FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17 2017
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Moodyville: neighbourhood neglected
Vacant homes must be secured: fire chief BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
The City of North Vancouver is looking to contend with some new challenges in Moodyville as the neighbourhood gradually empties out of old residents to make way for new development.
North Vancouver City Fire Department members were called to put out a fire burning in a vacated home on Monday afternoon. A letter carrier spotted smoke coming from a home on the 500 block of East Second Street and called 911. “It appears the back door was open. There was a squatter. Somebody had gone into the house and lit a minor fire there, probably to keep themselves warm,” said fire Chief Dan Pistilli. It’s the third such fire at a vacated home in Moodyville since November. Following the fires late last year, Pistilli pushed for the developers to hire security guards, who now patrol the site but more will likely have to be done as redevelopment in the area is just beginning. The entire neighbourhood, which was one of the first colonial settlements on the North Shore, has been in transition following the Port of Vancouver’s Low Level Road project and expansion of the waterfront grain terminals. The city opted to redraw the area in the official community plan to allow for medium density
North Vancouver City Fire Department Chief Dan Pistilli stands outside a vacated home in Moodyville. There have been three fires at similar abandoned houses since November. Squatters have been moving in as residents move out in advance of the neighbourhood’s redevelopment. PHOTO MIKE WAKEFIELD condominiums and townhouses, and developers have been assembling properties for rezoning. The largest assembly, by Seacliff Properties, brought together 52 of the 60 properties south of Second Street east of St. Davids Avenue to be rebuilt as 340 units of stacked townhouses. Dozens of other homes on both sides
See Area page 4
Westcot, West Bay score a perfect 10 JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
The open door philosophy at Westcot elementary swings both ways, says principal Cathy Ratz. It’s about welcoming people in to the school who have passions and knowledge to share with students but
also about encouraging families to get involved in West Vancouver’s wider community.
Whether that’s high school kids from Sentinel helping students with storytelling or getting students involved in a science project to launch worms into outer space, it’s obviously working.
Westcot, a school of about 360 students at the base of the British Properties, is one of only two public schools in the province – along with West Vancouver’s West Bay elementary – to gain top marks in B.C., along with 20 private schools, in the Fraser Institute’s annual report card on academic performance.
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Both Westcot and West Bay earned a 10 out of 10 score on the controversial report card, which bases its rankings on grade 4 and 7 scores on the Ministry of Education’s standardized Foundation Skills Assessment tests in math, reading and writing.
See Westcot’s page 7
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