City: Brakes put on park. 5
Community: B.C. Thanksgiving Food Drive to help Friends in Need. 15
Sports: High hopes for Jr. B Flames. 45
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North Lougheed plans hit wall Split on Pitt Meadows council halts development By M o ni s ha M ar tin s mmartins@mapleridgenews.com
Pitt Meadows’ plan to spur development on a large tract of undeveloped farmland along Lougheed Highway hit a roadblock Tuesday as a split council defeated plans to move the project to the next stage. At a committee meeting Tuesday, council failed to give first and second reading to a bylaw that would allow the city to amend its official community plan. The 3-3 split also meant the city can’t amend its regional context statement, a requirement for any land use changes by Metro Vancouver. Coun. Gwen O’Connell tried to save the process the city has been through thus far by proposing council defer voting until staff return with more information about the costs to build an interchange at Harris Road and Lougheed Highway. “I want to know what the whole interchange is going to look like,” said O’Connell. The city’s plans for the 50-hectare area, located northeast of the highway and Harris Road, has been a controversial issue for years. The land is mostly owned by SmartCentres, a land developer whose tenants include Walmart, Payless, Costco, Staples and Indigo. The city hopes that developing the entire site will facilitate the construction of the North Lougheed Connector, a road that’s needed to access the commercial strip. City staff and several councillors still point to farmers and regional traffic as the main impetus behind the 3.6-kilometre road. See NLC, 9
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Teachers and supporters protested in the lobby of the ACT on Wednesday, when Premier Christy Clark (below) spoke at a special event. Video @ mapleridgenews.com
Angry teachers greet premier Crash celebration of Maple Ridge as a ‘city’ By Ne i l Co r b e t t ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
An angry mob of about 120 placard-waving teachers crashed Maple Ridge’s 140th birthday party. Premier Christy Clark arrived at the downtown arts theatre for the occasion of the historic anniversary and Maple Ridge officially becoming the province’s 50th city – setting aside its longtime “district designation.”
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The crowd was outside the glassfront building and in the ACT lobby, and their jeers filled the room as the premier took the podium, with chants like “arb-i-tra-tion,” many boos and “Shame. Shame. Shame.” “What better way to mark 140 JUST LISTED!
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years of progress than having this become a city,” said Clark. She got a laugh when she referred to Maple Ridge as “a thriving – and very vocal – urban centre.” After her speech and extending congratulations, Clark took questions, and all about the teachers strike. Asked about that day’s B.C. Teachers Federation vote to enter binding arbitration, she reconfirmed that the government is not interested. “My answer to that is this: binding arbitration, because it takes the decisions out of the hands of the
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people who are elected to make those decisions, is ultimately going to lead to higher taxes.” The vote passed with more than 99 per cent of teachers in favour. The premier compared the potential outcome of binding arbitration to an additional five cents per litre gas tax. Clark said she still believes that the government can get a negotiated deal with teachers. Government has a “good raise on the table,” and $375 million to improve class size and composition, she said.
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