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WV utility hikes are only just beginning Infrastructure replacement will cost $900M Bethany Lindsay blindsay@nsnews.com
WEST Vancouver residents are already complaining about huge jumps in their utility bills this year, but even bigger increases are in the works as the district faces hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure replacement costs. The district’s sewer, water and storm systems are aging, and the current annual budget only covers about $2 million of the $11 million in replacements that West Vancouver will need every year for the next century. The district has valued its water, storm and sewer systems at $900 million to replace — or about $20,000 for every resident. With much of the infrastructure dating back to the middle of the last century, it’s going to need replacing soon. This information is laid out in the brochure West Vancouverites received with their utility bills earlier this year. At last week’s council meeting, Coun. Shannon Walker said she was “frightened” when she read the brochure. “We don’t have the people and the residents to support our future.” But that frightening message might not have reached everybody. Raymond Fung, the district’s director of engineering and transportation, said he’s received very little feedback about the pamphlet. “There’s no guarantee that people read the brochures,” he said, which is one of the reasons why the district is about to embark on a public consultation process to discuss infrastructure replacement. See Sewer page 3
Scuba diver dies in diving accident near Horseshoe Bay Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com
A man died in an apparent diving accident near Horseshoe Bay on Friday night.
West Vancouver police officers, firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene after another diver started yelling for help near Pasco Road at 10 p.m. His diving partner had not ascended with him and when the man did reach the surface he was unconscious. A Coast Guard vessel and the Lower Mainland’s Air 1 helicopter also converged on the spot just north of the ferry terminal. The man was pulled into the Coast Guard boat and transferred to paramedics, but he could not be revived. See Police page 3
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NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
A tree faller removes limbs from a large fir tree at the corner of Premier Street and Old Lillooet Road in North Vancouver last week prior to cutting down the tree. The tree was to have been kept as part of a Polygon development, but root damage during earth moving on the site made it too dangerous to leave.