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Sentinel
Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 36
Teachers prepared for the long haul Cameron Orr and Jeff Nagel Kitimat’s teachers are more resolved then ever as they face a potentially long haul in the ongoing labour dispute with the province. As of press time teachers still were not expected back in classrooms, with a school year scheduled to begin September 2. Kitimat District Teachers Association President Kim Meyer told the Sentinel that she’s personally not optimistic that there will be school in the early part of September but is hopeful for a quick resolution if mediator Vince Ready takes on the task. Ready has begun initial talks but has not yet begun full remediation. Kitimat’s teachers had returned to their picket lines last week and were expected to be at full strength this week, the scheduled start of the new school year. “The resolve is still strong. There’s some hardship happening right now, we’re taking care of each other at the moment,” said Meyers. She said the reasons for picketing are larger than just local Kitimat issues. “This is all about the conditions in our classrooms,” she said, saying composition is Kitimat’s largest issue. “In Kitimat it’s all about composition, it’s all about the make up of our classes. They deteriorate more and more ever year. The resources are not there,” she said. “Our libraries are open maybe one day a week.” She said if the issue were simply a salary issue then the BC Teachers Federation membership wouldn’t have even taken a strike vote. She said her fingers are crossed for a speedy resolution but her gut is saying no school in early September at least. “I don’t see it happening, because the government is waiting for the teachers to move to them and we can’t go down to their level,” she said. Meanwhile, the province last week proposed a two-week truce with striking teachers to at least allow B.C. schools to reopen as was scheduled this week while a mediated settlement is pursued. The idea of a cooling-off period allowing classes to start while mediated talks proceed was put to B.C. Teachers Federation president Jim Iker by Education Minister Peter Fassbender and government negotiator Peter Cameron. There was no deal between the two sides but both sides said progress was made in the 90-minute meeting last Wednesday and mediator Vince Ready was to begin exploratory talks. The BCTF had not yet responded to the proposal but Iker indicated he needed union membership approval to halt picketing and urged full mediation to begin immediately. Continued on page 2
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
$
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Kimberly Wasyleski and Lisa Medynski, with an old pamphlet advertising Strawberry Meadows as country living ‘in town’. A townhouse proposal has riled many residents in the area.
Affordable housing plan is not so welcomed by nearby homeowners There were jeers, there was sarcastic laughter, there was the definite murmur of an unhappy neighbourhood coming from the gallery at the August 25 Committee of the Whole meeting. It’s not entirely typical to have such a vocal echo when council meets, especially not for the usually pedestrian committee of the whole gatherings, but an affordable home plan eyeing the lot at 4 Blueberry has riled the local homeowners. To ask the proponents to the proposed Blueberry Gardens, Paulo and John Rigoni, they say that there will always be that contingent of “not in my backyard” who oppose projects that may interfere with their living even if it’s for the greater good. But residents in the area have a number of concerns, including the fact that, unlike other proposed high-density developments in Kitimat, this lot on Blueberry has never been zoned to allow housing as proposed. The proposal is for 14 total townhouse constructions, all built with an attached secondary suite. The affordability factor comes in with the units at the east end of the lot being sold for market value — estimated at $458,000 — and the seven units on the west side will be given a 20 per cent discount, leaving a cost to homeowners of about $366,400. The inclusion of secondary suites in the buildings mean homeowners can rent out those units to subsidize their mortgages too. They say that could equate to $1,700 a month for five to seven years during the construction of the LNG Canada proposal, if that goes ahead. Paolo Rigoni told council that their development would be contingent of major works beginning on that project. If
no investment decisions are made, then Blueberry Gardens is dead in the water, he said. “Consider our rezoning proposal and give us an opportunity to continue this dialogue to work out a solution that works for everyone,” said Paolo Rigoni to council. “There’s many developments proposed for Kitimat right now and they all have objectors. All their objections come from their immediate neighbours and generally this is a ‘not in my backyard syndrome.’ People know there’s a need for affordable housing in Kitimat but they don’t want it near them because they want it somewhere else.” They spoke to walls or fences as ways to minimize privacy problems. Goffinet had issues with their proposed affordability claims, asking how a bank could ever be assured that there would always be a $1,700 rent waiting for the homeowner, also noting that if a renter is lost that bumps $1,700 in to the homeowner’s budget, in a home that’s supposed to be geared for low income. As for the application itself, council faced two possible actions from staff — either prepare a draft bylaw for the proposal or to reject the application — but councillors instead voted to defer the matter until staff could provide council on input on the possibility of using nearby District of Kitimat owned land for this purpose, and to send the matter for comment from the Advisory Planning Commission. If the bylaw eventually proceeds as proposed, it would allow up to 14 townhouses compared to the currently zoned two total units for the site, and would reduce the minimum frontage from 40 metres to just two metres. More on page 3
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The Cheynes leave behind legacy ... page 9