Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - North Shore News - A3
N. Van hearts big on romance
Amazon ranks NV second only to Victoria Brent Richter
Get bonus cash, set priorities: Bookham
brichter@nsnews.com
From page 1
NORTH Vancouver is second only to Victoria when it comes to l’amour in Canadian cities.
housing, market rental housing, adaptable designs geared towards seniors and people with disabilities, commercial space or higher environmental building standards. During a council workshop last fall, members of the public delivered a list of complaints about the way council handles density bonusing now, particularly that council has been too willing to allow unpopular, dense developments in exchange for amenities of questionable or unclear value. Coun. Pam Bookham led the charge to stop council’s practice of waiting for developers to include community amenity perks with large developments. It should be for the city to decided whether North Shore Neighbourhood House or a Presentation House facility gets rebuilt first, not a developer, she argued. “These should be our priorities, and the way to do it is to direct all density bonusing on major projects in the form of cash into our amenity fund and, as we finally work out our plans as to what order and what design . . . we will at least know we have funds on-hand that will offset the need to create additional density or density that’s inappropriate.” Bookham found allies in Couns. Rod Clark and Guy Heywood, who cautioned that the city avoid taking on responsibilities outside of a municipality’s jurisdiction, simplybecausetheinfrastructure was offered by a developer. Defenders of the existing policy, Mayor Darrell Mussatto, and Couns. Craig Keating and Linda Buchanan noted that the city has fared well, garnering many loved community assets, including the new city library, and a number of badly-needed non-profit housing projects by trading density for amenities. “I think the city has done extremely well by the past density bonusing and what we’ve been able to achieve,” Mussatto said. “I get mayors from all over the region asking me how were we able to do that” Mussatto said the complexity of the bonusing policy makes it difficult to explain simply to the public, and council should put more effort into clarifying that. Coun. Don Bell agreed that council should mainly accept cash in the interest of transparency for the public, but keep the option for trading for on-site amenities available for when it makes sense. Bookham tried to no avail to persuade her colleagues that councillors should be amply prepared to have an informed discussion and vote on potential changes to its density policy without an outside study. The study is expected to take three to four months to complete.
The steamy revelation comes from an annual ranking of cities concocted by online retailer Amazon.ca released last week. The rankings were established by Amazon not by measuring the prevalence of butterfly kisses, Al Green fandom and baby talk between adoring couples, but rather by tracking the online sales of romantic novels, sex and relationship books, rom-com DVDs and Michael Bublé music per capita. Amazon releases the list annually to drive preValentine’s Day sales of NEWS photo Lisa King mushy gifts. But Amazon failed to COHEN White and Jasmine Moore exchange a kiss as they wait for a romantic sleigh ride on clarify in its list whether it is Grouse Mountain Monday. See more photos of Family Day fun in photo galleries at nsnews.com. District of North Vancouver residents wearing their hearts on their sleeves, or hear that the older people are still having an active recreation and clean living North Vancouverites are known for, Walton pondered. romantic life,” he said. City of North Vancouver residents. “The North Shore is the healthiest region in “I’m very happy to hear that. There’s hope for us The two municipalities — often said to be joined Canada from a public health point of view, and at the hip themselves — share much in common, younger people.” The city is a younger community, Walton statistics. I suspect there could be some connection however both mayors claim it is their constituents concedes, but “Romance can be old love as well as between health and love as well,” he said. who put North Vancouver on Cupid’s map. Mussatto mused the reason might be more “I would think the district, for sure, is more young love,” he added. Both mayors have theories as to what makes the meteorological in nature. romantic,” said Mayor Richard Walton. “Maybe the wetter weather is a bit of an “I see the district as being a pretty laid back place. North Shore a place where people are more likely to advantage. Maybe they stay indoors just a little bit It’s less urban than the city core. A lot of people live have love on their minds. “There’s definitely a connection between more and when they’re indoors they’re wondering a little more remotely from the hustle and bustle.” Not to be outdone, city Mayor Darrell romance and the landscape,” Walton said, noting what they should be doing. Maybe it encourages a Mussatto says his community’s statistically younger it was “love at first sight” when his father first little bit more of an active romantic lifestyle on the demographic means it is likely the more amourous. visited British Columbia and saw the North Shore wetter days,” he said. The District of West Vancouver was not ranked “The residents of the city tend to be a bit mountains, before deciding to relocate the family as it did not meet the population size required by younger, so when I hear Mayor Walton say that the there. It may also have something to do with the outdoor Amazon. district residents are more romantic, I’m happy to
$140,000 to set up court on Lot 5
City flips back on beach volleyball Brent Richter brichter@nsnews.com
LOT 5 in Shipbuilders’ Square will be home to beach volleyball players digging, setting and possibly delivering epic match point spikes for the next few summers. City of North Vancouver council approved spending $140,000 Feb. 4 to bring in the sand, poles and nets needed for the sport after months volleying the possibility back and forth. The city is still considering what to do with the prime location and the rest of the waterfront in the long term, entertaining ideas about a cultural precinct, a satellite location for the Vancouver Aquarium, more space for Capilano University, a new home for the North Vancouver Museum and Archives as well as commercial space, restaurants and possibly a hotel. The beach volleyball plan has been championed over the last several months by Coun. Craig Keating, mainly on the basis that the property, as-is, is an eyesore. “The immediate and crying need is to lend some liveliness to a site that, yes indeed, will have other development opportunities going forward but right now it’s a wad of dirt surrounded by metal fences. It looks horrible on our front doorstep,” he said. “I don’t think any homeowner in the City of North Vancouver would be allowed to keep their front yard the way we keep our front yard down there.” Volleyball B.C. has stated it will rent the courts three to four nights a week for league play and training camps, as well as one weekend a month for tournaments. However critics on council noted there had been very little direct pleas for volleyball on the waterfront from residents.
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
LOT 5, next to Shipbuilders’ Square, will be transformed this summer into five beach volleyball courts. “It’s not about which group we like and which group we don’t like or which use we like and which use we don’t like, we’re trying to create a lively, healthy city . . .,” Keating said in response. Mayor Darrell Mussatto added that Lower Lonsdale is increasingly becoming the neighbourhood of choice for the young demographic, and beach volleyball would be a good fit. The motion passed 4-3 with Couns. Pam Bookham, Guy Heywood and Rod Clark opposed. “There are big decisions that are going to be made with respect to redevelopment of the waterfront. I do not see this as the right way to go — putting an activity in place on a temporary basis for the amount of money that is required. I would prefer to have a conversation about other temporary uses of this site that would meet the needs of a wider group of individuals,” Bookham said. Bookham said the city ought to consider outdoor theatre or theatre in a tent, similar to Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, or live music for the site rather than “grabbing onto one proposal before considering other uses.”