WEDNESDAY MARCH 22 2017
$1.25
NEWSSTAND PRICE
LIVING 13
Maker Culture
North Vancouver City Library hosts creative tech series
TASTE 25
Bene Sushi
Exotic maki part of the menu at West Van Japanese restaurant
SPORTS 37
Ski racing
North Van racers win big at U19 nationals NORTHSHORENEWS
LOCAL NEWS . LOCAL MATTERS . SINCE 1969
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WINTER STORMS
Snow plows through muni budgets BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
The North Shore’s three municipalities had a snowplow drive through their 2016/2017 snow removal budgets thanks to a merciless winter.
With the first day of spring now in the rearview mirror and no more of the white menace in the forecast, local governments have a rough accounting of how much more this year cost than most. The District of North Vancouver’s snow clearing costs almost tripled their budget of $600,000, as the municipality spent $1.8 million on plowing, salting, brining and maintenance of the fleet. Snow removal costs at the District of West Vancouver came in just under $1.15 million, almost double their anticipated budget of $606,000. And the City of North Vancouver overshot last year’s snow removal costs seven fold, at $930,000. Between December and March, the District of North Vancouver’s fleet of 12 trucks plowed and brined about 70,000 kilometres on the district’s 350 kilometres of roads. “It was a very, very unusual year for us,” district engineering manager Gavin Joyce said with a laugh. “I think those numbers, $1.8 million,
See North page 4
Foreign buyers big spenders in West Van prior to 15 % tax JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
Foreigners bought almost 24 per cent of West Vancouver real estate sold in the weeks before the province brought in its 15 per cent foreign buyers tax last summer.
That makes West Vancouver’s high-end real estate market an area with one of the highest proportions of foreign real estate sales prior to the imposition of the tax, just behind Richmond, where foreign buyers accounted for 27 per cent of sales volume, and Burnaby, where 24 per cent of sales went to foreigners during the same time period. Across Metro Vancouver as a whole, 16.5 per cent of real estate dollars that changed hands during that time involved foreign buyers. The number of actual transactions that involved foreign buyers in West Vancouver was 47 out of 252 in the seven weeks preceding the tax – about 19 per cent.
See Foreigners page 7
100% pure
PRETTY SEEDY Shauna MacKinnon from Farm Folk City Folk demonstrates seed cleaning at the North Vancouver City Library’s garden season kickoff seed swap event that featured mini workshops and talks on Saturday. PHOTO PAUL MCGRATH
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