INSIDE: Work site accident claims the life of forklift operator Pg. 3 May 25, 2010
T U E S D A Y
Kelly steps aside for unity 11 Doug 1985-
201
0
LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
Public hearing for plan Charting a new course for the downtown BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
C
Tyler Olsen/TIMES
Chilliwack Opportunity Society client Bev Young completes her literacy homework at the society’s Williams Road headquarters.
When Opportunity knocks BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
W
hen clients like doing choresandhomework, you know you’re doing something right. Ask Bev Young and Janice Buckberry what they like about the Chilliwack Opportunity Society and their answers are a tad surprising. “I like to do my homework and I like sweeping,” says Buckberry, who has been coming to the Opportunity Society’s Williams
Society celebrates 40 years of helping those with intellectual disabilities be part of our community
Road building since the early 1980s. Young, who has been a society client since 1977, likes working on her literacy tasks, along with dishing the dirt on her beloved Vancouver Canucks. The outgoing pair are just dozens of intellectually disabled adults the organization has helped in its 40 years—an anniversary the group
will celebrate with an open house May 28. Most have Down’s Syndrome. Others have fetal alcohol syndrome and disabilities caused by childhood seizures or physical trauma. Unable to live totally independent lives, the society gives adults like Young and Buckberry a place to see old friends and learn skills that can help them in their day-to-day lives.
Manager Arlene Pede, who has been with the society for 40 years, says public acceptance of the developmentally disabled has increased dramatically since the group began in 1970. “People looked at them like they’re strange. Now, they’re part of the community,” said Pede. The
ity hall’s vision for the next 30 years in downtown Chilliwack goes to public hearing next week after which it will likely become part of the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP). In July 2008, the Downtown Land Use and Development Plan (DLUDP) was first presented to the public. Since then, city staff and the consultants, HB Lanarc, have conducted technical studies, incorporated public input, developed polices and mapped out an implementation plan. “The new plan charts a longterm course for the growth and transformation of the downtown as a civic and economic centre, as well as a healthy-living community,” according to the staff report prepared by city planners Peter Li and Karen Stanton. Essentially, the DLUDP is a framework for how development will occur in the specified downtown area over the next 30 years. The plan outlines specific zones for density throughout the area designated as downtown: Prospera Centre and the Landing to the west, Broadway Street to the east, the CN rail line and Bernard Avenue to the south, and Lewis, Bonny and Portage avenues to the north. That area had 10,432 people living in 5,355 dwellings in 2007, according to numbers outlined in the plan. Over the next 30 years
See OPPORTUNITY, Page 24
See PUBLIC, Page 24
Plumbing Service Department WWW.OCONNORGROUP.COM 06198229
8645 Young Street, Chilliwack 604-792-5151 www.jadamandsons.com
FREE 143 PT pre-owned inspection and one year membership!
only at
604-792-2754 DL#5952
02124924
Price 60¢