FRIDAY OCTOBER 7 2016
$1.25
NEWSSTAND PRICE
PULSE 13
Lee Morgan
VIFF screens new film on jazz trumpeter LOOK 33
Vintage kids’ line e
Sewing the seeds of love in Lynn Valley TODAY’S DRIVE48
Hyundai Velosterr
Quirky hatchback has its charms NORTHSHORENEWS
LOCAL NEWS . LOCAL MATTERS . SINCE 1969
Fall Wheels
Win a
Car
Details o
n Page 25
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS AT
nsnews.com nsne ns news ws.c ws .com
West Van’s monster homes add to greenhouse gasses ANNA DIMOFF Contributing writer
Houses with large square footage have big carbon footprints.
TRAIL BLAZERS Students in grades 4 to 7 keep a steady pace during a North Vancouver elementary cross-country meet held Oct. 5 on the trails of Windridge Park adjacent to Windsor secondary in North Vancouver’s Seymour area. See more images at nsnews. com/photo-galleries. PHOTO PAUL MCGRATH
That was one of the findings of Monday’s presentation that ended with West Vancouver council committing to lower the district’s carbon footprint by 40 per cent by 2040. The sprawling ‘monster houses’ that occupy the district’s hills fell under scrutiny as the main contributor to the 260,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses emitted annually by West Vancouver, according to the Community Energy and Emissions Plan written by engineers, entrepreneurs, and environmental advocates. “Here’s an image for you: one tonne of greenhouse gas is the equivalent of one hot air balloon,” said Charlotte McLaughlin, chairwoman of the group. “So, imagine 260,000 hot air balloons hovering over West Vancouver, those are our emissions every year.” The district’s per capita emissions are 4.8 tonnes per year, compared to 3.1 tonnes per
See Plan page 4
West Van floats non-resident tax plan
JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
West Vancouver councillors want to charge property owners who don’t live in the homes they own higher property taxes than residents.
But first, they’ll need to get agreement from the province – a move that could open the door to other municipalities doing the same thing, or charging different tax rates to different categories of residential taxpayers in the future. West Vancouver council wants to put a non-resident property tax in place as part of efforts to curb real estate speculation that has been fuelling sky-high property prices, says Councillor Craig Cameron.
New tax scheme aimed at speculators; province must approve tax rule changes “It’s targeting people who use real estate as an investment,” said Cameron, adding that’s been a big issue in West Vancouver – where it is not unheard of for people to own several multi-million-dollar homes, sometimes not living in any of them. “There’s quite a bit of speculation in housing.” Under the scheme being floated by council members, anyone who doesn’t want to be charged the non-resident
tax rate would have to check a box stating the home is the principal residence of the family, said Cameron. That would be subject to auditing and enforcement by municipal staff. The non-resident tax would apply equally to foreigners and Canadian citizens who don’t live in the homes they own. “It’s to ensure giving preferential tax treatment to people who are using houses as homes,” said Cameron. Money raised from the extra tax would then be put into a dedicated fund to support housing projects in the municipality. Cameron said West Vancouver councillors like the idea of a non-resident tax better than a vacancy tax, such as that
1 - 645 West 14th Street OPEN HOUSE: OCTOBER 9TH SUNDAY 2-4
See Feds page 7
$1,399,888