B.C. Views Crown jewel on table in Cariboo. p6
Lion a leader in helping vision impaired. p3
THE NEWS
Sports Maple Ridge wrestlers win gold at provincials. p24
www.mapleridgenews.com Wednesday, March 5, 2014 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Scrap metal recycler may be forced to move Fraser Valley Metal Exchange gets a stay in court by M on i sh a M ar ti n s staff reporter
Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
Cheeky Taryn Kelly, Jakob Phan and Summer Gillespie perform a tap routine called “Cheek to Cheek” during a show at the ACT on Sunday. See more in arts, p21.
A Maple Ridge scrap metal dealer who ran afoul of a municipal bylaw will soon be closing his doors, although court proceedings against him have come to a halt. A judge entered a stay of proceedings last week against Michael Salo of the Fraser Valley Metal Exchange and M. Salo and Sons Recycling Ltd., effectively tossing out charges under the district’s scrap metal bylaw for a lack of evidence. Salo said he would have won if the allegations were tested at trial, but decided to accept a stay as a cheaper compromise. He has spent $10,000 on legal fees since the charges were laid in September. See Metal, p10
Quest continues for industrial space Mayor, staff don’t support residential in Albion by P h i l M e l nychuk staff reporter
Maple Ridge’s commercialindustrial strategy is aimed at finding more room for those land uses, but one councillor is calling for a possible reduction in such Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS space in one of Maple Ridge’s Office and manufacturing space with some prime industrial areas. residential were proposed for the Albion “It’s been suggested that we Industrial Area last summer. shouldn’t do a quay down in Al-
bion. I would disagree with that,” Coun. Michael Morden said at council’s Monday’s workshop. Instead, with a mall and a business park planned for the Albion flats on the north side of Lougheed Highway, the south could be a mixed-use area with residential, office space and industrial use, along with a West Coast Express station, part of a “complete community. Unlike Silver Valley or the Albion residential area – which have been criticized for being incomplete communities – the Albion flats and Albion Industrial Area,
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for industrial and commercial developments and is looking at eight areas where it could designate another 200 acres for light industry or business parks. The goal is to boost the district’s industrial tax base and ease the property tax burden on homeowners. But current Mayor Ernie Daykin doesn’t support Morden’s idea. Instead, he said a marina, quaytype development in the Port Haney area, as allowed for in the downtown plan, makes more sense. See Industrial, p10
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south of Lougheed Highway, could be part of a complete community with shops, schools and residences,” Morden said. “If we went with mixed use, which there seems to be some appetite for … that to me is going to be the great piece of work that’s going to come out of this. I’d say that’s something to shoot for.” Morden, who plans to run for mayor in the fall, added that any land that’s removed from industrial use would have to be provided somewhere else. Council has been involved in a long process to find more space
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