WEDNESDAY May
7 2014
FEATURE 25
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First place showdown L o c a l N e w s . L o c a l M at t e r s
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS at N S N E W S .C O M
Council punts OCP to September City delays public hearing to seek more staff, community input
BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
City of North Vancouver planning staff are easing back on density in most neighbourhoods while looking at increasing it
for Moodyville in the last proposed changes for the official community plan. Among the changes staff are recommending before the OCP comes up for a council vote: reducing height limits on the London
Drugs site and Telus building in central Lonsdale from 15 storeys to eight and six, respectively, establishing a height limit of 16 storeys on First Street and reducing total allowable density in Lower Lonsdale as well as making the city’s density bonusing policy more restrictive. Since starting the CityShaping process more
than three years ago, council has had more than 4,500 responses from the public, almost double the original goal.Traffic, infrastructure, the pace of development and loss of views have been the most frequent concerns, according to a staff report, but 75 per cent of those surveyed either agreed or agreed strongly with the overall OCP directions.
Monday’s meeting drew a contingent of Moodyville residents who asked council to grant their neighbourhood more density than what the draft OCP envisions to offset the harm done to the neighbourhood as Port Metro Vancouver tenants expand industrial activity thanks to the Low Level Road project.
While council had plenty of questions and comments about the changes pitched by staff, most of the debate centred around the “when” of the OCP, not the “what.” In a series of split-votes, council passed motions to hold two more meetings about the OCP in May or June with an aim to See Revised page 11
Mathers residents bemoan tree cuts JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
The District of West Vancouver is considering the need for a bylaw that would regulate tree cutting on private property after residents on Mathers Avenue complained about the chopping of mature cedar trees in their neighbourhood. Laurie McNeil, who lives at 1130 Mathers Ave., said she was appalled when the new owner of the property next door to her chopped down a number of large trees on his lot that had been part of the neighbourhood character for decades. “This neighbourhood has residents who have been here 30, 40 and 50 years,” she said, who have been shocked to see the sudden changes. See Citizens page 3
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Some choices are hard.
Some are easy.
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