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INSIDE: Rapist Cameron Leon will spend two more years in jail Pg. 6
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January 23, 2014
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Council finally agrees to install signalized crosswalk sign
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BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
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City council approved a rezoning of a portion of this property on industrial land to allow for a hazardous waste recycling facility. Critics say it’s too close to the Fraser River.
Critics of the proposed hazardous waste recycling plant admire the company . . . just not where they want to build
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ne of the most consistent caveats uttered by those opposed to building a hazardous waste recycling facility on the banks of the Fraser River in Chilliwack is that they aren’t opposed to the plant, just the location. World Rivers Day founder Mark Angelo even called Aevitas “a company I admire,” at the public forum held at Evergeen Hall on Saturday to discuss the facility. About 100 people showed up for
PAUL J. HENDERSON @peejayaitch the meeting, a gathering where, essentially, the converted preached to one another. Addressing the audience of opponents to the facility, along with Angelo, were Sto:lo Tribal Council Grand Chief Clarence Pennier, B.C.
Federation of Drift Fishers president Rod Clapton and local activist Glen Thompson. More than a dozen environmental, First Nations and sports fishing organizations have banded together to oppose the Cannor Road facility to recycle, among other things, infectious waste, transformer oil containing PCBs and lamps containing mercury. “Plants like this should not be close to a river like the Fraser,” Angelo told the crowd Saturday. “If you look elsewhere across North Ameri-
ca, that is the usual practice.” The World Rivers Day founder argued that the Fraser River needs a “collaborative plan” to address development on its shores, one that focuses on natural and cultural values. Because no such plan exists, says Angelo, people end up “fighting fires against inappropriate development proposals.” “This is one of those and one I hope will be extinguished.”
ignalized pedestrian crosswalks for Vedder Road that were twice nixed by Chilliwack city council were approved Tuesday. The two $150,000 crosswalk signals will be installed at two dangerous locations: Storey and Alder avenues. The existing crosswalks have seen periodic pedestrian-vehicle collisions, including one a year ago when an elderly woman was seriously injured after being struck on Vedder at Storey. Mayor Sharon Gaetz has supported the crosswalk upgrades all along. She said when she used to work at the church office near Storey, she saw frequent close calls. The item first came to council in October 2013, then again in December, and both times a majority of council was concerned about traffic flow along the busy arterial. Manager of transportation Rod Sanderson said Tuesday a consultant’s report found there would be no reduction in level of service for through traffic if full-stop signals were installed at either or both intersections. In October, Sanderson recommended to council the two locations be upgraded, although a consultant’s report suggested that upgrades were not warranted. That consultant’s report based the decision on low usage of the intersections, something
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