3 8 9 14 21 25 27
The sun-in-law
Let us take your pulse
Nevin Middleton of Blue Marble Energy Alternatives convinced his father-in-law to let him put a solar powered water heating system in his new home.
The Richmond News launches ThePulse, a feature page that tells the good news about local individuals, business and organizations.
3
F
YOUR
SOURCE
FOR
LOCAL
R
I
D
A
SPORTS
,
Y
,
NEWS
S
,
E
P
T
E
W E AT H E R
M
B
E
AND
R
1 7 ,
EEENTRY TO FRONE 23 TH IS
✁
News Editorial Letters Family Function ThePulse (new) Sports Classified
09178327
Index
21
SU N
DAY
PETTING ZOO SUMMER STRETCH
23
Sunday, September 19th
2 0 1 0
E N T E RTA I N M E N T
!
WWW
.RICHMOND-NEWS.COM
DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN RIGHTS
Misconceptions plague plan
Bartender mixes it up with Shark Club
Expansion won’t affect ALR: architect BY NELSON BENNETT
nbennett@richmond-news.com
$
$ $
$
BY A LAN CAMPBELL
acampbell@richmond-news.com
CHUNG CHOW/RICHMOND NEWS
Chief architect, James Cheng, left, explains what the Lingyen Mountain Temple on No. 5 Road will look like if city council approves the temple’s expansion plans.
at various times of the day, it’s not the daily traffic and parking that is likely to be a problem. It’s the annual festivals — like Chinese New Years and Buddha’s birthday — that worry area residents, who say No. 5 Road is already congested enough. George and Mella Langevin, who live on Seacote Road, fear a traffic and parking nightmare is about to be created. Standing in the existing temple, George Langevin said he had to admit “this is a beautiful building, there’s no doubt about it.” But he thinks the expansion is out of scale with the rest of No. 5 Road.
$
$
Beer, Wine, Pop, Juice, Water
It's worth
RICHMOND BOTTLE DEPOT
it.
“Once they finish the development on the corner, Fantasy Gardens and this too, the traffic here is going to be tremendous,” he said. “Something that big is just going to be overwhelming.” “I don’t think it fits in with the surrounding area — it overpowering,” his wife added. The temple’s proponents plan to reduce annual festivals down from five a year to three. To address parking concerns, the temple would work with shopping malls and use shuttle buses, and hire traffic controllers to prevent festival-goers from parking in front of people’s homes. They will also encourage festival-goers to use public transit. To address traffic concerns, they are also proposing to add additional
=$
access points off of No. 5 Road (there is currently only one), and add a left-hand turn lane for southbound traffic along No. 5 Road. Another main concern is the temple’s sheer size and height. The expanded temple and monastery will be built immediately south of the existing temple, which will remain. The main temple will be pagoda style, with successively higher tiers, the top of which will be 140 feet. There will be a total of 10 new buildings. A display board at Wednesday’s open house compared the proposed temple to other notable religious buildings, like the Holy Rosary Church in Vancouver, which is 165 feet high, and the Cathedral of Cologne in Germany: 450 feet. see Cheng page 6
8171 Westminster Hwy. (at Buswell, one block east of No. 3 Rd.) Walkway access also from Save-On Foods parking lot
Mon-Sat 8:45-6:30 Sun 10-5 (604) 780-4959
A former bartender has accused the Shark Club in Richmond of sexual discrimination and has won the right to take the club to a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. Karolina Bil was hired last year as a bartender at the club — which operates out of the Sandman Hotel just south of Bridgeport Road at Highway 99 — before quitting earlier this year. In her complaint, Bil alleges that, during initial training, she would be “required to serve customers from behind the bar while male bartenders primarily prepared the drinks for the servers.” She claims that she, as opposed to a male colleague, was then directed to ask a male customer if he needed a drink “because the ugly boys shouldn’t do it.” The BC Human Rights Coalition, advocating on behalf of Bil, told the News that Bil completed three to four weeks of paid training before the club even opened. And in response to claims that she should have known the environment she was getting into, Bil said the club wasn’t yet open when she applied. Bil also alleges that, despite having been hired as a bartender, it was made clear to her that it was her see Club page 4 07283111
An expansion of the Lingyen Buddhist temple on No. 5 Road will not result in any loss of agricultural land, and is unlikely to set a precedent that will see a proliferation of soaring minarets and cathedral spires along the Highway to Heaven, says architect James Cheng. Cheng, the lead architect on Aspac’s River Green development next to the Olympic Oval, has been hired to handle the proposed expansion. At an open house at the existing temple Wednesday, he said there are some misconceptions about the project. Main concerns over the $40-million expansion include the height of the proposed new main temple, parking congestion and loss of land in the Agricultural Land Reserve. “There is zero encroachment on ALR lands,” Cheng said. The Lingyen Temple’s property is 31 acres in size. Two-thirds (19 acres) is zoned for agriculture; 12 acres are zoned institutional. The expansion (233,500 square feet) can be accomplished without encroaching on farmland, he said. But the temple is reducing its parking down to 410 vehicles, which is less than originally proposed. “That could possibly be a concern for the neighbours,” says Ken Johnston, a city councillor who lives in the area. “In all fairness, they are good neighbours,” he added. But as a resident, he shares his neighbours’ concerns about the scale of the project, especially it’s proximity to the old Fantasy Gardens site immediately south, which is being redeveloped. Since worshippers come and go