Along the Fraser A path and footbridge to a plan. p6
Mountain people peeved at traffic. p3
THE NEws
Gardening Designing, assessing your garden. p27
www.mapleridgenews.com Friday, February 15, 2013 · serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · 50¢
Review finds support for secondary suites by Ph i l M e lnych uk staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/The news
Ash Wednesday Sebastian Gorrie, in Grade 1 at St. Patrick’s School, listens to a prayer addressing poverty around the world during the annual Hunger Lunch on Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent, a 40-day fasting period before Easter for Christians around the world. Ashes, from the burning of the previous year’s Palm Sunday, are placed on the foreheads of believers in the sign of the cross to remind them of human mortality and penance to God.
Maple Ridge moved a step closer to a new secondary suite bylaw after the last stage in its public consultation process Wednesday. An open house reviewed input received so far in the year-long review, such as the fact that 79 per cent of the 67 people who answered a questionnaire believed that secondary suites are an important part of affordable housing. Most of those who responded, 69 per cent, also believed that Maple Ridge should keep its requirement that homeowners live in the home where the suite is located. While the district doesn’t know how many secondary suites are in the district, or how many are legally registered, according to Metro Vancouver stats for 2011, Maple Ridge has 2,890 suites dispersed throughout 16,650 single-family homes. see Suites, p8
GE Bridge sound wall to come down To be replaced by one 1.5 metres taller by M onisha M ar t ins staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/The news
The existing wall is too short to buffer noise from the taller trucks that cross the bridge daily.
DEBBIE SHEPPARD 604-312-3705
debbiesheppard.com
A sound barrier that was too short too keep the noise of traffic out of a Pitt Meadows neighbourhood will be rebuilt by the end of spring following years of lobbying by residents. TransLink will replace the existing wall with a new one that’s
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4.6 metres in height (15 feet), or 1.5 metres higher. Trees will also be planted behind homes along Wildwood Crescent and at the border of Maple Ridge to dampen the incessant croaks and thumps that echo through the area when vehicles cross the Golden Ears Bridge. Set for completion in late May, the project will cost taxpayers $817,000. Mike Stark, president of the Southern Pitt Meadows Residents’ Association, is relieved to see a solution is finally underway.
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“This process has been ongoing for more than 10 years, so I am happy to finally see a partial resolution to the noise issue with the installation of a sound barrier of appropriate height that will, according to TransLink, reduce the existing noise by 50 per cent,” he said. “This is a huge win for our community.” The new wall is the culmination of years of negotiation between the neighbourhood association, the city and TransLink that began in 2002, before the Golden Ears
Bridge was built. Residents voiced their concerns before the barrier was constructed as it was shorter than the large semi-trailer trucks that crisscross the span and far shorter than what’s recommended by acoustic experts. The neighbourhood association also wanted sinus plates installed between bridge expansion joints and continue to maintain that the interlocking plates are the best “long-term” solution to the noise. see Wall, p5
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