Thursday February 20, 2014 (Vol. 39 No. 15)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Stepping up: South Surrey dancer Zac Vran joins the cast of the runaway way hit teen drama The Next Step, debuting its second season March 7 on Family Channel. i seee page 17
Chemicals, explosives found in White Rock suite in January 2013: RCMP
Charges dropped after year in custody Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
The case against a man who was accused of making or possessing explosives in White Rock has been dropped. Crown prosecutor Janet Dickie confirmed that a 10-day trial that was scheduled to get underway this week in regards to the charges against Hamish Norman Sutherland was
called off earlier this month – more than a year after his arrest. Sutherland was released earlier this month. “After a careful review of the police investigation, we were not in a position to proceed with the substantive charges,” Dickie told Peace Arch News Tuesday. Dickie declined to elaborate, however, Neil MacKenzie – communications counsel for
the Criminal Justice Branch – said the decision related to a police search of a White Rock residence in connection with the file. It was carried out in late January 2013 following an anonymous tip about chemicals in a Prospect Avenue apartment that may pose “a significant risk to public safety.” The search was executed by firefighters and police teams including the Explosive
Disposal and Chemical/Biological/Radiological/Nuclear Response Unit. “Due to the perceived urgency in the situation, the police initially searched the apartment involved without a warrant,” MacKenzie said. “Although the police did later obtain a warrant, it was only after the apartment had been subject to some degree of searching. i see page 4
Surrey borrowed $97m for building
Cost of city hall nears $150 million Kevin Diakiw Black Press
Evan Seal photo
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts welcomes the media and other visitors to the official opening of city hall Monday.
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Surrey’s new city hall is going to cost taxpayers almost $150 million by the time the city has finished paying for it. The new 180,000-sq.-ft. building at 13450 104 Ave., complete with marble walls and stone-tile floors, opened this week. Civic officials have said the price tag for the new space is $97 million. That figure included a $10-million contingency fund, but Black Press has learned that has been spent. In addition, Surrey paid another $2.5 million to turn council chambers into a dual-purpose performing-arts space by adding catwalks. That brings the total construction cost to $99.5 million. However, Surrey borrowed $97 million from the Municipal Financing Authority, a lending agency for cities. Two mortgages were taken over 25-year terms; the first $52 million is financed at 4.9 per cent, while the remaining $45 million is being financed at 2.9 per cent. That makes the annual interest payments on those loans $1.936 million. Over the 25-year term of the mortgages, Surrey will have paid $48.4 million in interest, bringing the total cost of Surrey’s new city hall to $147.9 million. Construction costs for an outdoor civic plaza ($9 million) and a parking facility ($32 million)
are being shared by the City Centre Library and the 3 Civic Plaza hotel, and are not included in the $150-million price tag. Mayor Dianne Watts said Wednesday that the parkade will be paid for through parking fees, and the plaza will be funded by the city’s development arm, the Surrey City Development Corp. Watts noted it’s important for the city to invest where it is asking others to. She said the city has attracted $3 billion in private-sector investment since announcing the hall. B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Jordan Bateman said it’s impossible to say how much of that investment actually came about because of the new city hall. He noted Surrey had already built a public library at the site, which could have served as the city’s commitment to the area. Watts noted the cost of the new city hall will be offset by the leasing of the old city hall in Newton. However, as of yet, no one has committed to occupying that building, which is now largely empty. The mayor said the province has expressed interest in leasing 45,000 sq. ft. of the old building, but there are no immediate plans in place. Even if the city rented out the entire facility, the annual income from the lease would be $2 million – just enough to cover interest on the loans for the new building.
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