Homes: Keeping your lawn alive in drought. 12
Lacrosse: Hall of famers. 15
Army needs help: 3
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Keeping promise of open city hall Pitt Meadows team ran on ‘Four Ts’ platform By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Holding more town hall-style meetings, creating a culture of open government, and simply having Pitt Meadows city hall staff being friendly and available to the public were some of the recommendations of the citizens committee on open government released this week. In the last municipal election Mayor John Becker and his team campaigned on the “Four Ts” platform of taxation, transportation, transparency and teamwork, and soon after election they struck the committee to address transparency at city hall. See Pitt city hall 9
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Cliff Avenue confrontation A man hurt in a fight Wednesday at Cliff Ave. homeless camp, briefly chased another man with a bat, before falling and being taken to hospital. See p 3.
City tries to plan around schools growing neighbourhoods of Maple Ridge was the sore spot, as city hall reviewed its Official Community Plan this week. Silver Valley originally was planned to have four elementary schools, one each in Blaney Bog, River Village, Forest and Horse Hamlet, under the 2001 Bell Silver Valley Area Plan. As well, a secondary school was envisaged. Schools were to be the cen-
Nothing for years for Silver Valley, despite intent for four sites By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Maple Ridge council is in the process of deciding what to do with three sites in Silver Valley, that will never see the schools they were supposed to have. Lack of schools in the fastest
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tral node, and a “civic heart” in each neighbourhood. But municipal planners can’t force School District 42 or the provincial government to build new schools. The school district is nearing the end of a facilities review which will be completed in October, but the city’s planning department already knows that the Albion and Silver Valley neighbourhoods will
tions, and creates uncertainty for developers and property owners in Silver Valley and Albion. But she noted the city must identify existing and future schools in its OCP according to the Local Government Act. The message didn’t sit well with most councillors. “Having a community where you can’t walk to school, where you can’t walk to a park, there’s no transit – those are the issues,” said Coun. Corisa Bell. See Schools, 5
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not be getting all the schools the city planned. Planning director Christine Carter told council the province provides funding for new school construction, but Victoria is reluctant to pay for new schools if a district still has classroom capacity. The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District 42 still has room for 500 students in its schools, and will until 2020. Carter said the lack of schools has affected development applica-
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