s going on with plastic found in oceans,” says Young. “It goes along with our morals and beliefs.” Many of Young’s customers already shop using their own reusable bags, he says. For those that forget their reusables at home, Columbus Farm Market, at least for the time being, will have paper bags on hand. “Our customers have asked us to switch,” says Young. “If we didn’t get on board, we would certainly hear from our customers.” The voluntary plastic bag ban initiative coming later this month was brought forward by Ocean Ambassadors Canada, with support from the Edgemont Village Business Association, who are hoping the whole community can get behind the businesses as they transition away from single-use plastic bags. “A really big emphasis is on not just switching to paper, but switching to reusable – getting customers bringing their own bag,” says Alison Wood, co-founder of Ocean Ambassadors Canada, a North Shore-based organization dedicated to combating the scourge of plastic garbage in oceans through education as well as local environmental initiatives. Since December, Ocean Ambassadors representatives along with volunteers – many of whom are still in grade school – have been spreading the word about the coming change every Saturday at a station in the middle of Edgemont Village.

Grade 4 Montroyal Elementary students Audrey Eisenhauer and Mackenzie Campbell, and Grade 6 Cleveland Elementary student Ellery Errico, get the word out about Edgemont Village’s voluntary single-use plastic bag ban on a recent Saturday - photo Ben Bengtson, North Shore News “The idea is if we educate the public then they’re going to encourage the businesses,” says Wood. “Since then, we’ve been working with individual businesses. We have a toolkit that we’ve been providing businesses to give them information about different single-use items, and then just really getting people on board.” While there are currently several bag-ban bylaws before B.C. municipal councils, only a handful of cities throughout the province have enabled single-use plastic bag bans. There is currently no provincial legislation when it comes to banning plastic bags or other single-use plastic items, though the federal government wants to ban harmful single-use plastics as early as 2021. In the meantime, Ocean Ambassadors are helping communities that want to voluntary ditch using single-use plastics, according to Wood. The organization helped install a voluntary plastic bag ban in Horseshoe Bay last summer, as well as a plastic straw ban in Deep Cove in 2018. Among the many local small businesses, such as Columbus Farm Market, that have bought-in to the bag-ban, there is also at least one chain store participating as well. The Edgemont Village COBS Bread Bakery, a chain which operates 130 bakeries across Canada, plans to participate in the bag-ban as well, according to COBS spokeswoman Yvonne Anderson. “We have been working on that and moving to more sustainable packaging for all of our products,” says Anderson. “Our plan is to launch paper bags for all of our bakeries, but they’re just a little ahead of the curve on this one.” A launch event is planned in anticipation of Edgemont going plastic bag-free at Highlands United Church on Feb. 21 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Visit oceanambassadorscanada.org/community-initiatives for tickets or more information. There are 85 businesses in Edgemont Village, according to the Edgemont Village Business Association. The association will be debuting a new Edgemont-branded reusable fabric bag at the Feb. 21 event. On a recent Saturday, Mackenzie Campbell, a Grade 4 student at Montroyal Elementary, was in Edgemont Village helping Ocean Ambassadors Canada get the word out that many neighbourhood businesses would no longer be providing single-use plastic bags to customers. The majority of the people in the community seemed very receptive to the endeavour, she says, adding her reasons for wanting to help spread the word were simple: “I really want to help the oceans be plastic-bag free.” © 2020 North Shore News

Expect heavy traffic on Marine Drive as CNV replaces bridge (VIDEO) CNV is urging people to consider an alternative traffic route, although access to businesses and local homes will be maintained Staff report January 27, 2020 11:37am https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/expect-heavy-traffic-on-marine-drive-as-cnv-replaces-bridge-video/ For VIDEO see https://twitter.com/i/status/1221841084336222209 North Shore residents can expect heavy traffic on Marine Drive as the City of North Vancouver begins construction on a new Mosquito Creek Bridge on Marine Drive between Fell Avenue and Bewicke Avenue. The construction will begin on February 18 this year, and the entire project will take one year to complete. In the first phase, CNV plans to remove and reconstruct the southern side of the bridge. During the first five months of construction, traffic will be limited to one eastbound lane and one westbound lane. “Drivers will notice a reduction in speed and changes in alignment. This will happen progressively as traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction and moved to the northern side of Mosquito Creek Bridge,” the city said. CNV is urging people to consider an alternative traffic route, although access to businesses and local homes will be maintained. CNV said the pedestrians on the southern side of the Mosquito Creek will be detoured onto a new temporary bridge across Mosquito Creek, as the regular sidewalk on the southern side is no longer suitable for pedestrians. Here are some of the impacts to traffic: Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction. Heavy vehicles (excluding buses) will be required to use an alternate route. Speed bumps will be installed to slow traffic approaching the bridge. Left turns will not be permitted at Fell Ave. Entry and exiting from Mosquito Creek lane will be restricted. Pedestrians on the southern side should continue to use the pedestrian detour bridge. Pedestrians on the northern side are unaffected. Cyclists can choose to dismount or ride on sidewalks at slow speed through the construction zone. Bus stops will be moved to accommodate construction. Refer to onsite signage. Once complete, the new, wider bridge will provide an improved experience for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and drivers. The new bridge will include four lanes of traffic, transit lanes in each direction, sidewalks and protected bike lanes on both sides, and a new multi-use path under Marine Drive connecting the Mosquito Creek trail.

Facing a climate emergency, these researchers explain what gives them hope

By Kate AllenScience and Technology Reporter Sun., Feb. 16, 2020timer7 min. Read https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/02/16/facing-a-climate-emergency-these-researchers-explain-what-gives-them-hope.html The news is often filled with doom and gloom about the environment, for good reason: we are in the middle of a climate change emergency and an extinction crisis. But the people on the front lines of these problems still find ways to get out of bed in the morning. The Star asked climate and conservation scientists to look back at recent events, look forward to the future, and answer a simple question: What makes you hopeful? Their responses have been edited for length and clarity. Kai Chan, professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia I’m inspired by the combination of the broad base of concern across a broad swath of Canadians (and others around the world), as well as the much more targeted and personally risky peaceful action of folks as in Extinction Rebellion. The fact that half a million people turned up for the climate rally in late September in Montreal was huge. Similarly, the election provided a tangible reason for optimism for me. Even in the face of persistent and misleading claims about carbon pricing being a tax grab, a strong majority of Canadians voted for strong climate action — reaching carbon-neutrality by 2050, or even more stringent than that. We have yet to see how much can be accomplished towards that end given provincial politics, but it’s something. Dan Kraus, senior conservation biologist, Nature Conservancy of Canada First, the tremendous growth we’ve seen in protected areas in Canada and around the world: places like Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve and more of Ontario’s Cockburn Island. Canada looks to be on track to meet protected area targets for 2020, and has now set even more ambitious goals for 2025. Perhaps just as important, recent surveys show that Canadians continue to support more land conservation. Second, the Kirkland Warbler. After being on the edge of extinction, this songbird has slowly been recovering through a multitude of initiatives, and was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species list in 2019. This will certainly help to improve its status in Canada, but more importantly it shows that we can recover endangered species — including species that migrate, occur across large areas, and have habitat needs that could conflict with resource development. The recovery of this species should give us evidence of hope that we can stop the extinction crises, and that with the upcoming UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), we may still have a chance to turn things around. Gillian Chow-Fraser, boreal program manager, CPAWS Northern Alberta

I am optimistic about the future of Indigenous leadership in conservation and protecting nature. In March 2019, the Government of Alberta announced the establishment of Kitaskino Nuwenëné Wildland Provincial Park (which translates in Cree and Dene to “our land”), which contributes to the largest network of protected areas in the boreal in the world. It was initially proposed by the Mikisew Cree First Nation, who will help co-operatively manage the park, and helps protect a portion of the Ronald Lake Bison herd, one of the last disease-free herds of at-risk wood bison. There were also huge efforts for co-ordinated voluntary abandonment of leases by several energy companies within the park. From federally funded Indigenous Guardians programs across the country, to increasing proposals for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), we are just scratching the surface of Indigenous-led conservation initiatives. Valérie Courtois, director, Indigenous Leadership Initiative Opinion: How global climate change could affect our local real estate markets With extreme weather events displacing residents and diverting immigrants, temperate cities such as ours could be in much hotter demand in the coming decades

Joannah Connolly / Glacier Media Real Estate https://www.nsnews.com/opinion-how-global-climate-change-could-affect-our-local-real-estate-markets-1.24064878

January 30, 2020 07:56 AM

Photo by Markus Spiske/Pexels.com

The recent slowdown in Western Canadian real estate activity has been hailed by many hopeful market- watchers as the beginning of a return to housing affordability. But there is one big reason – a massive reason – why this correction may have been just a tiny blip in the big picture over the next few decades.

That reason? Global climate change.

Last week, I attended an Urban Development Institute panel event, forecasting real estate trends for 2020. When it came to the question about how climate change would affect the industry, the panellists discussed the importance of sustainable building practices and saving energy.

That’s all great, but it seemed to me to be missing another, extremely crucial point. Which is that, if global climate change continues to cause increasingly extreme weather events, such as Australia’s bushfires and North America’s hurricanes, our regions could be looking at vast amounts of global climate migration over the coming decades. If that happens, it could hugely affect our real estate markets.

Last week, Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said at the World Economic Forum that the world needs to prepare for millions of climate refugees, according to a Reuters article.

Reuters reported that a ruling by the United Nations has been made for refugees to safely move to another country in a climate emergency. “The ruling says if you have an immediate threat to your life due to climate change, due to the climate emergency, and if you cross the border and go to another country, you should not be sent back, because you would be at risk of your life, just like in a war or in a situation of persecution,” Grandi said. Guess where those displaced will look to settle? Somewhere temperate, less prone to extreme weather events, and with a stable economic and political system.

Of course, that description takes in countless options across the world, but very much included are regions such as B.C.’s Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, among others in Western Canada.

And that’s not all. Another wave of immigrants could come from regular migrants, who are diverted from their first choice of new country due to climate change. For example, Brits and Irish looking to emigrate have often chosen between Australia and Canada, as both are English-speaking Commonwealth countries where it is easy to get a work visa and settle. With many would-be Australian immigrants now likely thinking again, because of the bushfires, Canada could be the obvious next choice.

At a more local level, even our own wildfires in B.C., which have increased in size and number over recent years, could drive people from the at-risk Interior regions to the safety of the cooler, coastal cities.

Geopolitical climate migration

It’s not just extreme weather that will push more newcomers our way. The global geopolitical climate also plays a big part in this.

People looking to exit harsh regimes or poor governance will always seek stable political and economic systems such as ours. For example, many of those looking to get out of places like Hong Kong, or even post-Brexit Britain, will likely be looking at Canada – again, especially with Australia, the usual alternative for both those countries, now less appealing.

What could all this mean for our local real estate markets? Well, there’s always a cap on how many immigrants are let into the country, so it doesn’t mean we’ll be overrun with millions of people in 30 years. But I am pretty certain that the global desirability of cities such as ours will only go up – and up, and up.

If that happens (and it’s a big “if”), that could mean real estate prices and the cost of living will skyrocket over the coming decades, far and away past anything we’ve ever seen before.

So to the policymakers thinking about sustainable building practices and saving energy, please continue, but add into that how we're going to accommodate the potential flood of climate migrants who will want to move to our regions.

And to all those who are applauding the current minor slip in real estate prices: celebrate while you can, because we might never see home prices this low again.

Grouse Mountain set to ‘evolve’ under new owners Northland Properties will draw on experience developing Revelstoke Mountain Resort

Glen Korstrom / Business in Vancouver https://www.nsnews.com/grouse-mountain-set-to-evolve-under-new-owners-1.24051590

January 13, 2020 12:27 PM [Published in print on page A10 Jan 31/2020]

Grouse Mountain resort has been acquired by Northland Properties, one of North America’s biggest privately owned hospitality companies. Photo Rob Kruyt/BIV files

A significant transformation could lie ahead for Grouse Mountain with Northland Properties poised to close a deal to buy the ski hill by month’s end.

Northland principal Tom Gaglardi said when he announced the transaction Jan. 2 that his company would help the destination “evolve.”

Exactly what that means is not clear.

Northland built a Sutton Place hotel at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, which is the other mountain resort it owns.

There is no hotel atop Grouse Mountain, and District of North Vancouver and perhaps other approvals would be needed to launch construction, Grouse Mountain spokeswoman Julia Grant told Business in Vancouver.

Northland is one of North America’s largest privately owned hospitality companies. It is known for its Sandman and Sutton Place brands, so building a hotel on the mountain could be on the horizon.

The company also owns the Moxie’s Grill and Bar chain and has master franchise rights for Denny’s in Western Canada, so one of those restaurants may also find its way up the mountain if the leases of current eateries do not prohibit competition. “None of that stuff is in the works at this point,” stressed Northland’s chief marketing and digital officer, Manoj Jasra, adding that strategizing for future development will take place after the transaction closes.

Former Grouse Mountain owner Bruce McLaughlin and son Stuart McLaughlin started to add attractions atop the mountain in the late 1980s in an attempt to make the resort a year-round destination.

They opened the 110-seat Theatre in the Sky in 1990 as an attraction that mimicked General Motors’ popular Spirit Lodge pavilion at Vancouver’s 1986 world’s fair.

The McLaughlins added a five-line circuit of ziplines in 2008 and spent several million dollars to build the Eye of the Wind turbine in time for the 2010 Olympics.

The mountain now has several restaurants, additional ziplines and a disc-golf course.

The McLaughlins sold the mountain in 2017 to CM (Canada) Asset Management Co. Ltd. — a Canadian investment and asset-management company that has more than 60 per cent Canadian investor ownership, but it is also owned in part by Chinese conglomerate China Minsheng Investment Group.

Those new owners installed an aerial ropes course, where participants wear harnesses as they overcome obstacles.

Jasra told BIV that after Northland bought Revelstoke Mountain Resort in 2008, the company invested more than $200 million in a range of projects, including building more than 3,000 acres of lift-serviced terrain.

The owners also upgraded the gondola and added parking, restaurants, a viewing platform, a day spa and other amenities.

One upgrade that Jasra said would have to be done is to replace the blue Skyride aerial tram, which first opened in 1966. He said that the people-mover, which is not open to the public and is only used by staff, it at its end of life. Exactly what will replace it, however, has yet to be determined. A separate red Skyride aerial tram, often called a gondola, continues to be in use.

McLaughlin years ago stressed to BIV that the Skyride is not a gondola, because gondolas can be detached from cables. Tramways affix permanently to a cable.

Health authorities, schools on North Shore combat coronavirus fears Jane Seyd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/health-authorities-schools-on-north-shore-combat-coronavirus-fears-1.24070484 February 6, 2020 03:31 PM

Pharmacist Lily Liang has been handing out pamphlets with information about the coronavirus to the public to try to educate people about relative risks and prevention strategies. photo Paul McGrath, North Shore News While health authorities continue to state the risk of catching the novel coronavirus is low in B.C., that hasn’t stopped the public from taking actions health experts cite as unnecessary – from buying up face masks to cancelling Lunar New Year events on the North Shore. Lily Liang, a pharmacist with London Drugs on Lonsdale Avenue, said she and her colleagues have been fielding a high volume of inquiries about the availability of both face masks and hand sanitizer since news of the coronavirus hit around the world. “We’re getting some supplies but they’re selling out really quick,” said Liang, adding “any time we have masks, they do become sold out really fast.” Liang said in some cases, travellers are coming in to buy the masks before boarding international flights, while in other cases, members of the public appear to be taking a “just in case” approach. So far, health authorities say masks aren’t needed or advised unless someone is actually ill and contagious. Liang said pharmacists try to get that message across, and have a pamphlet to hand out on proper preventative measures, such as frequent hand washing. As of press time, there were just four cases of novel coronavirus in B.C. while at least 114 samples had been tested. The four confirmed cases are recovering at home in isolation, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. One of those cases – a man in his 40s – reportedly became ill after coming back from a trip to Wuhan, China, where the epidemic started. In the second case, a woman in her 50s apparently became infected after having close contact with visitors from Wuhan. The third and fourth cases are in that same household. Health authorities have not said where in the Lower Mainland those cases are. In West Vancouver, where a large proportion of the English Language Learner population in local schools have family ties to mainland China, school officials have been fielding calls from parents about whether students should be kept home after trips to China. In some cases, parents have been asking about whether other students should be kept home as well. “We haven’t had to ask anybody to stay home from school,” said Sean Nosek, associate superintendent for the West Vancouver school district, this week. “We get that people are concerned,” he said. “It’s the lead story in the news.” But he added, “We don’t want to create a situation where we look at some people as ‘other.’” Nosek said the school district is in close contact with health authorities and has been following their advice. As of Thursday, that included asking any students newly returned specifically from the Hubei province in China to self-isolate at home for 14 days. Some events, including Lunar New Year events planned at Irwin Park Elementary and a lantern festival to mark the Lunar New Year planned at Chartwell Elementary, have recently been cancelled. Nosek said those weren’t school district decisions, but the decisions of parent volunteers from the Chinese community who were organizing the events. “In some cases, I think there was a concern that the tone and spirit of celebration weren’t as positive as they might be given world news,” he said. The Vancouver Beideng Society cancelled its Spring Festival performance in West Vancouver in January amid growing concerns about coronavirus, according to an event organizer. photo supplied Charlie Pan

A large Chinese New Year variety show normally held at Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver at the end of January was also cancelled with organizers voicing concern about potentially spreading the virus – something health authorities say is unlikely given the low risk in B.C.

Jatinder Sidhu, a parent of three children who attend Chartwell Elementary in West Van, said he’s heard of those issues taking on a darker tone, in the form of anti-Chinese racism. One day in his eight-year-old daughter’s class, “Somebody was saying, ‘Don’t touch me, you’ve got coronavirus,’” to another student, Sidhu said.

He added the teacher addressed the issue with the class, explaining what the virus was and wasn’t, and pointing out misconceptions about it.

But people don’t always react to fears about epidemics in rational ways, said Steven Taylor, a UBC professor of psychiatry whose recent book The Psychology of Pandemics addresses psychological issues surrounding perceptions of outbreaks.

“Human beings are tribalistic in nature,” he said, and fears of illness tap into primitive defensive reactions. “Xenophobia is a common reaction.”

UBC professor of psychiatry, Dr. Steven Taylor. photo supplied UBC

While health authorities say face masks are not needed, people are still being presented with photos of people wearing masks every day in the media, he said, which is psychologically compelling.

For some people, wearing a mask is almost like carrying a good luck charm, he said, “a superstitious kind of behaviour to keep themselves safe.”

The problem is if enough people do it, it raises the general perception of threat, he said.

Canada was in the process Thursday of flying Canadians out of quarantined areas in Wuhan, China. That plane will land at a military base in Ontario where passengers and crews will remain quarantined for two weeks, the government has said.

Henry said last week it’s estimated that about a third of the people on the plane will have connections to B.C. and may be returning here.

Inspect heritage carport before demolition, DNV staff tells council

DNV received an application to demolish the carport in October last year. Photo: DNV Gagandeep Ghuman January 31, 2020 1:10pm https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/inspect-heritage-carport-before-demolition-dnv-staff-tells-council/ District of North Vancouver staff is advising the council a carport in the Blueridge neighbourhood should undergo a heritage inspection before it can be demolished by the owner. The carport is located on an empty lot adjacent to the historic Kovach Residence that is included in the District’s Community Heritage Register. The detached carport is also mentioned on the Community Heritage Register, and both have the same owner. The carport was built in 1967 and is described in the Community Heritage Register as the “original square-plan garage, with its pyramidal roof and sculpted finial”. On October 17 2019, DNV received an application to demolish the carport. While the district’s Community Heritage Register contains properties with heritage value and character, it does not provide permanent legal protection. The applicant wants to subdivide two lots into three and build a home on the northerly lot where the carport presently stands. The owner says he would like to keep the carport, if possible. District staff, meanwhile, is suggesting an inspection to assess the condition and heritage value of the carport. “The inspection will help determine if the carport has heritage value, and its extent. If it is determined that the carport has limited or no heritage value, it may be appropriate to remove it from the Community Heritage Register and issue the demolition permit,” staff says. If, however, heritage value for the carport is confirmed upon inspection, the demolition permit would continue to be withheld until necessary approvals have been issued with regards to alteration, staff say. Staff has also advised the owner any potential subdivision would mean a discussion related to the lots’ heritage characteristics and potential heritage value conservation. The district’s heritage plan encourages the retention of properties and landscapes that have heritage or cultural value. As such, district makes efforts to identify and retain properties with heritage value. Staff is suggesting that a heritage inspection on the carport be conducted as soon as possible, and that the demolition order remain in effect until the heritage inspection is complete. Meanwhile, staff will continue to discuss and review redevelopment options with the owner. It's Too Late For Us To Fight Climate Change. Instead, Here's How We'll Spend Our Lives. "My wife and I will leave it to someone else to try and avoid disaster ... we’ve decided that as long as they can postpone the collapse until we’re dead, we’ll be OK."

HUFFPOST PERSONAL 02/16/2020 08:00 EST By Barry Rueger, HuffPost US https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/climate-change-strategy_n_5e4308c0c5b6b9d1a7570b47?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage

Courtesy of Barry RuegerBarry Rueger looking out over the Pacific Ocean on Vancouver Island in Ucluelet, British Columbia. What Will Be Lost is a series of reported stories and essays exploring the ways climate change is affecting our relationship to one another, to our sense of place and to ourselves. Last year was when the endless bush fires in Australia convinced me and my wife, Susan, that climate change was unstoppable. It’s also when we realized that we likely will avoid seeing the worst of the climate emergency. At 64 and 74 years of age, my wife and I believe there’s a good chance that we’ll be gone before coastal cities are flooded, the ice caps have melted, and the planet descends into a “Mad Max” dystopia. We would like to think that this isn’t what the future has in store, but the intransigence of almost all governments to actually slow carbon emissions leaves little doubt that things are unlikely to turn around. One of the things that age gives you is a sense of history, a feeling that you’ve seen patterns repeat and that you can see where things are heading in the near future. Over and over again, we’ve seen corporations and governments ignore the people they should protect in order to line their own pockets. What has changed now is that they’re sacrificing an entire planet instead of a town or a country. I would like to believe that the younger people marching with Greta Thunberg could change that, but honestly I can’t see it happening. If the powerful people who could significantly reduce carbon emissions at the stroke of a pen won’t act to save us, are we wasting our time? My wife and I are at the age when we’re preparing for retirement as much as possible. Instead of just staying in our home in Vancouver, we’re thinking about where we can move that will insulate us from the climate emergencies that are surely coming. We’d like to move to a place in the country, and grow tomatoes and grapes, and surround ourselves with the things that will make us safe and comfortable while the world burns around us. We’ll grow old gracefully, and will leave it to someone else to try and avoid disaster. At this point we’ve decided that as long as they can postpone the collapse until we’re dead, we’ll be OK. We’ll choose a home in a place that will stay reasonably cool and that should avoid tsunamis and tornados. We’re exercising and eating carefully so that we can stay healthy to avoid a collapsing health care system. We’ll invest in things like solar energy because it will protect us from failures of the infrastructure that powers our home, not because we hope to reduce emissions. And, to some degree, we’ll welcome friends who are forced to leave their homes when they are underwater, or who are burned out of their properties. It is now part of our plan for climate disaster to accept that our home will become a place of refuge for some of these people. What frustrates us is that we’re part of the generation that saw all of this coming. During the ’60s and ’70s, the governments that we elected more or less invented municipal recycling, and in the ’80s many of us began carrying reusable shopping bags. We lived through the introduction of stringent pollution controls and many of us chose to replace our furnaces, water heaters and appliances with newer, more expensive low energy models. Like many people we’ve tried to move to a more plant-based diet, and one that avoids chemical additives and fertilizers, and we’re driving the market for electric cars. We should feel virtuous, but it has become obvious that all of these actions are a drop in the bucket. If the powerful people who could significantly reduce carbon emissions at the stroke of a pen won’t act to save us, are we wasting our time? I think that both Susan and I struggle some days to see a positive future for our planet, but we also know that we’re taking steps to make our own immediate future as bright and safe as we can. Perhaps the practical solution to our climate emergency isn’t to wait for politicians to shut down the fossil fuel industry. Instead, each of us can create our own local community and try our best to prepare for the inevitable dark days. We’re hoping to build a safe, sustainable place to live out our last few decades, and to make it a place where art and music and literature play a central role in our lives. We’ve always been urban dwellers, so we’re as surprised as any that we might adopt the old ’60s “back to the land” philosophies. The difference now ― aside from pending disaster ― is that things like cheap solar power and the internet make that a lot more practical and palatable. Whether we are leading by example or just running away from the inevitable can be debated, but this is how we’ll be taking back control of our lives. Meanwhile, as I watch the sea levels rise and Australia burn, I can’t help but remember the words of the old American spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep”: “God gave Noah the rainbow sign / No more water, the fire next time.” Barry Rueger is a North Vancouver-based writer. He is seeking: honest politicians; justice and honor; intelligence and humor; corporate integrity. He plans to move to France.

Kokomo is opening in Edgemont Village on January 18

Hanna McLean | Jan 16 2020, 1:26 pm https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/kokomo-edgemont-village @heykokomo/Instagram

The wait is almost over for North Vancouver’s new highly anticipated plant-based eatery to open.

Kokomo has announced that its third location will be opening in Edgemont Village on Saturday, January 18.

The first location opened in Chinatown Summer 2017, and just one year later, Kokomo’s Kitsilano outpost opened its doors.

Now we are just days away from being able to head into the newest 3270 Edgemont Boulevard space.

Known for its seasonal menu of hearty vegan bowls, salads, and snacks, it’s safe to say North Vancouver will be excited to finally get some Kokomo grub in their stomachs come Saturday.

Koko Edgemont will be open on January 18 from 8 am to 3 pm.

Kokomo – Edgemont Village Address: 3270 Edgemont Boulevard, North Vancouver

EDITORIAL: Lane closures on Marine Drive are a necessary growing pain

North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial-lane-closures-on-marine-drive-are-a-necessary-growing-pain-1.24076063

February 13, 2020 07:00 PM

Marine Drive at Fell Avenue will be reduced to one lane in either direction for five months while construction is done on the Mosquito Creek Bridge. IMAGE SUPPLIED

Take a deep breath, North Shore commuters. This is going to pinch. Starting on Tuesday, the Mosquito Creek Bridge on Marine Drive will be reduced to one lane in either direction for the first five months of the bridge replacement project.

The city is urging everyone to find alternate routes like West First Street, Highway 1 or Larson Road for east- west travel.

No doubt, this will be a frustration to the drivers of the 24,000 vehicles per day that cross the bridge, and the 50,000 people who cross it on transit. And it will have knock-on effects around the rest of our constrained transportation network.

But there’s no point in sulking about the project. Bridges, unfortunately, much like hips after almost 70 years of wear and tear, sometimes simply have to be replaced.

It’s just a matter of how we’re going to get around in the meantime.

Thankfully, just 750 metres to the south is the Spirit Trail, one of the most picturesque and leisurely multi-use trails in the Lower Mainland. The people who choose that as their alternate route are going to end up feeling pretty smart about it.

We want to see the RCMP out eagerly ticketing any drivers of heavy trucks who ignore the detour rules.

And under no circumstances do we want to hear about drivers taking their frustrations out on the flaggers and construction workers out there doing the job.

With some extra planning, a bit of co-operation and a lot of patience, we’re going to get through this with a piece of infrastructure that will, hopefully, still be in use when the children of today are having their hips replaced.

© 2020 North Shore News SULLIVAN: There are many lessons to learn from Port Alberni school smudging complaint Paul Sullivan / Contributing writer https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/columnists/sullivan-there-are-many-lessons-to-learn-from-port-alberni-school-smudging-complaint-1.24065090 January 31, 2020 04:10 AM

file photo Ben Bengtson, North Shore News The times, they are a changin’. And not everybody’s good with it. Earlier this month, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that Indigenous smudging and hoop dance ceremonies held in a Port Alberni elementary school did not infringe upon religious freedoms. related  Court rejects petition by mother who says kids were forced into Indigenous ceremony The complainant was a Port Alberni mom and evangelical Christian who argued that the smudging ceremony violated her daughter’s religious freedom and caused her to experience “anxiety, shame and confusion as a result.” At the time of the incident in 2015, her daughter was in Grade 5. Let me see … where to begin? How about … the fact that the ceremony, which involves burning a small sweet grass bundle, was a way of introducing Indigenous cultural practices to local school children? Not so long ago, those practices were brutally repressed for more than 80 years in a nearby residential school. The school is on the traditional unceded land of the i aa at sis sha ahtah –Tseshaht and the Hupa asat irst a tion, both members of the uu aan u (Nuu-chah-nulth Nations), or as they were known by the colonists, the Nootka people. We just moved in on them; yet they are still generous enough to share their culture. The complainant argued that the classroom smudging ceremony was “an echo of the gross abuses of the residential school days where First Nations children were taken from their homes, deprived of family support, and compelled by the state to participate in religious practices against their will.” Supreme Court Judge Douglas Thompson called that insensitive and regrettable hyperbole, “especially considering the magnitude of what occurred a few kilometres down the road during the 82 years that the Alberni Indian Residential School was open.” The ceremony was not held just for the edification of the descendants of colonizers. Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, which was an intervenor in the case, wrote in the Tyee that about 30 per cent of the kids in the district are Nuu-chah-nulth, who graduate at half the rate of non-Indigenous students. “Studies have shown that where culture is used and taught in a school, students thrive,” she said. “We need our children to succeed in the system.” I’m not qualified to comment, nor will I speculate on why the complainant’s daughter experienced anxiety, shame and confusion. But I’m not sure things improved after seven lawyers argued for five days in a courtroom. After that, that courtroom might benefit from a smudging ceremony. And speaking of anxiety, etc., imagine how Judith Sayers and her people felt when told their culture and spirituality featured demonic, dark powers in unseen supernatural worlds? Seriously? And Christianity doesn’t? We’re at that point where some people have started weaponizing human rights – if my children have to endure smudging ceremonies and hoop dances, why can’t they say the Lord’s Prayer or recite the 10 Commandments King James version ? It wasn’t so long ago that Christianity enjoyed singular status as a state religion, even though we were supposed to maintain the separation of church and state. For good reason, Torquemada. Anyone pining for the good old days can always go to a religious school. For the rest of us and our children, public education attempts to teach open-mindedness and generosity, despite social media. Talk about a tough job. It’s possible that Smudgegate is not over. The complainant is considering an appeal, aided by an outfit called the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which advocates “freedom and equality for each and every Canadian.” Including irst Canadians, presumably. So why all the lawyers? Change is hard for some people. I can earnestly argue that bringing Indigenous cultural practices into the classroom promotes freedom and equality for each and every Canadian, and I’ll get just as earnestly argued against. Hopefully common sense will remain an element of the Canadian justice system, but as I write, there are people looking over my shoulder going “who gets to define common sense?” Meanwhile, common sense is breaking out closer to home on the North Shore at Capilano University, which this month hired Miranda Huron as the university’s first director, Indigenous Education and Affairs. The appointment is a fitting milestone for a school named after Chief Joe Capilano, famed leader of the Squamish S wx w 7mesh) Nation of the Coast Salish people. Ms. Huron, who is a member of the Anishinaabe people, will provide strategic leadership for the university and direction for its First Nations Student Services. And maybe hold a smudging ceremony now and then. Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. [email protected] © 2020 North Shore News

Lynn Canyon Park closed due to snow

The park has been closed until further notice. Photo: DNV February 4, 2020 8:47am https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/lynn-canyon-park-closed-due-to-snow/

District of North Vancouver has closed the Lynn Canyon Park due to snow.

“Due to the recent snowfall, Lynn Canyon Park is closed to both pedestrians and vehicles until further notice. We will update residents once the park has been reopened for access,” according to a DNV update.

Meanwhile, DNV is reminding residents that the Lynn Canyon suspension bridge remains closed for maintenance and to replace the decking.

Marine Drive headed for 5 months of lane closures in North Van Brent Richter / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/marine-drive-headed-for-5-months-of-lane-closures-in-north-van-1.24076030 February 13, 2020 02:43 PM

Luke Gillies, project manager for the Mosquito Creek Bridge replacement project, gets a last look at the 1952 span before construction starts on its replacement. City of North Vancouver council is asking commuters to choose alternate east-west routes while the bridge is reduced to one lane in either direction for the next five months. photo Paul McGrath, North Shore News The City of North Vancouver is warning residents one of its most highly travelled roads is about to become a major bottleneck for traffic well into the summer. Immediately after the Family Day long weekend, Marine Drive will be reduced to one lane in either direction at Fell Avenue while crews replace the 1952 Mosquito Creek Bridge. related  EDITORIAL: Lane closures on Marine Drive are a necessary growing pain  North Van bridge replacement behind schedule, over budget  66-year-old bridge bound for replacement “It’s currently at the end of its life. It’s showing signs of deterioration and preparation work is complete so we can now proceed with construction,” said project manager Luke Gillies, in a final update to city council Monday night. When the new bridge is finished, it will have four vehicle lanes plus bus priority lanes, better pedestrian and cyclist facilities, and a new multi-use path running under Marine Drive to connect with Mosquito Creek Trail. But all of that is expected to take a year to complete. With 24,000 vehicle crossings per day, that section of Marine Drive is second only to Highway 1 in terms of carrying east-west traffic (81,900 average annual daily traffic measured at Westview Drive.) “We really do need to be encouraging people to take alternate routes,” said Mayor Linda Buchanan. City staff anticipate most drivers seeking a bypass will choose West First and West Second streets, so the city has adjusted the traffic light at First and Fell to maximize throughput for east-west drivers and cyclists.

map supplied, City of North Vancouver Roughly 50,000 transit passengers pass through the Marine Drive corridor per day, according to the city. TransLink’s new R2 RapidBus is expected to start service in April, mid-way through the first phase of the project. But even city staff don’t yet know how the R2s will keep to their schedule. “That’s yet to be determined,” said Brian Willock, manager of engineering, planning and design for the city. “We’ve been working with TransLink throughout the planning on this project. TransLink are our funding partner.” While it will be a pinch point, buses will have a queue-jumper lane they only have to share with right-turning drivers and they will be given advanced greens at the traffic signal. “We need to make sure that that R2 is as fairly free flowing as it can be so that we can actually meet – as best as we can – the time expectations for that bus, because we have been prepping for that across the entire North Shore for many years now,” Buchanan said.

Marine Drive at Fell Avenue will be reduced to one lane in either direction for five months while construction is done on the Mosquito Creek Bridge. IMAGE SUPPLIED After five months, the first phase of the project will be complete and two new lanes will be opened, according to staff. The second phase will be the completion of vehicle and bus lanes, and is expected to last another five months. The final phase will see the pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure come online over two more months. Drivers of trucks over 20,000 kilograms must divert at Mackay Road and West Second Street. During construction, westbound cyclists will lose their painted bike lane and will be required to share the one westbound lane with vehicle traffic. Buchanan asked staff to go back and find an alternative before something “catastrophic” happens. Gillies said staff considered diverting all eastbound traffic down to First, allowing two westbound lanes to remain open, but the delays to eastbound traffic weren’t worth the tradeoff. Staff also considered shortening the duration of the job by allowing for 24-hour construction work, but it was thought it would produce unacceptable levels of noise for residents of nearby condos. Since 2018, the budget for the project has grown from $8 million to $13 million. A federal grant will cover $3.87 million of the total. TransLink has also chipped in $1.65 million.

Modernize Canada’s privacy laws: UK information commissioner Don’t pay data ransoms, former B.C. privacy commissioner says Jeremy Hainsworth / Glacier Media https://www.nsnews.com/modernize-canada-s-privacy-laws-uk-information-commissioner-1.24069264 February 5, 2020 10:42 AM

Elizabeth Denham Photograph By Jeremy Hainsworth Britain’s information commissioner Tuesday added her voice to those of Canadian privacy commissioners in calling for modernization of the country’s privacy laws to bring them into the 21st century. “Canadian law has slipped behind,” Elizabeth Denham said, noting a main issue is how political parties use voter information. “People don’t have the right to find out what political parties are doing with their data.” She said information and privacy commissioners need more power, echoing the words of both current B.C. commissioner Michael McEvoy and Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien. Key there is the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Denham said. “PIPEDA needs to be reformed.” As for organizations hit with data attacks, Denham had simple advice: “Tell it all. Tell it fast. Tell the truth.” “Organizations get in trouble when they drag their feet and don’t actually describe what happened,” Denham said. In her new role, Denham said she deals with “the most wicked problems I have ever imagined,” noting privacy and data protection is now at the intersection of democracy, trade and media freedoms. She said people have lost their naiveté about how data is collected and used. Part of that came as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. That company is alleged to have harvested information from 50 million Facebook users to help President Donald Trump take the 2016 U.S. election. Similar issues surrounded the UK Brexit vote. “Cambridge Analytica and Facebook was a watershed moment,” Denham said in conversation with Business in Vancouver reporter Hayley Woodin. “People woke up.” Further, Denham said, the situations allowed her to go to the UK Parliament and request new powers, the ability to do data inspections and the ability to seize data held in the cloud. Denham said her office “couldn’t protect digital privacy without new powers to be a 21st century regulator.” But, Denham added, private organizations also need to be on board to protect data privacy. She said privacy needs to be built into systems from the start and organizations must take responsibility for their digital platforms. And, she said, much of that comes down to organizational ethics. “It’s all about fairness for the individual and transparency. Data can help society or it can hinder society.” Denham, also chair of the Global Privacy Assembly, said a polar contrast between North America and the UK is the attitude toward surveillance. She said Britons are more accepting of government surveillance – mainly as a deterrence to crime – while loathing private watchers. “People in North America are more suspicious of government surveillance. Culture plays a big part in it,” Denham said, noting in the UK, “surveillance cameras are everywhere.” From another standpoint, she explained, Europeans tend to be wary of surveillance, particularly in Germany, which has very strong privacy laws “due to experience with authoritarian governments.” Denham called the UK a bridge between European and North American attitudes. How things might change with the UK leaving the European Union remains to be seen, she added. Facial recognition technology is part of the surveillance paradigm, one Denham said is fraught with problems with the rise of artificial intelligence. While she said many people feel safer with facial recognition being able to catch wrongdoers, they are not concerned with whether or not the data collection is affective or lawful. “I find that chilling,” she said. Denham strenuously opposed the paying of ransom for data taken in breaches or in cases where ransomware locks down computer systems. “I would say paying ransom is a really bad idea,” Denham said. If organizations don’t pay, she said, “the market will dry up and the bad guys will go away.” The data of 15 million Canadians was hit in a December cyber attack on LifeLabs with patients’ names, addresses, emails, logins, passwords, health cards and lab tests affected. Attacks are not limited to large organizations or governments, however. More recently, B.C.’s Lookout Housing + Health Society was hit with a cyberattack. Lookout officials will not discuss details of the attack except to say the data was encrypted. “It is worth noting that all guests and client information is protected through encrypted software and that guest privacy was not affected by the ransomware breach,” society director of development Wes Everaars said in a Jan. 30 letter to Glacier Media editors. “Given the nature of the situation we will be providing update as they come available including to the press.” PWC Vancouver privacy and security section lead Kartik Kannan said data is becoming increasingly important in the burgeoning digital economy. “There’s a lot of data being collected and shared that’s of great value to the economy, but it does present some risks,” he said. [email protected] @Jhainswo © 2020 North Shore News

Muri defends DNV pigeon ban, rejects charges of impropriety

Jeremy Shepherd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/muri-defends-dnv-pigeon-ban-rejects-charges-of-impropriety-1.24054698

January 16, 2020 02:54 PM

The District of North Vancouver's pigeon ban is now in the hands of legal eagles. Nearly one month after a group petitioned the court to have Coun. Lisa Muri removed from office based on the handling of the municipality's pigeon prohibition, Muri requested their petition be dismissed. file photo, North Shore News

A petition calling for District of North Vancouver Coun. Lisa Muri to be thrown out of office should be tossed out of court, according to the legal response Muri filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday.

The longtime councillor’s response came nearly one month after a group of residents petitioned the court to have Muri and Coun. Betty Forbes removed from office, alleging they violated conflict of interest laws leading up to the passage of the district’s pigeon-keeping ban.

“The pigeon bylaw is about pigeons – it has no pecuniary or monetary implications for anyone, and specifically not Coun. Muri,” Muri stated in the response.

The petition calling for the expulsion of the two councillors noted emails exchanged between Muri and Forbes prior to the ban’s adoption. After being told via email the pigeon prohibition would not be included in council’s May 6 2019 agenda, Forbes wrote to Muri with a frowny face composed in punctuation marks. Muri replied: “It will be fine, we can wave [sic] the hearing ... if we need one.” In Thursday’s filing, Muri stated that while she was “aware of Coun. Forbes’ concerns,” she was motivated by “the best interests of all of the electors of the district.”

“Muri was not aware, and could not have been, of any pecuniary interest that Coun. Forbes had in respect of the pigeon bylaw,” she stated.

The ban is meant to “protect any and all residents from existing and potential future pigeon keepers that might otherwise adversely impact them or their property.”

Muri’s response calls for the petition to be dismissed with costs prior to the discovery phase, explaining that “such a process would seriously undermine democratic process and interfere with the proper functioning of council.”

Muri’s response also charged that the initial petition is null and void because it was not served within seven days of being filed.

The District of North Vancouver responded to the December petition on Tuesday, opposing it on the grounds that the motion is one resident short of the legal standard that mandates 10 district electors.

Two of the 11 petitioners are not district residents, according to the municipality’s response.

“The district takes no position regarding the merits of the petition or the remedies it seeks.”

Coun. Betty Forbes has not yet filed a response.

In a separate legal action, pigeon keeper Kulwant Dulay is petitioning the Supreme Court of B.C. to overturn the bird ban on the grounds of illegality.

The municipality’s independent review of the bird ban spearheaded by lawyer David Loukidelis is also underway with a report slated to be delivered to council and made public by Feb. 15.

EDITORIAL: North Shore councils need to give rentals their due

North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial-north-shore-councils-need-to-give-rentals-their-due-1.24068690

February 4, 2020 04:59 PM

photo Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

Another year, another CMHC report that shows just how brutal our North Shore rental housing market is, with dangerously low vacancy rates and ever increasing rents.

The feds used to subsidize market rental construction, which delivered a steady supply of modest-income housing. But when we cut off the subsidies in the 1980s, developers cut off the supply of new rentals and we are now more than 30 years into a crisis. related

 North Shore rents among highest in Metro Vancouver

Many of those older apartments are reaching the end of their lives and the ones that are still standing are out of reach of modest-income earners, unless they’ve been living there for a long time.

Developers are cautiously getting back into building rentals, but our councils are all too tempted to look at the sky-high market rates and turn them down for being unaffordable, forgetting it was the lack of new units coming online that created the crisis in the first place. It’s too late to fix the crisis in the short term but that doesn’t give us licence to exacerbate it over the long term. A city’s housing needs change. Even councillors opposed to growth must realize we need housing diversity.

When it comes to rentals, we want our council members to put themselves in the shoes of the folks who need a home today. They could be single parents, a couple welcoming a new baby, someone recently widowed or divorced, or a young person trying to establish themselves in adulthood. It’s quite likely they’re the ones working in one of the many service jobs the North Shore absolutely needs to be functional, but they’ve had it up to here with commuting from the Fraser Valley each day.

North Shore population growth stats revealed

Brent Richter / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-shore-population-growth-stats-revealed-1.24063533

January 29, 2020 06:00 AM

West Vancouver's population grew by 228 people or 0.5 per cent in the last year, according to new stats released by the province. file photo, North Shore News

This story has been edited to correct a stat.

The North Shore’s population grew by 659 people over the last year, or about 0.3 per cent.

 North Shore population growth lagging Metro Vancouver's  StatCan data shows North Shore population slightly up

BC Stats released its annual population change estimates this week showing the North Shore continues to lag behind other Lower Mainland municipalities when it comes to population growth.

The City of North Vancouver grew by 353 residents or 0.6 per cent between 2018 and 2019, bringing the total population to 57,325 residents, the province estimates.

The District of West Vancouver’s population went up by 228 or people 0.5 per cent in the last year, according to the latest update, bringing the total population to 43,945.

And the District of North Vancouver made it into the bottom 10 municipalities ranked by population growth, adding 78 people for a total of 89,763, a growth rate of 0.1 per cent.

During that time, Metro Vancouver added 39,041 new residents, a 1.5-per cent increase.

The only municipality in Metro Vancouver to crack the top 10 in growth rates was Surrey, which added another 16,382 people — 2.9 per cent growth. Five Metro municipalities posted a net loss, the starkest of which was Pitt Meadows, which saw its population contract by 0.8 per cent. The District of Squamish, however, led all of B.C. in shedding citizens with 2.9 per cent drop, year over year. As of July 1, 2019, B.C.’s population hit 5,071,336 residents, up 1.4 per cent from the year before.

This is the first year BC Stats has collaborated with Statistics Canada’s demographers in calculating the population estimates, introducing new methodology to the process.

North Shore rents among highest in Metro Vancouver Spec tax, new supply fail to ease vacancy rates or suppress rent hikes

Brent Richter / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-shore-rents-among-highest- in-metro-vancouver-1.24068672

February 4, 2020 05:00 PM

Don Peters, chairman of North Shore Community Resource Society’s Community Housing Action Committee, says prospects for renters just aren’t getting any better, as the latest report from CMHC shows dangerously low vacancy and increasing rents. photo Paul McGrath, North Shore News

The North Shore continues to be among the toughest and most expensive places in the Lower Mainland to rent an apartment.

Every fall, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. conducts a “mini census” of all purpose-rental apartment landlords and property managers, seeking data on how many vacancies they have, what their average rents are and how much the vacant apartments are listed for. related

 EDITORIAL: North Shore councils need to give rentals their due

As of October 2019, City of North Vancouver’s vacancy rate for purpose-built rentals fell from 0.7 to 0.5 per cent, now tied for second lowest in Metro Vancouver. The District of North Vancouver also saw its vacancy rate drop from 1.7 to 1.2 per cent. The District of West Vancouver was one of only a handful of municipalities or neighbourhoods that saw the vacancy rate climb, going from 0.6 per cent in 2018 to 1.2 per cent in 2019.

West Van, though, has the second highest average rents in the region at $2,024, 7.7 per cent higher than the year before. Only UBC lands were higher. The average renter in the District of North Vancouver is paying $1,672 per month, 5.6 per cent more than they did in 2018. The city remains the cheapest North Shore option for renters, with an average rate of $1,466, up 3.1 per cent since 2018, CMHC estimates.

But the averages include longtime tenants who have been protected by years of rent controls. Someone needing a vacant apartment in the city today would be paying closer to $2,000 per month ($1,614 for a one-bedroom, $2,443 for a two-bedroom.)

The average rent in Metro Vancouver is now $1,469, up 4.7 per cent over last year.

Between 2018 and 2019, the survey found 36 more rental units on the market in the city, compared to just two in West Van and four in North Vancouver district, though the survey does not include secondary suites in basements and coach houses, which make up the bulk of the DNV’s rental stock.

The latest numbers are deeply troubling, said Don Peters, chairman of North Shore Community Resource Society’s Community Housing Action Committee. “That is worrisome because we know that incomes aren’t increasing anywhere near the rate of rents,” he said.

The survey did find a big jump in the number of strata condos being put on the rental market, which may be attributed to the province’s speculation and vacancy tax, but Peters cautioned that renters in those suites are more likely to be evicted if their landlords decided to sell, renovate or move into the suites themselves.

Peters said he was eager to see some money flowing from the federal government’s national housing strategy but it has been slow in coming, and it’s not clear how much, if any, will come to the North Shore.

“Meanwhile on the ground, rents go higher and higher and people become more and more desperate,” he said. “The situation has been allowed to deteriorate for so many years, the picture for catch-up and for remedy is desperate. I think it’s just a dismal prospect.”

Peters said more than getting additional rental and below-market housing units built, the government must now provide subsidies directly to low-income renters “just so they can eat and raise their families.”

North Van cannabis shops set for public hearings Brent Richter / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-van-cannabis-shops-set-for-public-hearings-1.24078999 February 18, 2020 04:17 PM

Public hearings have been set for a number of proposed cannabis shops in the city and district of North Vancouver. graphic Birgkit Brunner, North Shore News After spending the first year of legalized cannabis as a pot shop desert, the future could be looking a bit more verdant in North Vancouver. City of North Vancouver council has sent four potential new pot shops to public hearings and the District of North Vancouver has as many as six waiting for a vote. related  Public to have say on District of North Van's first pot shops  Pot shops lining up in District of North Vancouver  North Van’s first cannabis shop now open  City of North Van OKs 2 pot shops, rejects 4 others On Monday, Feb. 24, city council will listen to the public’s input for Lonsdale Cannabis at 1433 Lonsdale Ave., Cannabis Boutique at 1520 Lonsdale Ave., 420 Herb Garden at 142 East Second St. and Quantum 1 Cannabis at 820 Marine Dr. In 2019, city council rejected four cannabis shop applicants hoping to open stores along Lonsdale and Marine Drive, and approved two – 1st Cannabis, which opened on New Year’s Eve at 223 West First St., and a BC Cannabis Store for Park & Tilford at 333 Brooksbank Ave., but the new bricks-and-mortar store isn’t expected to open until the spring of 2021. When council rejected three of the potential pot shops on Lonsdale in July 2019, most councillors cited the provincial rule requiring opaque storefronts as being incompatible with their desire for Lonsdale to look and feel like a high street. That’s not likely going to be a problem for Lonsdale Cannabis, which is proposed for the inside of Lonsdale Court, an enclosed courtyard containing offices and commercial space in between Jack Lonsdale’s pub and the associated liquor store. The application is from the same family that owns Jack Lonsdale’s. “We are always concerned about Lonsdale being our high street and when the windows have to be blacked out or faded out, this location seems kind of perfect because it’s there, but it’s not really there,” said Coun. Holly Back, casting her vote in favour at the Feb. 10 regular meeting of council. Coun. Tony Valente signalled that opaque glass may be an issue for the 420 Herb Garden proposal at 1520 Lonsdale, currently home to Anderson’s General Store and a Canada Post outlet. Other council members expressed concern about the lack of on-site parking. The 420 Herb Garden proposal on East Second may face even tougher scrutiny. It was formerly home to the Lotusland Cannabis Club, an illegal store shut down by the city. Back said she received many complaints from neighbours about Lotusland customers taking up parking, and she wasn’t comfortable with cannabis being sold so close to North Shore Neighbourhood House and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting location. She and Mayor Linda Buchanan voted against sending the store to public hearing. There was little discussion about the Quantum 1 proposal at 820 Marine Dr., which was home to one of the previous illegal Weeds stores. Buchanan voted against advancing that proposal. The District of North Vancouver council has voted to send its first three cannabis stores to public hearings: Muse Cannabis Store in the Dollarton Plaza at 385 North Dollarton Hwy., Kiaro Cannabis at 1560 Main St., and North Shore Cannabis at 1520 Barrow St. On Feb. 24, district council will consider three more potential shops: Hobo Cannabis at 1629 Marine Dr., a BC Cannabis store at 1074 Marine Dr. and Budhouse at 1199 Marine Dr. District of West Vancouver council has banned cannabis retail shops. © 2020 North Shore News

North Van mayors talk transit, housing affordability at Chamber lunch

Jane Seyd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-van-mayors-talk-transit-housing-affordability-at-chamber-lunch-1.24065414

January 30, 2020 03:46 PM

City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan and District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little chatted with a business crowd about familiar topics at a lunch event at the Seymour Golf and Country Club Wednesday. photo Jane Seyd, North Shore News

Perennial issues of increasing affordable housing and getting better transportation options for the North Shore dominated a lunchtime discussion with North Vancouver’s two mayors Wednesday.

District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little and City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan were in the hot seat at the annual North Vancouver Chamber event at the Seymour Golf and Country Club.

Traffic congestion remained a key topic with one questioner asking if the North Shore stands a chance of getting any of the rapid transit projects on its wish list in the next five years.

Little said that with roughly eight per cent of Metro’s population, the North Shore should be getting eight per cent of its transit budget spent on local projects. But the reality is far less of that money has been coming across Burrard Inlet, he acknowledged.

Buchanan said local politicians are continuing to advocate for funding. “It is well recognized from our colleagues at the table that the North Shore is overdue,” she said.

Transportation woes – particularly for workers commuting in from across the Metro region – were also tied to a continuing lack of affordable housing on the North Shore. Most businesses are having a hard time getting staff, because those people can’t afford to live here, said moderator Chris Catliff, CEO of BlueShore Financial. His own business added 26 new staff members this year but “we can’t get them housed over here,” he said. “It’s a really big issue to get that housing done.” Little defended his own council’s approach, which has slowed the pace of development to a crawl.

“A lot of the redevelopment that has happened over the last 10 years was replacing housing that was already affordable,” he said, and substituting towers that sell for much higher prices.

Council is now focused on creating “genuinely affordable housing in our community,” he said – adding it’s not fair to lump a firefighter making over $100,000 a year into the same category as a retail clerk or barista making minimum wage when considering housing needs.

Buchanan pointed to her council’s approval of more than 300 new housing units this year, plus the introduction of a policy requiring that any displaced tenants be helped to relocate within the community.

She added the North Shore will be judged by how many young people who leave for post-secondary education ultimately return to live here.

“We cannot be a community of older people,” she said. “It just doesn’t work.”

The stress of increasing taxes caused by rising property assessments was another hot topic for businesses – most of whom must pay their landlord’s taxes under a “triple net” lease arrangement.

“Businesses need help right now,” said Catliff, reading a question aloud to the mayors. “What are you doing to release the stress of property taxes?”

But Buchanan warned it’s a complex question that likely won’t be solved immediately. “The devil is really in the details,” she said. “We want to make sure [any solution brought in by the province] is well thought out ... and doesn’t end up giving us unintended consequences that may happen if we rush too quickly.”

Little noted the question of who pays what tax has to start with being “frugal as a municipality,” adding the three per cent tax increase projected by the District of North Vancouver is “the responsible level to be at” for the municipality.

But he warned the largest tax increases in the coming years will be outside of local politicians’ control in the form of regional taxes coming to pay for everything from improved transit to sewage treatment plants.

Because of the North Shore’s high property values, a regional tax increase of four or five per cent is likely to cost far more on the North Shore than in other areas of Metro Vancouver and be the biggest driver of tax increases, he said.

North Van school district to seek IB status for Norgate Jane Seyd / North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-van-school-district-to-seek-ib-status-for-norgate-1.24062590 January 27, 2020 04:35 PM The North Vancouver School District is moving ahead with a plan to make Norgate Elementary an International Baccalaureate school. School trustees voted last week to apply to the International Baccalaureate organization to bring an IB program to Norgate. If approved, Norgate would be the third school to adopt the program in the district. The program, which emphasizes collaborative problem solving and global citizenship, is already in place at Capilano and Queen Mary elementary schools, where it has been popular with families. Capilano Elementary is now so full with 444 students enrolled the school doesn’t accept students from outside its catchment area, while neighbouring Norgate operates at about 53 per cent capacity, with 136 students. That’s in part what recently prompted the school district to change school catchment boundaries this year, removing an area west of Capilano Road and north of Marine Drive from the Capilano catchment and placing it into the Norgate catchment. Educators hope an IB program at Norgate will be equally popular and draw students – some of whom currently bus out of Norgate to attend other schools - back to the neighbourhood school. Parents of students who already attend Norgate have also been enthusiastic about a switch to IB, said district principal Kathleen Barter. “We have a very excited community,” said Barter. Many parents who live in the area have an IB education themselves, said Barter and assistant superintendent Chris Atkinson. A number of those parents came to the school board meeting Tuesday to show their support for an IB program. Stephanie Aldridge said she was warned about Norgate prior to enrolling her kids there. “We know Norgate has a stigma,” she said. “I was warned this was a rough school . . .” But Aldridge said when she went to visit in person, she found the school warm and welcoming. “Having strong community schools is key,” she said. “I want our school to be a magnet school.” Switching Norgate to an IB school will come with costs. Because IB schools do not allow split grade classrooms, the school district will have to budget $100,000 for an addition class and classroom teacher. The school district will also have to pay for expenses including approximately $20,000 a year for International Baccalaureate teacher training, and between $50,000 and $30,000 a year for an IB co-ordinator. The total to put the program in place for the 2020-2021 school year will be about $200,000. In future years, the school district would also have to pay for two additional teachers, including a second language teacher, to meet IB requirements. Staff estimate that will cost an additional $200,000.

DEVELOPERS EARLYINPUT OPPORTUNITY MEETING

Adevelopmentisbeing proposed for the property locatedat3700 –3718 EdgemontBoulevardtorestoreand permanently protect an existing SEE DEALS AT ONE OF OUR 11 LOCATIONS OR AT heritage structure(fourplex) through aHeritage Revitalization Agreement TRAILAPPLIANCES.COM (HRA) and to construct either 25 units (duplexes)or33units (townhouses). Youare invited to ameeting to discuss the project. Date: Thursday,January 23rd,2020 Time: 6:00pm –7:30pm INCREDIBLEDeal s Location: Delbrook Community Center –Fir room, 851 WQueens Road, ON EXCESS INVENTORYAND North Vancouver CLEARANCEAPPLIANCES

PLUS GETFREE DELIVERYONQUALIFYING MODELS!* HOLLINGSWORTH ARCHITECHTURE Proposed Site Plan (Duplex Option) *Ask In-Store forfull details. Conditions apply.Valid Jan 23-Feb 2, 2020.

The proposal is to restoreand permanently protect aheritage building designed In-Store by Hollingsworth Architectureand to construct either 25 units (duplexes) or 33 units (townhouses). The units in the restored fourplex building areproposed to be secured as below-market rental for low to moderate income families for Manager aminimum period of 10 years. Each new unit will be between 1,470 and 2,121 Clearouts squarefeet in size and parking for each respective unit and visitors is proposed within an underground parkade. Information packages arebeing distributed to residentswithin a100-meter radius of the site. If you would like to receive acopy or if you would like moreinformation, contactEdgemont Hollingsworth Heritage Revitalization Corporationat604-690-7278([email protected]) or Robyn Hay of the Development Planning Department at 604-990-2369 ([email protected]) or bring your questions and comments to the meeting. ** Please notewecannot guarantee availabilityasclearance appliances areone-offs and firstcome,firstserve.Please contact the showroomtoconfirm availability. Clearance items maybedamaged and aresoldas-is. All products mustbeinspected by customer beforepurchase.All sales arefinal. †Freelocal standard delivery on ClearanceInventory.Not valid on microwaves (including OTRs and *This is not aPublic Hearing. District of North VancouverCouncil will countertops), accessories, ventilation and food disposers.Not valid on prior purchases. One delivery offerper customer. Multi-home purchasesdonot qualify.Delivery of oversized Pieces will receive adelivery credit in the value of the standard delivery cost.Does not include installation.Offer is valid January 23-Feb 2, 2020.Ask in-storeoronline forcomplete details. receive areport from staffonissues raised at the meeting and will formally consider the proposal at alater date. VANCOUVER |RICHMOND |SURREY |COQUITLAM |LANGLEY |ABBOTSFORD|OLYMPIC VILLAGE

$175

Plus+ Now you can report crime online in North Vancouver

A screenshot of online crime reporting page of North Vancouver RCMP. STAFF REPORT February 7, 2020 1:45am https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/now-you-can-report-crime-online-in-north-vancouver/

North Vancouver RCMP are embracing technology to become more responsive and make a better use of their resources. Now you can report certain crimes in North Vancouver by spending just 15 minutes online.

They have started an online crime reporting page, hoping to make things easier for residents. They have explained in a press release why they have done it and how it works:

What is online crime reporting?

It is a tool that allows users to report minor incidents online without calling the police.

Why is the RCMP doing it?

To ensure frontline officers are focusing on priority public safety investigations To help supervisors to direct resources where they’re most needed To allow officers to focus on more proactive initiatives To respond to the community’s request for more modern, innovative and accessible services To increase the time available for officers to engage with the community How does it work? Users start with an interactive map into which they enter the location of the incident Then, residents describe the type of incident they wish to report If the type of incident qualifies, then an email verification process begins After email verification, the user provides more detail about the incident The report is filed and the user is provided a file number

What types of reports are eligible?

You can use online crime reporting if:

You have lost something that costs less than $5000 Someone has stolen something from you that costs less than $5000 Someone has vandalized your property or vehicle and it will cost less than $5000 to repair it The crime happened within the jurisdiction of the North Vancouver RCMP

You can not use online crime reporting if:

There is a witness or suspect There are lost or stolen items involving personal identity, firearms, licence plates or decals

Which crimes are eligible for online reporting?

Damage/mischief to any of your property valued under $5000 Damage/mischief to your vehicle valued under $5000 Hit and Run to your unoccupied vehicle or to your property Theft of your bike if it is valued under $5000 Theft of other property valued under $5000 Theft from your vehicle valued under $5000 Lost property

What information will the RCMP need from users?

Name Address Phone number Email

How long will it take?

A typical report will take 15 minutes to complete.

Public to have say on District of North Van's first pot shops

Brent Richter / North Shore News

February 6, 2020 03:30 PM https://www.nsnews.com/news/public-to-have-say-on-district-of-north-van-s-first-pot-shops-1.24070515

District of North Vancouver council has scheduled its first three public hearings for cannabis retail shops, two in Lynn Creek and one in Deep Cove. photo supplied iStock Photo iStock

District of North Vancouver council has sparked the cannabis discussion and is now ready to pass it to the public.

Council sent three potential pot shops to public hearing Monday, two in Lynn Creek and one in Deep Cove. related

 EDITORIAL: Councils need better justification for rejecting cannabis stores  District of North Vancouver starts considering pot shop applications  North Van’s first cannabis shop now open  North Van dispensaries shutter following cannabis legalization

By far the most controversial is the proposed Muse Cannabis Store in the Dollarton Plaza at 385 North Dollarton Hwy.

When the district solicited opinions from the nearby public, they got 47 letters opposing the store and only two in favour. But council also received one petition with 105 signatures in support of the rezoning and two others with a total of 140 opposed.

At issue is the store’s impact on the single-family home character of the neighbourhood, its proximity to Sherwood Park Elementary and worries over crime, smell, noise and loitering.

Council’s cannabis policy suggests shops should be limited to no more than one each in the four main town centres – Maplewood, Lions Gate/Marine Drive, Lynn Valley, and Lynn Creek – but council has the power to consider all applications on a case-by-case basis. Because of the level of controversy, district staff advised council against giving the rezoning first reading. The majority, however, disagreed.

Coun. Jim Hanson said it does not make sense to force Seymour and Deep Cove residents out of their neighbourhood to purchase cannabis and he wasn’t buying into the panic.

“People in Seymour purchase cannabis. This is a fact,” he said. “It seems, at least on its face, to be a suitable location. We sell liquor right next door, as I understand. And with all due respect to those putting forward the opposition and the petitions, I doubt, quite honestly, any significant harms will be flowing from the sale of retail cannabis in this exact location.”

Although she voted in favour of sending it to public hearing, Coun. Lisa Muri said she would be looking to see a greater consensus from local residents.

“I don’t want to put the neighbourhood under a level of stress that they’re not comfortable with. And I don’t think a local business would want that either. I think you want the community to embrace you and to welcome you,” she said.

The other two pot shops, if both approved, would be across the street from one another: Kiaro Cannabis at 1560 Main St. and North Shore Cannabis at 1520 Barrow St.

Neither proposal triggered an overwhelming response from the public, positive or negative. But Hanson and Coun. Megan Curren both voted against advancing the Kiaro application on the north side of Main, citing difficult site access. Muri, however, said she could see the two stores complementing each other.

The public hearing for the three shops has been tentatively set for March 3. Council is expected to vote later this month on whether to send three other would-be pot proprietors to public hearing. Those proposals are all on Marine Drive, at 1074, 1629 and 1199.

So far, just one legal pot shop has opened on the North Shore. 1st Cannabis on West First Street in the City of North Vancouver began doing business on New Year’s Eve. According to the city, there have been no complaints filed about the store since it opened.

Purchase plastic offsets to support 2020 Run Against Plastic https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/purchase-plastic-offsets-to-support-2020-run-against-plastic/

January 22, 2020 9:56am

Plastic Oceans Canada has announced the Run Against Plastic, a cross-country initiative encouraging the public to help eliminate plastic pollution in Canada’s lakes, rivers, and oceans. The year-long event represents the largest consolidated cleanup in Canadian history.

The Run Against Plastic is built around a national tour following Andy Sward, an avid runner who has run from coast to coast three times, clearing litter along the way (to see how his 2019 journey unfolded visit @millionbottlepledge).

This year, Plastic Oceans Canada is encouraging the public to support Andy’s efforts by purchasing plastic offsets, like their early business adopter 100 brand Water. The public can also get involved by attending the organised cleanups or engaging in community advocacy. The 2020 tour starts in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12 and ends in Tofino, British Columbia on October 18.

“Run For Plastics and Andy’s dedication to preserving the environment, allows us to carry our message and efforts across Canada, from east to west,” said Adrian Midwood, executive director of Plastic Oceans Canada. “We look forward to meeting as many local organisations as possible along the way, establishing new relationships, and learning how they tackle the plastics issue on their home shores.”

“Every time I run across our country, I witness firsthand the overwhelming impact of our single-use lifestyle – a lifestyle that has become the North American norm, and is taking an obvious toll on the environment,” said Andy Sward. “If every person started to make conscious purchasing decisions and reduced single-use items, we could significantly turn the dial on environmental preservation. I feel confident that partnering with Plastic Oceans Canada will spread awareness of this message across our country. We hope you’ll follow our journey, and we appreciate your support along the way!”

Plastic Oceans Canada is a CRA-registered charity that shares free resources supporting public efforts to reduce the single use plastic. The organisation’s programs include film screenings, educational presentations, and workshops that aim to inspire communities to organize pubic clean-ups and reduce their overall plastic footprint. The charity is currently creating a central database that lists Canadian organizations involved in the pursuit of the issue of plastic pollution.

To support the Run Against Plastic and contribute to both Plastic Oceans Canada and Andy’s goal of executing Canada’s largest consolidated clean-up purchase a plastic offset. For more information visit www.plasticoceans.ca.

BALDREY: Questions remain as ride-hailing finally arrives in B.C.

Keith Baldrey / Contributing writers https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/columnists/baldrey-questions-remain-as-ride-hailing-finally-arrives-in-b-c-1.24063556

January 29, 2020 04:00 AM

Uber and Lyft have revealed they are starting service immediately in Metro Vancouver. V.I.A. file photo

Ride-hailing has now set up shop in B.C. and depending on how you look at it, this development is either a tremendous breakthrough for consumers or the worst thing to come along in quite a while.

Certainly, the existing traditional taxi situation has long failed riders in many parts of the region. It is an antiquated, inefficient and unreliable system hamstrung by an industry-wide refusal to modernize and keep its focus on serving customers rather than protecting turf.

Stories abound of travelers waiting forever for a taxi to get out of YVR, or people stranded in downtown Vancouver late at night, unable to find a taxi home.

So when ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft came knocking, the taxi industry was unable to draw on much public support or sympathy to keep these companies at bay.

It was perhaps inevitable that the NDP government (and it would have made no difference if the B.C. Liberals were in power) bowed to growing public pressure and gave ride-hailing the green light.

Make no mistake; ride-hailing is not the kind of industry near and dear to the NDP’s political DNA. It desires minimal regulation in an open market and detests unionization coming anywhere near it.

Its typical employee works part-time for fairly low wages, hardly the kind of employment scenario advocated by the NDP, a party where championing the rights of workers is a top philosophical priority. Ride-hailing is perhaps the biggest example of what is known as the emerging “gig economy.” In it, people are considered “independent contractors” and not employees defined in the classical sense. Often, people work in two or three part-time jobs and therefore are unlikely to enjoy the benefits – health coverage etc. – that may come from having a single employer.

At the moment, the B.C. Labor Relations board is considering a complaint by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which is arguing Uber and Lyft drivers should not be considered independent contractors and are, in fact, “employees” entitled to such things as overtime pay and paid vacations.

How the LRB rules could well determine whether Uber and Lyft’s business model (the two companies already lose a staggering amount of money – Uber lost $1.8 billion last year alone) can be effective in this province.

Nevertheless, ride-hailing is popular with the travelling public and that makes it difficult for any government to keep it at bay forever. Still, signs of trouble associated with ride-hailing have emerged in recent months and it will be interesting to see if they are repeated here.

Recent U.S. studies on the impact of ride-hailing services have had some disturbing findings.

For example, a study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities found that greenhouse emissions had spiked an alarming amount as ride-hailing use jumped 28 per cent in one year. Ride-hailing means more cars on the road that are being driven for longer periods.

More vehicles also mean greater congestion on the roads. A study in San Francisco found that congestion from 2010 to 2016 had increased 62 per cent and attributed half of that increase to a steady rise in ride-hailing operations.

Several studies point to less use of public transportation with the increase in ride-hailing. That could make it harder to make a proper business model for future, expensive taxpayer investments in transportation projects.

Then there is the fact the Uber drivers, upset about poor working conditions and low wages, staged one-day strikes in more than a half dozen U.S. cities last year. In addition, more than 3,000 Uber passengers reported being sexually assaulted last year.

As ride-hailing takes hold to a greater degree in Metro Vancouver, it will be vitally important to collect as much data as possible on its impact in many areas, both positive and negative. Depending on what is found, municipal governments as well as the provincial government may have to step in and drastically change the rules.

The public may like the shiny new toy that is ride-hailing, but let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a curse.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC. [email protected]

Residents of flood-prone PoCo condo building wonder why it was built in the first place

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/residents-of-flood-prone-poco-condo-building-wonder-why-it-was-built-in-the-first-place-1.4794613

Angela Jung Multi-skilled Journalist

@AngelaJungCTV Contact

Published Sunday, February 2, 2020 7:31PM PST Last Updated Monday, February 3, 2020 6:18AM PST Clean-up begins in Port Coquitlam

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Some frustrated residents with flooded homes are questioning why the City of Port Coquitlam didn't do more to prepare for Friday's storm.

PORT COQUITLAM -- Some condo residents in Port Coquitlam have been living with no power and no heat for the past couple of days since a torrential rain storm resulted in the building's underground parkade filling up with water.

At the height of the storm, the water almost reached the top of the entrance gate.

"We had to shut the power down because our electrical room being down there, it became a very frightening situation," said resident Arron Fillery. "We can only live by candle for so long. We need to shower, we need to eat." Related Stories

 Roughly 20 homes flooded in Port Coquitlam after deluge  Landslide, washouts strand 500 people on Sasquatch Mountain ski hill  B.C. phone outages caused by landslide north of Boston Bar, Bell says

The condo is located at Kingsway Avenue and Bedford Street and was constructed on top of a floodplain.

Fillery said this latest incident highlights why the eight-year-old condo shouldn't have been given the green light to develop in the first place.

"Based on the geographical area: the creek being underneath us, the high water table, the mountains and the runoff – all these things create the perfect storm," he said. Forrest Smith, the director of engineering and public works for the City of Port Coquitlam, said during the building permit process, experts believed the building's pumping system would be adequate to address potential groundwater infiltration.

Now, he said, more water is getting into the building than was initially anticipated.

"We are very empathetic to the challenges that the residents of the building face," Smith said in an email to CTV News Vancouver. "Unfortunately, this building has had ongoing challenges, primarily related to groundwater infiltration exceeding the design expectations. This was compounded on Friday with the heavy and intense storm event."

Smith said the city met with the strata in late 2019 and recommended the residents hire professionals to review the current system.

Fillery said the building has three pumps, one of which is new, and they are operating almost all the time.

"There is no pump that's designed to run 24/7, seven days a week, 365 days a year," he said.

He said he and others living in the building would like to see the city upgrade its infrastructure so it can receive all the water the condo pumps out.

Smith said capacity improvements are coming, but not for a few more years, and the upgrades likely won't solve all the issues.

The city has approved funding to design upgrades to the Maple Creek pump station and construction is tentatively scheduled for 2023.

"These improvements would not impact the natural groundwater table, and thus would not fully alleviate the issues this building experiences, although would help in larger storm events," Smith said.

Crews are now on site, pumping 40,000 gallons of water out of the parkade every hour. While that may sound like a lot, restoration work could take days before the flooded parking lot returns to normal and power can be turned back on.

SULLIVAN: Snowy winter scenes are OK with this Boomer

Paul Sullivan / Contributing writer https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/sullivan-snowy-winter-scenes-are-ok-with-this-boomer-1.24054739

January 17, 2020 05:00 AM

Four-year-old Luca Foley gets to work clearing his sidewalk in North Vancouver after a massive dump of snow hit the Lower Mainland overnight. photo Andy Prest, North Shore News I just had a serious “OK Boomer” moment. By now, you know that anyone born during the baby boom between 1946 and 1965 is considered irrelevant and ridiculous by anyone born after that, and can be dismissed with a roll of the eyes and a hearty “OK Boomer.” Until several minutes ago, I thought OK Boomer wouldn’t work on me because I was too cool, careful to keep my cultural relevance status up to date. Like, I just downloaded Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine, while other gentlemen my age are still banging out “Free Bird” on air guitar in front of the bedroom mirror. related  Snow slams North Shore with more storms on the way Of course, this capacity for self-delusion is at the core of the OK Boomer phenomenon. That coupled with a sense of entitlement that everyone else resents. It helps that Boomers have made out like bandits in education, career, investments, real estate and plundering the environment, and haven’t even noticed that Generations X, Y and Z are left with the leavings. Self-awareness being the last attribute of My Generation (self-absorption being its first), I thought I was OK for a Boomer. Until it snowed. For some reason, the recent snow has generated a double OK Boomer whammy: nostalgia and a superior attitude. Let’s start with the superior attitude. I laugh (ha-ha) when it snows in Vancouver, then plummets to -5 C. You call this snow? I like to tell everyone I grew up in Winnipeg, the snow and cold capital of the world, where blizzards and gales produce towering drifts that blanket second-storey windows. Here we get something like “10 centimetres” and the media go on perpetual storm watch. Intrepid young reporters stand outside in colourful, inadequate garb and pretend it’s news. You call this cold? In Winterpeg, it rarely goes above -5 C from October to April. Minus-35 is a real number in the Heart of The Continent, as TV weather pioneer Ed Russenholt used to call it. (OK Boomer). Ok, that’s the superior attitude. Of course, there are no hills in Winnipeg, with the exception of the occasional freeway on-ramp. When I first encountered Capilano Road from below on a stormy day, I understood the unique challenge of snow in Vancouver, but a superior attitude resists that kind of fact-based scenario. Then there’s nostalgia. This is softer than a superior attitude, as in softer in the head. In the wake of the first snow, I decided to go for a run, donned my YakTrax, which are devilishly clever pull-on spikes, and took to the roads around Edgemont Village. After all the anxiety that goes with a snow event, actually getting out into it triggered an attack of acute nostalgia. I found myself drifting back nearly 60 years to the time I delivered papers in the snow and cold back in Winnipeg. Instead of YakTrax, I was shod in cosy, lined lace-up moccasins, and instead of a face mask, I wore a scarf tied artfully so that my eyes were the only exposed part of my body. I remember feeling back then that this was the best feeling ever, although I would have been challenged to say why. Now, the magic of the snow glistening in the late afternoon sunlight, the folks snug in their houses, the intrepid kid on his rounds plowing through the drifts, is obvious. Just as it was the other day in North Van when moms towed their bundled-up babies on sleds; kids built snow persons in the park; people were out shovelling, red-faced (careful, Boomer) and cheerful. There was a shared sense of bonhomie, an impromptu winter carnival. Unlike the carping self-righteousness that goes with surviving 37 Winnipeg winters, this was a welcome surprise, an unanticipated return to the days when snow days came with red cheeks and hot chocolate, not rear- enders. OK Boomer, it’s time to put a sock in it and let people experience the snow in all its sensory complexity without the grumpy pontificating. If the forecast is correct, it will all wash away soon, and we’ll be back in that default green, soggy state that is winter on the wet coast. Let me rush to add that the annual Prairie ice age lost its charm years ago, likely when I started to drive. Of course, driving in winter is something that people in Winnipeg are born to do, not like the people here in Vancouver, who are immobilized by a few centimetres of fluff. Oops. You know what to say.… Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Van resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. [email protected] © 2020 North Shore News

Split assessment needed to help small business: Coun. Bell

The method of determining the value of the property has become a growing problem for business tenants, writes North Van Coun. Don Bell

North Vancouver Councillor Don Bell February 7, 2020 2:13am https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/split-assessment-needed-to-help-small-business-coun-bell/

The receipt of annual property assessment values can be good news for those who like to see their property increase in value, but creates concern for what any resulting property tax impact might be.

January is the time when all property owners, including residential and business property owners, receive their annual assessed property values from the BC Assessment Authority. A significant change, particularly a big increase, in assessed values often raises concerns that it means a similar increase in annual property taxes. This is not necessarily the case, as municipal property taxes take into account average total assessment role changes for particular property classes when establishing the annual tax rates of the municipality. If a particular property assessment change, increase or decrease, is the same as the average for that property class, then the tax rate change will largely be dependent on the property tax revenue increase set for the annual municipal budget.

Assessment value changes and the method used by BC Assessment to assign commercial and light industrial property values not only affect property owners, but also those small and medium size business owners who rent and lease their business locations. This is because it is common practice for most leases to contain what is referred to a “triple net clause” that passes the total taxes down to the tenant business operator.

What has become a growing problem for business tenants in recent years due to the large increases in the values of land in general, and business properties in particular, is the method of determining the value of the property. BC Assessment Authority uses what they refer to as “market value” assessments, based on what they determine is the likely fair market value of a property in July of the preceding year.

The BC Assessment Authority states that fair market value takes into account what a property would sell for based not only on the current use of the property, but on the potential uses that would be available based on the zoning of that property. This method, also referred to as “highest and best use value”, can have a significant impact on older business properties that are underdeveloped in relation to what current, modern zoning might allow on that site. An example would be some of the one storey commercial businesses along Lonsdale, home to many small neighbourhood-type businesses, that provide a desired range of services and products, and provide a considerable number of jobs.

If the zoning provides for up to four or even 12 storeys of future development above the existing one storey business then the property is valued based on that potential, resulting in the tenants paying taxes on “empty space” above their business.

This problem has been recognized by BC municipalities, including the City of North Vancouver Council, and the Provincial Government has been asked to grant municipalities the ability to have split assessments, that would allow municipal Councils to consider taxing based on current use, and a different tax rate for the undeveloped “air space”.

The Provincial Government has just announced it is preparing legislation to address this issue in time for the 2020 tax year, but since the details are not yet known and annual municipal budget deadlines for setting tax rates are fast approaching, it unlikely municipalities will have time to consider the complicated implications of such change and consult with the affected business property owners and business tenants to introduce changes this year. It may sound simple, but making changes can have unintended consequences that need to be carefully considered. At least it offers a ray of hope for those business struggling to survive in a changing, competitive economy.

MOVE ON: There's a gender gap in the North Shore cycling community Better infrastructure would help get more women using a bike for transportation

Heather Drugge / North Shore News

January 26, 2020 09:19 AM

Many more men use a bike for transportation than women on the North Shore. There are ways we can change that, writes columnist Heather Drugge. photo Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

Talking about gender differences is always tricky. But here I go.

I am female and I ride a bike for transportation on the North Shore. I know a bunch of women who also ride here on the shore. There’s my sister for one, after all we come from the same genes. Then there’s Diane, Jessica, Killaine, Antje, Fiona, Erika, Darlene, Sibylle, Bowinn, Karyn and umm, well there must be others. Lots. I just don’t know you. Which is totally possible.

Sorry if I didn’t mention you. But, the stats show it’s a small sisterhood. Last fall, during Bike to Work Week, HUB volunteers counted people riding off the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing northbound onto the North Shore. There were 273 total people riding during the two hours from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on a Tuesday evening in October. Of those counted, 23 per cent were women and 77 per cent men.

I’ve been on sports club and other organizational boards where if the gender balance was two in ten, there would be a major effort to find out what was wrong. Is there a chilly climate? A subtle bias that the majority can’t detect? Hours would be spent discussing how to improve equity.

Is it that women dislike bikes? Or can’t afford them? Nope. According to the US League of American Bicyclists, 60 per cent of bike owners between the ages of 17 and 28 are women. Even for age 50+, I don’t know many women living on the North Shore who don’t own a bike. But not many use one for transportation. These are women who love adventure, are sporty and will ride recreational paths and trails, or in groups for exercise and social interaction. But when asked why they don’t ride to get to work or school or shopping, almost invariably they say “It’s too dangerous.” Survey after survey as well as scholarly research corroborates that safety is the major factor dissuading women from cycling for transportation.

With traffic piling up, the increased use of SUVs and very few protected bike lanes on the North Shore, I take their point. I especially understand our fear in comparison to those who ride for transportation across the harbour in Vancouver. Vancouver’s city council made a concerted effort to build safe, separated cycling lanes, starting in 2009 with the (then super unpopular) Burrard Street Bridge lanes. Ten years on and many more kilometers (around 80 km) of safe lanes later, the number of trips made by bicycle has increased by ten-fold. Most telling is that in the City of Vancouver, the percentage of women cycling nearly doubles, to 40 per cent – still not at parity with the number of men, but almost two times higher than here.

While the City of Vancouver registers a much higher female ridership than on the North Shore, it is still not representative of the true split. But, the cycling gender gap doesn’t have to exist. In cities with established, safe bike infrastructure, more women than men use a bike for transportation. In Denmark, women make up 53 per cent of all cyclists. The Netherlands has an even higher share at 55 per cent. In Germany, 49 per cent of bike trips are made by women. Back in the 1970s, these countries were led by women to build safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure because their children were in danger. They were mothers against heavy automobiles running over kids.

It’s clear that the number of women riding acts as a proxy measure for bike infrastructure safety. On the gender- o-meter scale, the North Shore really doesn’t measure up. Calling all mothers (and sisters and daughters) against heavy automobiles running over people on bikes: let’s start asking for safe bike lanes on our North Shore.

Those living near major roads at higher risk of dementia, Parkinson’s https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/those-living-near-major-roads-at-higher-risk-of-dementia-parkinsons/

January 23, 2020 11:31am

Living near major roads or highways is linked to higher incidence of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), suggests new research published this week in the journal Environmental Health.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia analyzed data for 678,000 adults in Metro Vancouver. They found that living less than 50 metres from a major road or less than 150 metres from a highway is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and MS—likely due to increased exposure to air pollution.

The researchers also found that living near green spaces, like parks, has protective effects against developing these neurological disorders.

“For the first time, we have confirmed a link between air pollution and traffic proximity with a higher risk of dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and MS at the population level,” says Weiran Yuchi, the study’s lead author and a PhD candidate in the UBC school of population and public health. “The good news is that green spaces appear to have some protective effects in reducing the risk of developing one or more of these disorders. More research is needed, but our findings do suggest that urban planning efforts to increase accessibility to green spaces and to reduce motor vehicle traffic would be beneficial for neurological health.”

Neurological disorders—a term that describes a range of disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron diseases—are increasingly recognized as one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Little is known about the risk factors associated with neurological disorders, the majority of which are incurable and typically worsen over time.

For the study, researchers analyzed data for 678,000 adults between the ages of 45 and 84 who lived in Metro Vancouver from 1994 to 1998 and during a follow-up period from 1999 to 2003. They estimated individual exposures to road proximity, air pollution, noise and greenness at each person’s residence using postal code data. During the follow-up period, the researchers identified 13,170 cases of non-Alzheimer’s dementia, 4,201 cases of Parkinson’s disease, 1,277 cases of Alzheimer’s disease and 658 cases of MS.

For non-Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease specifically, living near major roads or a highway was associated with 14 per cent and seven per cent increased risk of both conditions, respectively. Due to relatively low numbers of Alzheimer’s and MS cases in Metro Vancouver compared to non-Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease, the researchers did not identify associations between air pollution and increased risk of these two disorders. However, they are now analyzing Canada-wide data and are hopeful the larger dataset will provide more information on the effects of air pollution on Alzheimer’s disease and MS.

When the researchers accounted for green space, they found the effect of air pollution on the neurological disorders was mitigated. The researchers suggest that this protective effect could be due to several factors.

“For people who are exposed to a higher level of green space, they are more likely to be physically active and may also have more social interactions,” said Michael Brauer, the study’s senior author and professor in the UBC school of population and public health. “There may even be benefits from just the visual aspects of vegetation.”

Brauer added that the findings underscore the importance for city planners to ensure they incorporate greenery and parks when planning and developing residential neighbourhoods.

The study was co-authored by Hind Sbihi, Hugh Davies, and Lillian Tamburic in the UBC school of population and public health.

Canadians dying at a higher rate in areas with more air pollution

High amounts of rainfall led to flooding in Brumunddal in the autumn of 2019. Climate researchers say Norway will experience more of these kinds of extreme weather events in the future. (Photo: John Arne Holmlund / HA / NTB scanpix) Very little money is actually spent on climate research

Researchers have looked at where USD 1.3 trillion in research funding is spent across the globe. Less than 5 per cent of this money has gone to climate research. Studies that examine how society can cope with the climate of the future are given a very small share of this pot.

Ulla Gjeset Schjølberg journalist Nancy Bazilchuk English version Published friday 07. february 2020 - 10:43 https://sciencenorway.no/climate-climate-policy-research-politics/very-little-money-is-actually- spent-on-climate-research/1623882 In a recent study, researchers at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the University of Sussex reviewed how much of US 1.3 trillion (NOK 11.4 trillion) in research funding is dedicated to climate research. The study looked at 332 sources of funding distributed across 37 countries — including Norway — and totalled money that was or will be allocated between 1950 and 2021. Climate change research received just under 4.6 per cent of the research funding allocated between 1990 and 2018, researchers found. And while research in the natural sciences and technology received about USD 40 billion, social science and humanities research received just USD 4.6 billion during the same period. An analysis of 1500 grants for social science research aimed at curbing climate change showed that this type of research is being awarded USD 393 million. This corresponds to 5.21 per cent of all climate research funding and 0.12 per cent of all research funding, the researchers write. “The one-sided emphasis on the natural sciences leaves one wondering whether funding for climate research is managed by climate sceptics. It’s as if they don’t quite believe in climate change, so they keep trying to find out how it really works, rather than trying to work out how to stop it,” researcher Indra Øverland said in a NUPI press release. Social science should play an important role Øverland conducted the study with Benjamin K. Sovacool at the University of Sussex. “Most people probably think that because climate change is so severe, research on this would be hugely prioritized. But the opposite is true. And, oddly, the smallest part of the funding goes into solving the most pressing issues,” Sovacool said in the same press release. The researchers write in their study that social science research plays an important role in understanding how climate change can be slowed. “One of the most urgent unsolved puzzles is how to get people to act on what they know, that is to say, how to alter society to curb climate change,” they write. They also observed that it appears that climate research funding is based on the idea that if researchers can demonstrate what causes climate change, what the effects are and how technology can provide solutions, then politicians, bureaucrats and people will automatically change their behaviour to solve the problems caused by climate change. But Overland and Sovacool point out that in order to change habits, there will have to be changes in attitudes, norms, incentives, ethics and politics on a personal, societal and national level. “Therefore, some of the key issues in the field of climate science belong to the social sciences field. Nevertheless, as we see in the study, it is precisely this field that receives the least funding,” the researchers write, while acknowledginf that they themselves are social scientists and have an interest in seeing more funding allocated to the field. Changes that can help They call for a more balanced distribution of climate research funding, but point out that social research also has some weaknesses that should be addressed. The researchers point to earlier findings that several social science studies lack a research design or methods. They also note that other studies are too focused on obscure theoretical debates, or show little understanding of the natural sciences. At the same time, the researchers call for a more systematic overview of how funds are allocated. Without an overview, some research fields may receive overlapping funding, while others are forgotten, they write. Funds allocated based on priorities from the ministries John-Arne Røttingen, director of the Research Council of Norway, says that about NOK 3.3 billion was spent on research on energy, the environment and climate through Research Council funding in 2017. “The bulk of these funds go to energy-related research, which is important for adapting to a low-emission society of the future. The Research Council distributes the funds based on priorities from the ministries, and thus is not free in deciding how funds should be distributed,” he writes in an email. The Research Council's targeted investment in climate research, KLIMAFORSK, totalled NOK 158 million in the same year. “One-third of this investment is aimed at restructuring and adaptation. A large part of this is social science research,” Røttingen writes. “That said, we see that there is clearly a need to strengthen research on adaptation to the increasing climate change we see on the horizon. Social science climate research will be central in this context. Social science research is also needed to contribute to measures that reduce climate change, both through behavioural change and systemic change,” Røttingen writes. He adds that the Research Council is now preparing portfolio plans that will look at social challenges in a larger context. “Society's need to adapt to climate change will be addressed in these plans,” he writes. Reference: Øverland, I. and Sovacool, B.K: «The misallocation of climate research funding». Energy Research & Social Science (2020) Warning of collapse in B.C. condo market https://bc.ctvnews.ca/warning-of-collapse-in-b-c-condo-market-1.4800633 Ross McLaughlin Consumer Reporter, CTV News Vancouver @ctvmcLaughlin Contact Published Thursday, February 6, 2020 12:52PM PST Last Updated Thursday, February 6, 2020 8:01PM PST Concerns over skyrocketing insurance for condos There are serious warnings over a potential condo market collapse in B.C. because of rising insurance rates, unless the province steps in to stop it. VANCOUVER -- There are dire warnings that the condo real estate market in B.C. could collapse unless the province steps in to stop it. It all has to do with skyrocketing insurance rates. And some condo buildings are unable to get insurance at all, putting owners at risk of losing their financing and being unable to sell their properties. Zafar Khan had an offer on a Cloverdale condo he was selling, and the deal was to close Feb. 3. But at the last minute it all fell apart, as the buyer pulled out of the sale. “I found out the strata ran out of insurance,” said Khan. He said he had no idea, and only learned about it later from the buyer’s real estate agent, Sevin Atilla. “We found out the strata’s insurance came up for renewal and they were not able to renew it,” said Atilla, who works at Oakwyn Realty. “I don’t blame the buyer at all,” Khan said. Banks won’t finance uninsured buildings and that’s what happened with the loan the buyer had secured. “As soon as they found out there was no insurance in place, they retracted the mortgage approval,” explained Atilla. CTV News reached out to the property manager, Crossroads Management Ltd. The company said it tried five different insurance brokers, all of which were unable to find an insurance company to insure the complex. Crossroads said it's still looking. Owners are now at risk if disaster strikes; their banks could pull their financing and they will be unable to sell their properties. “This affected our deal and we will see more of these deals collapsing in the future,” said Atilla. “This is something no one had foreseen,” said Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium and Homeowners Association of B.C. Gioventu knew skyrocketing insurance rates and high deductibles were coming as insurance companies pulled out of B.C.’s high real estate market and struggled to keep up with claims from global disasters, but buildings unable to get insurance at all is something that no one expected. “This will collapse our real estate industry because no one will be able to get mortgages and there will be no buyers and no sellers,” Gioventu said. Gioventu knows of a handful of buildlings currently unable to get insurance, and said there could be more out there. And massive insurance premiums are adding to the pressure. The strata president of one Burnaby condo told CTV News their annual insurance premium has quadrupled, from $200,000 a year to $810,000, and they can no longer afford to pay it. High premiums coupled with extremely high deductibles are also resulting in massive increases in maintenance fees or special assessments. “This is not a small number of buildings now. We’re now looking at several hundred buildings throughout the Lower Mainland that are seeing such dramatic increases,” said Gioventu.  Related: Condo insurance skyrockets Doug Whicker, a strata president of a New Westminster condo complex facing a 40 per cent insurance premium increase, has sent a letter to Premier John Horgan asking for intervention. He says it’s reached a crisis and suggests that B.C. set up a non-profit strata insurance corporation similar to ICBC. “Immediately. We can’t wait,” said Whicker. “Government intervention is necessary and it’s imperative,” added Khan. CTV News reached out to B.C. Finance Minister Carole James, who has acknowledged the problem. “We think there are good opportunities to be able to talk with the industry, to talk with condos, to talk with insurance companies, and look at how we can address this issue,” she said. Robert de Pruis with the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s western office told CTV News the IBC has been in contact with insurance brokers, underwriters and condo groups and is planning to hold regional meetings across the country to address the condo insurance issues -- including one in B.C. in March -- to try to find creative solutions to address the problem. If you’re a condo owner reading this and are worried about how to protect your investment, there’s little you can do except to try to find insurance to cover high deductibles. But without a master condominium insurance policy, you’re out of luck. The buildings that are being hardest hit are those that are the most expensive: buildings with a high number of recent claims and strata corporations that have failed to keep up with maintenance and repairs. The Insurance Bureau of Canada says it’s a complex issue that won’t be solved quickly. However, for Khan and others in his situation without insurance it’s an emergency. “If my lender finds out they’ll pull the mortgage,” he said. Click here to see Insurance Bureau of Canada's 2019 report on claims and revenue.

LETTER: We need to take a close look at what taxes are used for North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/letter-we-need-to-take-a-close-look-at-what-taxes-are-used-for-1.24063585 January 30, 2020 04:33 AM

file photos North Shore News Dear editor: Re: High Property Taxes Punishing Businesses, Jan. 24 front-page story. Our province’s current methodology for determining relative property tax rates may well be flawed, but the real source of the mounting and unsustainable financial burden on North Shore business owner/operators and residents alike is alluded to towards the end of this informative article. That is, “municipalities still need to collect the same amount of tax revenue, regardless of who’s paying.” Really? Why might this be so? Municipalities, being essentially service-oriented organizations, spend the lion’s share of their annual operating budgets on employee remuneration. Fair enough. In West Vancouver, according to Financial Information Act filings, in the eight years between 2010 and 2018 this amount increased by fully 36 per cent, a yearly average of 4.5 per cent. This at a time when the annual inflation rate was less than 2.0 per cent and the population of the district was either static or in marginal decline. There are many things that municipal governments do that deliver real value to their community: road and sewer repair or replacement, parks maintenance, new books for the library or bylaw enforcement to name but a few. But “communications?” In 2011, the District of West Vancouver hired its first director of communications and paid her $95,055. Seven years later the District was paying $152,067 for the same position, an increase of 60 percent. The budget for the district’s top communications staff (two in 2011 and three in 2018) increased from $172,529 in 2011 to $356,851 in 2018, or by 107 per cent. What value do West Vancouver residents and business owner-operators derive from this expenditure? The District of West Vancouver is seeking to impose a tax rate increase in excess of six per cent this year. This is completely unacceptable. Local taxpayers ought to be adamantly opposed. In fact, they should be demanding a reduction in their tax burden. David Marley West Vancouver © 2020 North Shore News

West Van plans to impose 1% climate tax https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/west-van-plans-to-impose-1-per-cent-climate-tax/ 1% tax would add $738,000 every year to the budget

STAFF REPORT February 1, 2020 10:54am District of West Vancouver is planning to charge 1 per cent climate levy for its proposed 2020 budget. This new tax would fund projects that move the district to a more energy-efficient and less resource-intensive future, said Mayor Mary-Ann Booth. “When you are committed to ensuring your capital spending decisions are sustainable and support our target to reduce GHG emissions, there is often a higher up-front cost,” Booth said. The 1 per cent climate levy translates to an average of $41 for each home. District estimates the levy will pull in $738,000 every year. In July 2019, council passed a resolution declaring that climate change constitutes an emergency, and adapted climate change goals to meet more aggressive targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The Community and Corporate Emissions Plans include more than 50 actions the district needs to implement to reduce greenhouse gases. The climate levy will be used towards making changes such as more energy-efficient windows, fleet electrification and mechanical upgrades at the Municipal Hall to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through improved building envelope. Staff are also proposing an operational levy increase of 4.67 per cent, an asset levy increase of 0.50 per cent along with a climate response levy of 1 per cent. Combined, it amounts to an extra $296 for the average single-family detached home assessed at $3.35 million. In a response to a citizen’s query about the need for such a levy, the district said it had a responsibility to address environmental challenges to protect the community’s resources such as trees, the foreshore, wildlife and streams. “Projects that the district are engaged in or would like to do include tree canopy studies, storm water and foreshore management projects, wildfire protection and stream rehabilitation,” the district said. What archaeology of the Seymour Valley reveals

An archaeology student excavating around the foundation of the Japanese bathhouse in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. Photo: Bob Muckle

Bob Muckle January 27, 2020 10:26am https://www.theglobalcanadian.com/north-vancouver-what-archaeology-of-the-seymour-valley-reveals/

During the early 1900s the area in North Vancouver’s Seymour Valley now known as the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve was home to a wide range of activities, which many could probably guess included logging, but there were also houses, rental cabins, small stores, places to get a cup of tea, and work camps. Some of these were legal, but many were not, leaving little or no paper trail of their existence in the now dense forest. For 13 of the past 20 summers I have directed more than 200 archaeology students from Capilano University locating and excavating some of these remains. The most recent excavations were in 2019, continuing work at a settlement of Japanese Canadians. Excavations indicate the site was originally established as a logging camp for Japanese Canadians and used as such for a few years around 1920. Finding a Japanese logging camp is interesting but not surprising, as Japanese were prominent in forestry in the province at that time. It also isn’t the only Japanese logging camp we have discovered operational around that time in the valley. Some artifacts on display at the site in 2019. Photo: Bob Muckle What makes this site especially interesting is that once logging in the area ceased in the early 1920s, some Japanese Canadians probably numbering about 50 evidently continued to live there until their forced relocation (along with all other people of Japanese descent in the coastal region of the province) away from the coast, mostly incarcerated in internment camps, in 1942. The settlement is about the size of a football field, but most people today would have difficulty knowing there was ever human activity there such is the decay and burning of the original wooden buildings and the amount of forest growth that has occurred over the past several decades. The archaeology students and I have identified the locations of at least a dozen small houses, a bathhouse, an elevated wooden platform supported by stone walls, a water reservoir, a garden, and a solid wood road. Research has not yet revealed any memories or written records of the site, except for some forestry records giving permission for a Japanese man (E. Kagetsu) to log nearby area in 1920, and correspondence with this man’s son indicating his father did establish a camp close by. Evidence that people continued living there after its initial use as a logging camp is substantial, but circumstantial. The large number of personal and household items left behind, such as timepieces, lanterns and unbroken dishes, is unusual but makes sense when considering that people of Japanese descent were permitted to take very little when being relocated. Similarly, an expensive cook stove was hidden on the periphery of the site, and a camera in the bathhouse was probably hidden, consistent with stories of people hiding items of value in preparation for relocation. The existence of the wood road also supports the idea of ongoing use after logging. Wooden roads such as this were routinely removed when camps were abandoned in the 1920s. This site has recently received considerable coverage in national and international media, with stories about it appearing in at least five different languages and being ranked as the top archaeology story of 2019 in Smithsonian Magazine. People often ask what happens to the artifacts we collect. Curators from the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre in Burnaby and the North Vancouver Museum and Archives recently visited Capilano University to view the collections, and choose artifacts for their own collections. The selected artifacts will be transferred to these museums shortly. The remainder will be stored by MetroVancouver, which has jurisdiction for the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve and has been very supportive of the project. For those interested in learning more, I am giving a public lecture on my 20 years of archaeology in the Seymour Valley on May 14th from 7:00 – 8:45 p.m. in the Bosa Theatre at Capilano University. Bob Muckle teaches archaeology at Capilano University in North Vancouver.

Opinion: Why small commercial property owners should appeal their 2020 assessments You have until January 31 to appeal, and here’s why you should, according to a former assessment auditor

Derek Holloway / former B.C. Assessment auditor

January 20, 2020 10:50 AM https://www.nsnews.com/opinion-why-small-commercial-property-owners-should-appeal-their-2020-assessments-1.24056639

Retail storefronts in Kerrisdale, Vancouver | File photo

BC Assessment’s 2020 stats show lower-value residential assessments decreased much less than high-value assessments. In addition, in many areas of B.C., small commercial and industrial assessments continued to increase. This, combined with local governments’ expectations to keep up with inflation, creates a perfect storm.

The net effect: small B.C. property owners, especially small commercial owners and tenants, will be experiencing the biggest July percentage tax jumps in most communities. related

 Opinion: How big property owners are manipulating B.C. Assessment’s appeals process  Commercial building assessments process lacks teeth: critics  Island Voices: Assessment process unfair to homeowners, small business

But there’s even more bad news.

Every year, very large industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) properties shift some of their taxes to smaller taxpayers as well. Professional assessment appeal agents reap the vast majority of reduced taxes for their moneyed clients. They annually flood the appeal system and then skillfully work it over time.

So, why shouldn’t small property owners join them? There’s no reason not to, and it could result in a tax reduction.

You can’t appeal your taxes in July, so don’t miss the opportunity to appeal your assessment by January 31. You don’t need an agent, it’s just $30, and there’s no risk.

‘Really, I should I appeal?’

Unlike smaller properties, big ICI properties are often dramatically under-assessed to begin with, which means the property taxes they should have paid are shifted to smaller taxpayers. Regardless, every year, many of the big ICI property assessments are appealed early, often, and with the best help money can buy.

Like them, whether your assessment appears reasonable or not, it’s better to be sure by launching a “holding” appeal.

‘Won’t I get in trouble, needlessly drawing attention to my property?’

Absolutely not, but the system relies upon this misguided perception. The Assessment Act doesn’t allow your property to be treated unfairly when compared to similar commercial or residential properties in your neighbourhood. By law, “like” properties must be assessed equitably, which incidentally, is often grounds for an appeal.

Through no fault of the little guy, the appeal system is already severely dominated by the heavy appeal volume of bigger players (here’s more on how the big ICI property owners manipulate the process). They don’t fear repercussions when they annually appeal, in bulk, and then withdraw up to 60 per cent of their appeals.

Industry insiders keep sacred everyone’s right to appeal, so why are they the only ones to benefit? If, late in the process you don’t want to pursue an appeal, simply withdraw it. There’s no penalty or consequences – for anyone.

‘Is this action necessary?’

The province needs to be pushed toward a reasonable appeal process for all taxpayers. If all smaller property owners appealed, as large ICI owners do, it would force the government’s hand.

Commercial appeal agents launch thousands of appeals each appeal year. But ask yourself, is it likely an agent will spend more time on a $1 million property, or on a $100 million property? Unfortunately, small players have to look out for themselves.

What most local governments and taxpayers don’t realize is that the appeal system doesn’t have a fraction of the resources necessary to ensure proper valuation vetting for thousands of annual appeals. In 2018, 92 per cent of board appeals didn’t go to written submissions or hearings. They were resolved quietly, behind closed doors, mostly by agents – often based on scant “evidence.” BC Assessment is under tremendous duress and just want appeals to go away, satisfying their “productivity” measurement – most taxpayers none the wiser.

Individual, non-agent, appeals are the most time consuming for the appeal system. They act like sand in the gears, often providing small individual appellants greater leverage than that of agent appeals.

Of course, all these appeals flooding the system is bad, but this is what the system allows.

‘Will this be bad for my local community?’

In the long run, no. If change is forthcoming, small commercial and residential properties will eventually be treated more fairly, relative to the big guys.

B.C.’s 200-plus local tax departments find it very challenging to budget year-to-year, when large commercial assessments change throughout the annual appeal process – sometimes taking many years to resolve. They cautiously walk a tightrope between holding the powerful provincial government accountable and maintaining a good working relationship.

‘Why isn’t the B.C. government concerned with this Issue?'

BC Assessment does a remarkable job within their many constraints. Unfortunately, one of their biggest constraints is powerful political influence from big players, which strains the budgets for both BC Assessment and the Appeal Board.

For example, a B.C. Supreme Court decision provided guidance to the appeal system, regarding a large company’s massive property. The Court directed the Appeal Board to remove unnecessary procedural obstacles for “the just and timely resolution of matters before it.”

If this path had been embraced by BC Assessment for future appeals, it would have saved significant resources and greatly streamlined the appeal process. Most importantly, it would’ve leveled the playing field between large and small property owners.

Unfortunately, BC Assessment’s priority was pacifying a few industry insiders, deliberately ignoring a practical solution that could have helped stabilize local tax bases.

So, after appealing by January 31, you can ignore the local Review Panel, and then by April 30 appeal to the Appeal Board. When there, do as the agents do, and take your time to complete your analysis of the best evidence shared between you and BC Assessment.

Derek Holloway is retired after 28 years as auditor at B.C. Assessment

With bold action, the inevitable zero-carbon economy will come before it’s too late to prevent a climate catastrophe By Adair Turner https://www.marketwatch.com/story/with-bold-action-the-inevitable-zero-carbon-economy-will-come-before-its-too-late-to-prevent-a-climate-catastrophe-2020-01-27 Published: Jan 27, 2020 2:10 p.m. ET Share The speedy transition to clean electricity requires government action and cooperation

AFP/Getty Images The global economy will inevitably turn to solar and other carbon-free energy sources, the only question is whether we can transition quickly enough to avoid a climate catastrophe. LONDON (Project Syndicate) — There is no doubt that by the year 2100, the world will enjoy abundant cheap zero-carbon energy. Coal will be confined to museums, and oil and gas use will be dramatically reduced. Technological progress makes that inevitable, even if unassisted by government policy. But to prevent potentially catastrophic climate change, a zero-carbon global economy must be achieved by mid- century. That, too, is possible, but only with strategic vision and strong policy support. Read more: Reaching net-zero carbon emissions is technically and financially possible by mid-century Electricity more efficient Electricity will dominate the future global energy system. Currently, it accounts for only 20% of final energy demand, with direct fossil-fuel use still dominant in transport, heating, and heavy industry. But most economic activities can be powered by electricity, and many will be far more efficient once electrified. If governments adopt bold policies to help accelerate the production of clean electricity, the world could build a zero-carbon economy fast enough to limit climate change to a manageable degree. But without such measures, a zero-carbon economy will come much too late. For example, internal-combustion engines typically turn 60% to 80% of all the energy they use into wasted heat, and only 20% to 40% into kinetic energy to drive the vehicle. Electric engines, by contrast, are over 90% efficient. Moreover, they are so much simpler to produce that within five years the cost savings on engines will offset the cost of batteries, making electric vehicles cheaper than diesel or gasoline cars. Similarly, electric heat pumps can deliver more than three kilowatt-hours of residential heating for only one kilowatt of energy input; no gas boiler could deliver more than 0.9 kWh for the same input. Although battery-powered electric engines will play a growing role in short-distance aviation and shipping, batteries will be too heavy to power long-distance flights or intercontinental shipping for several decades yet. Ammonia and hydrogen But ship engines could burn ammonia rather than fuel oil — and ammonia can be a zero-carbon fuel if it is made from hydrogen produced by electrolyzing water, using electricity generated from renewable sources. In addition, synthetic jet fuel can be made from hydrogen and carbon dioxide extracted from the air. Hydrogen, whether used as a fuel or a key chemical input, will also play a major role in the decarbonization of heavy industrial sectors such as steel and chemicals. Without assuming any fundamental technological breakthroughs, we could certainly build by 2050 a global economy in which electricity met 65% to 70% of final energy demand, and hydrogen, ammonia, or synthetic fuel met a further 12% to 15%. Bioenergy and fossil fuels would then need to meet only about 20% of total energy use — and applying carbon capture to this greatly reduced fossil-fuel use could then ensure a truly zero-carbon economy. Moreover, such widespread electrification would deliver huge environmental benefits, eliminating the pollution, noise, and unwanted or wasted heat inevitably produced by burning fossil fuels in vehicles, gas boilers, and industrial processes. Costs are plummeting Building this economy will require an annual global electricity supply of about 90,000 terawatt-hours, compared to 23,000 TWh today; all of that must be generated in a zero-carbon way. But this goal, too, is undoubtedly attainable. Every day, the sun radiates to earth enough energy to cover humans’ daily energy needs 8,000 times, and we could provide 90,000 TWh of solar electricity using less than 1.5% of Earth’s land surface (or less than 0.5% if its water surface could be used as well). Solar-energy costs have fallen by 85% in the last 10 years, and in many locations solar power is already cheaper than coal; by mid-century, it will be cheaper still. Wind-power costs also have declined fast, and nuclear fusion may be a commercially viable technology within two decades. Battery costs have fallen by more than 80% since 2010 and will likely more than halve again by 2030, while a recent report suggests that electrolysis costs will now most probably “plummet.” Furthermore, a wide array of other energy-storage and demand-management technologies promises to answer the key question for renewable power systems: what to do when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. These developments make it inevitable that by 2100 the world will have an ample supply of cheap and totally clean energy. Catastrophic climate change But it is not inevitable that we will avoid catastrophic climate change. Fossil-fuel use is still increasing, and global warming is currently on track to reach 3°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, dramatically overshooting the target of well below 2°C set by the Paris climate agreement. And although solar and wind costs have plunged, we need to increase capacity at 3-4 times the current rate to have a feasible chance of producing 90,000 TWh of clean electricity by 2050. The macroeconomic cost of such an effort is not at all daunting: the total incremental investment required to build a zero-carbon economy by 2050 amounts to about 1% to 1.5% of global gross domestic product per year. But the required acceleration will not occur without forceful government policies. Such policies must start by recognizing that massive clean electrification, plus large-scale hydrogen use, is the only route to zero-carbon prosperity. Governments should set challenging targets for increasing renewable (and in some cases nuclear) power capacity, while using auctions to secure private-sector delivery at the lowest possible cost. Road-transport strategies must aim to completely eliminate internal-combustion engines from our roads by 2050 at the very latest: this will require bans on the sale of new internal-combustion vehicles far sooner. In addition, carbon pricing is essential to make industrial decarbonization economic. Finally, governments must support new technologies with initial deployment subsidies of the sort that have helped to reduce rapidly the costs of solar photovoltaic technology, wind turbines, and batteries. With such policies, the world could build a zero-carbon economy fast enough to limit climate change to a manageable extent. But without the right measures, a zero-carbon economy will come much too late. Adair Turner, chair of the multinational Energy Transitions Commission, was chair of the U.K. Financial Services Authority from 2008 to 2012. His latest book is Between “Debt and the Devil.” This article was published with permission of Project Syndicate — Winning the Electrification Race.  Northeast governors wary of new regional climate pact because it could raise gas prices  Amazon workers criticize company’s record on climate change  Who knows more about economics: Steven Mnuchin or Greta Thunberg?

The Observer Climate change opening doors or windows in the morning, you check your phone to see what the air quality will be. ‘The only uncertainty is Melting permafrost releases ancient microbes today’s humans have never been exposed to and how long we’ll last’: a have no resistance to Fewer people work outdoors and even indoors the worst case scenario for air can taste slightly acidic, sometimes making you feel nauseated. The last coal furnaces closed 10 the climate in 2050 years ago, but that hasn’t made much difference in The Future We Choose, a new book by the air quality around the world because you are still architects of the Paris climate accords, offers two breathing dangerous exhaust fumes from millions of contrasting visions for how the world might look in cars and buses everywhere. Our world is getting thirty years (read the best case scenario here) hotter. Over the next two decades, projections tell • Christiana Figueres, author: ‘This is the decade us that temperatures in some areas of the globe will and we are the generation’ rise even higher, an irreversible development now utterly beyond our control. Oceans, forests, plants, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac trees and soil had for many years absorbed half the Sat 15 Feb 2020 17.00 GMT carbon dioxide we spewed out. Now there are few https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/15/worst-case-scenario- forests left, most of them either logged or consumed 2050-climate-crisis-future-we-choose-christiana-figueres-tom-rivett-carnac by wildfire, and the permafrost is belching greenhouse gases into an already overburdened atmosphere. The increasing heat of the Earth is suffocating us and in five to 10 years, vast swaths of the planet will be increasingly inhospitable to humans. We don’t know how hospitable the arid regions of Australia, South Africa and the western United States will be by 2100. No one knows what the future holds for their children and grandchildren: tipping point after tipping point is being reached, casting doubt on the form of future civilisation. Some say that humans will be cast to ‘The air can taste slightly acidic, sometimes making the winds again, gathering in small tribes, hunkered you feel nauseated.’ Photograph: Arctic- down and living on whatever patch of land might Images/Corbis sustain them. It is 2050. Beyond the emissions reductions More moisture in the air and higher sea surface registered in 2015, no further efforts were made to temperatures have caused a surge in extreme control emissions. We are heading for a world that hurricanes and tropical storms. Recently, coastal will be more than 3C warmer by 2100 cities in Bangladesh, Mexico, the United States and elsewhere have suffered brutal infrastructure The first thing that hits you is the air. In many destruction and extreme flooding, killing many places around the world, the air is hot, heavy and, thousands and displacing millions. This happens depending on the day, clogged with particulate with increasing frequency now. Every day, because pollution. Your eyes often water. Your cough never of rising water levels, some part of the world must seems to disappear. You think about some countries evacuate to higher ground. Every day, the news in Asia, where, out of consideration, sick people shows images of mothers with babies strapped to used to wear white masks to protect others from their backs, wading through floodwaters and homes airborne infection. Now you often wear a mask to ripped apart by vicious currents that resemble protect yourself from air pollution. You can no mountain rivers. News stories tell of people living longer simply walk out your front door and breathe in houses with water up to their ankles because they fresh air: there might not be any. Instead, before have nowhere else to go, their children coughing and wheezing because of the mould growing in their beds, insurance companies declaring bankruptcy, migration, they too feel the consequences. Most leaving survivors without resources to rebuild their countries’ armies are now just highly militarised lives. Contaminated water supplies, sea salt border patrols. Some countries are letting people in, intrusions and agricultural runoff are the order of but only under conditions approaching indentured the day. Because multiple disasters are often servitude. happening simultaneously, it can take weeks or even months for basic food and water relief to reach areas pummelled by extreme floods. Diseases such as malaria, dengue, cholera, respiratory illnesses and malnutrition are rampant. A

young boy picks material from a rubbish dump in Taez, Yemen. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Basha/AFP via Getty Images Those living within stable countries may be physically safe, yes, but the psychological toll is The aftermath of a wildfire in northern California, mounting. With each new tipping point passed, they November 2018. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP feel hope slipping away. There is no chance of You try not to think about the 2 billion people who stopping the runaway warming of our planet and no live in the hottest parts of the world, where, for doubt we are slowly but surely heading towards upwards of 45 days per year, temperatures some kind of collapse. And not just because it’s too skyrocket to 60C (140F), a point at which the hot. Melting permafrost is also releasing ancient human body cannot be outside for longer than about microbes that today’s humans have never been six hours because it loses the ability to cool itself exposed to and, as a result, have no resistance to. down. Places such as central India are becoming Diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks are increasingly challenging to inhabit. Mass migrations rampant as these species flourish in the changed to less hot rural areas are beset by a host of refugee climate, spreading to previously safe parts of the problems, civil unrest and bloodshed over planet, increasingly overwhelming us. Worse still, diminished water availability. the public health crisis of antibiotic resistance has Food production swings wildly from month to only intensified as the population has grown denser month, season to season, depending on where you in inhabitable areas and temperatures continue to live. More people are starving than ever before. rise. Climate zones have shifted, so some new areas have become available for agriculture (Alaska, the Arctic), while others have dried up (Mexico, California). Still others are unstable because of the The demise of the human species is being discussed extreme heat, never mind flooding, wildfire and more and more. For many, the only uncertainty is tornadoes. This makes the food supply in general how long we’ll last, how many more generations highly unpredictable. Global trade has slowed as will see the light of day. Suicides are the most countries seek to hold on to their own resources. obvious manifestation of the prevailing despair, but there are other indications: a sense of bottomless Countries with enough food are resolute about holding on to it. As a result, food riots, coups and civil wars are throwing the world’s most vulnerable from the frying pan into the fire. As developed countries seek to seal their borders from mass by commercial or political interests. And we have made several important changes to our style guide to ensure the language we use accurately reflects the environmental emergency. The Guardian believes that the problems we face on the climate crisis are systemic and that fundamental societal change is needed. We will keep reporting on the efforts of individuals and communities around the world who are fearlessly taking a stand for future generations and the preservation of loss, unbearable guilt and fierce resentment at human life on earth. We want their stories to inspire previous generations who didn’t do what was hope. necessary to ward off this unstoppable calamity. We hope you will consider supporting us today. We • This is an edited extract from The Future We need your support to keep delivering quality Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana journalism that’s open and independent. Every Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, published by reader contribution, however big or small, is so Manilla Press (£12.99). To order a copy go to valuable. Support the Guardian from as little as guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15 CA$1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you • Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac will be in conversation at a Guardian Live event at the Royal Geographical Society, London SW7, on Tuesday 3 March, 7pm We've got an announcement… … on our progress as an organisation. In service of the escalating climate emergency, we have made an important decision – to renounce fossil fuel advertising, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels. In October we outlined our pledge: that the Guardian will give global heating, wildlife extinction and pollution the urgent attention and prominence they demand. This resonated with so many readers around the world. We promise to update you on the steps we take to hold ourselves accountable at this defining point in our lifetimes. With climate misinformation rife, and never more dangerous than now, the Guardian's accurate, authoritative reporting is vital – and we will not stay quiet. We chose a different approach: to keep Guardian journalism open for all. We don't have a paywall because we believe everyone deserves access to factual information, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. Our editorial independence means we are free to investigate and challenge inaction by those in power. We will inform our readers about threats to the environment based on scientific facts, not driven The Observer Climate change carbon back where it belongs, in the soil. This, of course, helped to diminish climate crisis, but the ‘Air is cleaner than before benefits were even greater. On every sensory level, the ambient feeling of living on what has again the Industrial Revolution’: become a green planet has been transformative, especially in cities. a best case scenario for the Reimagining and restructuring cities was crucial to climate in 2050 solving the climate challenge puzzle. But further steps had to be taken, which meant that global The Future We Choose, a new book by the rewilding efforts had to reach well beyond the architects of the Paris climate accords, offers cities. The forest cover worldwide is now 50% and contrasting visions for how the world might look in agriculture has evolved to become more tree-based. thirty years (read the worst case scenario here) The result is that many countries are unrecognisable, in a good way. No one seems to • Christiana Figueres, author: ‘This is the decade miss wide-open plains or monocultures. Now we and we are the generation’ have shady groves of nut and orchards, timber land Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac interspersed with grazing, parkland areas that spread Sat 15 Feb 2020 17.00 GMT for miles, new havens for our regenerated https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/15/best-case-scenario- population of pollinators. 2050-climate-crisis-future-we-choose-christiana-figueres-tom-rivett-carnac Drones organised along aerial corridors are now delivering packages, further reducing the need for vehicles A major part of the shift to net-zero emissions was a focus on electricity; achieving the goal required not only an overhaul of existing infrastructure but also a structural shift. In some ways, breaking up grids and decentralising power proved easy. We no longer burn fossil fuels. Most of our energy now comes from renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and hydro. All homes and buildings produce their own electricity – every available ‘The ambient feeling of living on what has again surface is covered with solar paint that contains become a green planet has been transformative.’ millions of nanoparticles, which harvest energy Photograph: Ichiro/Getty Images from the sunlight, and every windy spot has a wind It is 2050. We have been successful at halving turbine. If you live on a particularly sunny or windy emissions every decade since 2020. We are heading hill, your house might harvest more energy than it for a world that will be no more than 1.5C warmer can use, in which case the energy will simply flow by 2100 back to the smart grid. Because there is no combustion cost, energy is basically free. It is also In most places in the world, the air is moist and more abundant and more efficiently used than ever. fresh, even in cities. It feels a lot like walking through a forest and very likely this is exactly what Homes and buildings all over the world are you are doing. The air is cleaner than it has been becoming self-sustaining far beyond their electrical since before the Industrial Revolution. We have needs. For example, all buildings now collect trees to thank for that. They are everywhere. rainwater and manage their own water use. Renewable sources of electricity make possible It wasn’t the single solution we required, but the localised desalination, which means clean drinking proliferation of trees bought us the time we needed water can now be produced on demand anywhere in to vanquish carbon emissions. When we started, it the world. We also use it to irrigate hydroponic was purely practical, a tactic to combat climate gardens, flush toilets and shower. crisis by relocating the carbon: the trees took carbon dioxide out of the air, released oxygen and put the

While we may have successfully reduced carbon emissions, we’re still dealing with the after effects of record levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The long-living greenhouse gases have nowhere to go other than the already-loaded ‘The electric motor is simply a better way of atmosphere, so they are still causing increasingly powering vehicles.’ Photograph: Lucinda extreme weather, though it’s less extreme than it Merano/Getty Images/EyeEm would have been had we continued to burn fossil Petrol and diesel cars are anachronisms. Most fuels. countries banned their manufacture in 2030, but it Glaciers and Arctic ice are still melting and the sea took another 15 years to get internal combustion is still rising. Severe droughts and desertification engines off the road completely. are occurring in the western United States, the What’s strange is that it took us so long to realise Mediterranean and parts of China. Ongoing extreme that the electric motor is simply a better way of weather and resource degradation continue to powering vehicles. It gives you more torque, more multiply existing disparities in income, public speed when you need it, and the ability to recapture health, food security and water availability. But now energy when you brake and it requires dramatically governments have recognised climate crisis factors less maintenance. for the threat multipliers that they are. That We also share cars without thinking twice. In fact, awareness allows us to predict downstream regulating and ensuring the safety of driverless ride problems and head them off before they become sharing were the biggest transportation hurdles for humanitarian crises. cities to overcome. The goal has been to eliminate Everyone understands that we are all in this private ownership of vehicles by 2050 in major together. A disaster that occurs in one country is metropolitan areas. We’re not quite there yet, but likely to occur in another in only a matter of years. we’re making progress. It took us a while to realise that if we worked out We have also reduced land transport needs. Drones how to save the Pacific islands from rising sea organised along aerial corridors are now delivering levels this year, then we might find a way to save packages, further reducing the need for vehicles. Rotterdam in another five years. Thus we are currently narrowing roads, eliminating The zeitgeist has shifted profoundly. How we feel parking spaces and investing in urban planning about the world has changed, deeply. And, projects that make it easier to walk and bike in the unexpectedly, so has how we feel about one city. another.

‘All homes and buildings produce their own electricity.’ Photograph: Lari Bat/Getty Our editorial independence means we are free to Images/iStockphoto investigate and challenge inaction by those in When the alarm bells rang in 2020, thanks in large power. We will inform our readers about threats to part to the youth movement, we realised that we the environment based on scientific facts, not driven suffered from too much consumption, competition, by commercial or political interests. And we have and greedy self-interest. Our commitment to these made several important changes to our style guide values and our drive for profit and status had led us to ensure the language we use accurately reflects the to steamroll our environment. As a species, we were environmental emergency. out of control and the result was the near-collapse of The Guardian believes that the problems we face on our world. the climate crisis are systemic and that fundamental We emerged from the climate crisis as more mature societal change is needed. We will keep reporting members of the community of life, capable of not on the efforts of individuals and communities only restoring ecosystems but also of unfolding our around the world who are fearlessly taking a stand dormant potentials of human strength and for future generations and the preservation of discernment. Humanity was only ever as doomed as human life on earth. We want their stories to inspire it believed itself to be. Vanquishing that belief was hope. our true legacy. We hope you will consider supporting us today. We • This is an edited extract from The Future We need your support to keep delivering quality Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana journalism that’s open and independent. Every Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, published by reader contribution, however big or small, is so Manilla Press (£12.99). To order a copy go to valuable. Support the Guardian from as little as guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15 £1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. • Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac will be in conversation at a Guardian Live event at the Royal Geographical Society, London SW7, on Tuesday 3 March, 7pm We've got an announcement… … on our progress as an organisation. In service of the escalating climate emergency, we have made an important decision – to renounce fossil fuel advertising, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels. In October we outlined our pledge: that the Guardian will give global heating, wildlife extinction and pollution the urgent attention and prominence they demand. This resonated with so many readers around the world. We promise to update you on the steps we take to hold ourselves accountable at this defining point in our lifetimes. With climate misinformation rife, and never more dangerous than now, the Guardian's accurate, authoritative reporting is vital – and we will not stay quiet. We chose a different approach: to keep Guardian journalism open for all. We don't have a paywall because we believe everyone deserves access to factual information, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay.