FRIDAY APRIL 22 2016
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Metal art
Jewelry design grads exhibit work at the Music Box in West Van
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WV owners chop trees to beat bylaw Neighbour disappointed by lack of protection
JEREMY SHEPHERD jshepherd@nsnews.com
At least two dozen mature trees were chopped down in a West Vancouver backyard this week, some falling just hours before council passed the district’s first ever tree protection bylaw.
“It looks like they clear cut a section of Stanley Park,” said neighbour Liesa Norman. Council unanimously voted on Monday to introduce an interim bylaw protecting trees with a diameter greater than 75 centimetres. The tree bylaw was voted into law at a special council meeting Wednesday night. But before that happened, chainsaws revved up outside the Altamont home next door to Norman on Tuesday, filling the air with a scent like “Christmas in spring.” Norman watched as the last of the 28 large trees were reduced to stumps Wednesday afternoon. “You’re taking out a giant,” she said, estimating some of the cedars measured over 10 storeys high. “You can’t just grow this back.” After knocking on her neighbour’s door and getting no response, Norman said she contacted municipal hall and was told a $1,000 fine could be administered if the clear cutting continued after Wednesday. “People up here don’t
West Vancouver resident Liesa Norman is upset over the clearcutting of trees in her neighbours’ backyard. The trees were felled just before West Vancouver council passed a bylaw regulating tree-cutting on private land in the municipality. PHOTO MIKE WAKEFIELD care,” she said. “It’s not even a slap on the wrist.” There have been reports of chainsaw-wielding residents taking action to beat the tree bylaw across West Vancouver this week, according to Coun. MaryAnn Booth, who called the news “unfortunate but not surprising.” Booth was one of a few councillors who anticipated
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Pay parking debated for busiest parks BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
District of North Vancouver council is considering putting a price on parking at its busiest parks during peak season.
The plan to charge $2 per hour, $6 per day or $20 for a season pass at
Mount Fromme, Cates Park, Panorama Park and Lynn Canyon Park is still very much conceptual – but some on council are eager to test the idea out as a means to manage demand for limited spots and to raise revenue to help cover the parks department’s growing costs. The district surveyed
visitors to the parks in 2015 and found that 50 per cent of people parking in the Fromme and Cates Park lots were coming from outside the North Shore. Less than a quarter of Deep Cove’s visitors were North Shore residents and at Lynn Canyon, only 20 per cent reported being local. All of those areas are
experiencing record attendance, which has meant higher maintenance costs for trails, which are taking a beating, more cleanup crew attention as well as an increase in the number of seasonal park rangers on patrol. If all the existing parking
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