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FRIDAY, NOV. 28, 2014 Your community. Your stories
TRI-CITY
NEWS
BUSINESS & THE ENVIRONMENT
Rock talk over Coquitlam River biz Allard boss says no plans for new cement facility on Pipeline GaRy MCKenna
The Tri-CiTy News
A group of Pipeline Road residents fear that zoning changes to a nearby property could pave the way for cement operations on the Coquitlam River, a notion adamantly denied by the gravel and concrete operator who owns the land. Bedrock Granite Services Ltd., a stone-cutting business, has been located on the east side of Pipeline since 1986 on land that is leased to the company by Allard Contractors Ltd. A few years ago, it was discovered that Bedrock is not in compliance with current city zoning bylaws, which stipulates the company can only cut stones extracted from the land on which the business sits. Now, the city is working to amend the zoning bylaw to bring the company into compliance. But language in a staff report stating the changes would allow for the “manufacturing of… concrete products” has neighbours
up in arms. “[Bedrock] doesn’t do cement products,” said Bonnie Norquay, whose family has lived up the road from the property for 47 years. “If it was strictly Bedrock behind this, why include the cement?” She and several of her neighbours, including Jeannie Dmytronetz and Ingrid Heldt, fear that Allard Contractors may have its eye on the property for future gravel and cement production. If that is the case, Norquay said, it would put a major industry on the shore of the Coquitlam River. Jim Allard, vice-president of Allard Contractors, called residents’ assertions that a ready-mix plant could be located on the Bedrock site “a fairy tale.” In order to put cement operations at 1875 Pipeline Rd., he said, the land would have to be re-zoned to M4 industrial from its current A3 agricultural, a change that is not likely to happen given the property’s proximity to the Coquitlam River. “That is an absolute red herring,” he said. “There is no way you could put a ready-mix plant there without rezoning the land.” see leGAl CAses, page A16
GARY MCKENNA/thE tRi-CitY NEwS
Bonnie Norquay, a resident of Pipeline Road in Coquitlam, is concerned a zoning change proposed for a property next to the Coquitlam River could pave the way for more industrial activity there. But the property’s owner says suggestions a cement plant could be placed there is a “red herring.”
HEALTH CARE
Girls get their hands dirty in new Riverside auto shop class
B.C. surgical waits average 5 months Institute says province lowballs wait times Jeff naGel BlaCk Press
A new report by the Fraser Institute criticizes long waits for surgery in B.C. and accuses the province of routinely underestimating the wait times it
publishes on its website. B.C. patients wait an average of five months for medically necessary elective surgery, according to the annual report by the think tank. It shows the average patient waits 9.5 weeks once referred by a GP until they see a specialist and then another 11.6 weeks from the specialist appointment to surgery.
see WAIT doubles, page A4
CONTACT ThE TRI-CITY NEWS: newsroom@tricitynews.com
SARAh pAYNE/thE tRi-CitY NEwS
Jordan wycherly, a shop teacher at PoCo’s riverside secondary, saw a need for a girls-only auto class and filled it: story, page a3
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