PAVING THE WAY FOR MORE RENTALS
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ROUGH SEAS AHEAD FOR BC FERRIES
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LOCATIONS EYED FOR NEW WTE FACILITIES
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Kaleb’s Mount was a labour of love, but perhaps not a journey Paul Reynolds will repeat. See Page A3
WEDNESDAY
JULY 4 2012
www.newwestnewsleader.com
St. Mary’s open house falls short Grant Granger newwestnewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Louise Paulsen stays dry during a brief shower at New Westminster’s Canada Day festivities at Queen’s Park on Sunday. The event included entertainment and a lunch auction.
Queen’s Park draft plans unveiled Feedback sought on long-term proposals Grant Granger ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
Signi¿cant changes, including a second sheet of ice, are being proposed for Queen’s Park in a draft master plan the city has developed for its iconic recreational area. The city presented its ideas to an open house attended by about 300 people in the arena lobby last Wednesday. It’s a long-range plan the city
consultants say will take about 20 years to implement, but project coordinator Jay Young ¿gures will actually take more like 40 to 50 years. Young said about 150 feedback surveys were ¿lled out Wednesday, but the city will take feedback online and mail up until July 13. The results will be discussed by the city’s parks and recreation committee, chaired by Coun. Jonathan Coté, at its next meeting in September. “There’s a lot of interesting ideas. Some, I think, will be accepted quite broadly, and some will be quite
controversial, and we need to have these community discussions to see exactly what the community wants to see,” said Coté. Along with adding a regulationsized rink, the plan calls for restoring the original historic facade and adding a new lobby to the arena. Other suggestions include: taking down the baseball stadium grandstand and replacing it with smaller-scale seating; a “celebration plaza” across from the arena; relocating the rose garden closer to Centennial Lodge; and removing the bandshell from
the picnic area and creating an amphitheatre on the other side of the road that cuts through the park. The plan also includes suggestions for upgrading parking and circulation throughout the park including a transit stop between the arena and stadium. Young said the second sheet of ice wasn’t even on the city’s radar when it started the process, but the feedback the city received in two earlier sessions indicated an appetite for it.
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Parents from John Robson elementary expected more than what they got at an open house on the new elementary school to be built at the former St. Mary’s Hospital site. Construction on the $13.4 million building that will house 550 students from kindergarten to Grade 5 is expected to begin this fall with a scheduled opening in early 2014. When it’s done, John Robson’s students will move down Royal Avenue into the new school, so its parent advisory council had more than a passing interest in seeing what the school district had in mind. But when they arrived at city hall last Wednesday they found out little they didn’t already know. “It was somewhat of a surprise. We thought there would be more interaction, discussion,” said Robson PAC chair Serena Trachta. “It was very basic information. We expected more at this presentation because the process has moved forward.” Last week, the district said three companies had been invited to produce design-build concepts for the projects. Please see SAFETY, A3