In politics, the newly elected municipal councils got down to business, the federal election beast began to stir in Ottawa and you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about the TransLink funding referendum, whether you liked it or not.
The North Shore backcountry proved as dangerous as ever and North Shore Rescue got their start to an exceptionally busy year of saving lives.
When it came to our police and courts, we saw the horrific, the head-scratching and even the hilarious.
Traffic woes continued unabated.
Capilano University students were on edge as a strike threatened their spring semester and industry boomed along the industrial waterfront with exports and expansion projects galore.
JANUARY
Backcountry Search Continues for Missing Man
North Shore Rescue members spent days searching for Liang Jin, a 21-year-old Vancouver man who disappeared in the Hanes Valley. Jin texted his father on Dec. 31 to say he was going for a hike but did not return. That part of the backcountry is closed in the winter due to treacherous conditions.
“We did have some large avalanches through there so it’s really concerning for our members,” said Mike Danks, North Shore Rescue team leader.
Fromme Trail Vandal Suspect Arrested
North Vancouver RCMP arrested a 64-year-old Lynn Valley woman whom they accused of deliberately setting traps for mountain bikers on the trails of Mount Fromme.
Frustrated with constantly finding branches laid across steep sections of the trail, two members of the mountain bike community installed six infrared hidden cameras, allegedly catching the suspect in the act. They then turned their recordings over to the RCMP and police arrested her as she emerged from the trail at 5 a.m.
The North Shore Mountain Bike Association played down concerns of another “war in the woods.”
North Van Boarding School for Sale
If you had an extra $33 million kicking about, you could be in the running to buy a shuttered North Shore boarding school. The 6.5-acre property on 2420 Dollarton Hwy. boasted classrooms, a cafeteria and enough dorm beds to house 350 students.
Though marketing materials said the land had upzoning potential, the listing agents expected it would sell to an international school.
Waterfront Cabin Ordered Removed
After spending more than half a century as a hub for artists, hippies and squatters on the Dollarton waterfront, a tiny cabin was ordered by Port Metro Vancouver to be removed to make way for residential redevelopment.
The cabin had been the part-time home of renowned Canadian artists Al Neil and Carole Itter.
“I think for both Al and I, it’s provided everything from a refuge to a place of wonderful inspiration,” said Itter. “It’s informed our art in every way.”
Beaches At Risk From Sewage Changes
The North Shore’s medical health officer urged the federal government to flush its plans to allow boats under 400 gross tonnes to dump their sewage tanks within 1.8 kilometres of shore.
After a summer of having to close West Vancouver beaches due to high E.coli counts, Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, North Shore medical health officer, said there was too much risk of making swimmers sick.
FEBRUARY
Fired West Vancouver Cop wants Former Co-workers Charged
A former West Vancouver police officer who was fired in 2011 after 12 years on the job made the unusual move of attempting to have his former superior officers charged via private prosecution.
Todd Mosher claimed he was fired for filing complaints alleging harassment and favouritism within the department. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner concluded no inappropriate actions had taken place but, in his new allegations, Mosher said the truth around those incidents was covered up by the department.
West Vancouver Police Department responded to the accusations with a statement saying “allegations made previously by this individual have been extensively and independently reviewed and found not substantiated.”
TransLink Tax: Mayors Take Sides
North Vancouver’s two mayors became vocal champions for the Yes vote in the TransLink funding plebiscite.
District Mayor Richard Walton lobbied hard, arguing the 0.5 per cent sales tax was needed to beef up transit infrastructure for a population expected to grow by another million residents over the next 30 years. “We at that tipping point in North Vancouver right now,” he said.
West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith became one of only three in the Lower Mainland who allied himself with the No side of the debate.
At the root of his opposition was the fact that the mayors would not have control over how the money gets spent.
News’ Arson Unsolved 10 Years On
Feb. 10 marked a decade from the early morning when someone let themselves into the back door of the North Shore News’ office at 12th and Lonsdale, poured gasoline on the floor and left the building in smoking rubble.
Despite the News’ computer servers and archives being destroyed, the team managed to get the next edition out on time. Though theories were plentiful, no suspects were ever arrested.
Neighbours Oppose New Group Home
Windridge Drive residents rallied to fight a proposed Turning Point addictions recovery house in their Seymour neighbourhood, worrying it would bring mentally unstable, potentially violent addicts and homeless people to the residential neighbourhood. Turning Point shelved the plan to find a new location.
NSR Flees Gala When Duty Calls
In the middle of being celebrated at a gala at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, North Shore Rescue members were called into action.
The team rescued a 68-year-old woman who had gotten lost on Mount Fromme. They found her cold but unhurt in the early morning.
“That’s what we’re here for. It’s never the most opportune time but we’re happy to help out,” search manager Doug Pope said.
Later that month, the body of missing hiker Liang Jin was found in a boulder field in Hanes Valley.
MARCH
Lynn Valley Man Nabbed in Fentanyl Bust
A North Vancouver man was among those rounded up in a region-wide drug bust aiming to disrupt the supply of fentanyl.
The synthetic painkiller is being blamed for a spike in accidental overdose deaths as dealers use the potent opioid to make counterfeit oxycodone and to lace cocaine and heroin.
More than 100 charges were laid against eight people after the raids, which seized large caches of drugs, weapons and money.
Police said a large portion of the contraband came from a home on Poplynn Drive in Lynn Valley’s Westlynn neighbourhood.
City of North Vancouver OKs Updated OCP
After a years-long process spanning three City of North Vancouver council terms, a divided city council approved its newest official community plan.
The plan foresees denser residential development in Lower and Central Lonsdale and along the Third Street corridor.
A previous version of the plan went down to defeat before the 2014 municipal elections, largely because two factions on council could not agree over the amount of density that should be allowed in a re-envisioned Moodyville.
“I would love to make you all happy but unfortunately, we know that’s not always possible,” Mayor Darrell Mussatto said before casting his vote.
Walkman Prompts SeaBus Evacuation
Some North Vancouver hipster was no doubt feeling a bit sheepish after his or her retro music device caused a bomb scare and stopped SeaBus traffic during rush hour.
A transit rider found the Walkman under the seat and informed Transit Police who shut both terminals down and called in the RCMP’s explosives unit.
Police could not say what explosive tunes were on the tape left in the obsolete cassette player.
School Districts Face $1M in Cutbacks
School districts around B.C. were forced to sharpen their pencils when the provincial government ordered them to cut $29 million from their administrative budgets in 2015 and another $54 million in 2016. On the North Shore, that meant $770,000 less for North Vancouver schools and $330,000 in West Vancouver for 2015.
“It’s a concern for our board,” said West Vancouver Schools superintendent Chris Kennedy. “We weren’t expecting this. It was out of the blue.”
APRIL
Province Proposes Trail Turnstiles
We pulled more than a few people’s legs with our bogus April Fool’s story about a provincial plan to install turnstiles, similar to the ones not being used at the SeaBus station, at North Shore trailheads and charge for trail access.
“It’s time to face facts. Those mountains aren’t paying for themselves,” an unnamed (and fake) official was quoted as saying.
2015 Election Gets Real
Then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the first of several campaign-style visits to the North Shore, signalling the unofficial start of the 2015 election race.
Harper came to Seycove secondary to announce a grant program for students attending private vocational colleges while climate change, anti-pipeline and First Nations activists protested outside.
Cap Semester Threatened by Strike
Capilano University’s profs walked off the job on the eve of the spring exam period. The Capilano Faculty Association and university’s bargaining teams had been meeting for months and the teachers had already withdrawn from some administrative activities including submitting students’ grades to the registrar’s office and picketing on campus.
At issue in the dispute was control over layoffs, academic freedom, benefits and the status of part-time employees. Different factions of students staged protests of their own, both in support of their profs and telling them to get back to work. Although final exams were delayed by the strike, teachers agreed to come back and finish the semester as the two sides went into mediation.
Oil Spill Soils Local Beaches
Beaches along Burrard Inlet became contaminated when the bulk grain carrier MV Marathassa leaked almost 3,000 litres of bunker fuel into the water. West Vancouver was particularly hard hit with bunker fuel washing ashore and forcing the municipality to close access to some beaches.
The environmental disaster called into question the Canadian Coast Guard’s ability to respond to the mess, especially after the federal government had closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard base.
“I think it’s more than a concern. I think it’s scandalous,” said West Vancouver Mayor Michael Smith of the official response and lack of communication with the municipalities.
Plane Crashes in North Shore Backcountry
Two pilots were killed in a plane crash deep in the North Shore Mountains April 13.
The twin-engine Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner took off from Vancouver International Airport bound for Prince George with a load of banking information but then disappeared from radar five kilometres north of Mount Seymour. Members of North Shore Rescue found the wreckage late that night and helped recover the bodies of the two pilots the next day. The Transportation Safety Board later said the flight’s captain was impaired by alcohol at the time of the crash.
Then-Industry Minister James Moore stood at the epicentre of the North Shore’s infamous evening Cut traffic to announce the feds would fund a one-third portion of the $100-million overhaul of the Main Street/Dollarton and Mount Seymour Parkway/Keith Road interchanges, which are partly to blame for the stop-and-go traffic on the Cut.
That’s on top of the already-announced $50-million upgrade for the Mountain Highway on- and off-ramps. The province and District of North Vancouver are picking up the rest of the tab on all three projects.
The event was crashed, however, by protestors dressed up in faux hazmat suits. They came to deliver oily rocks and driftwood soiled by the Marathassa fuel spill to Moore.
MAY
A mansion in the British Properties was the scene of a grisly murder of a Chinese national. Li Zhao, 54, was charged with second-degree murder and interference with a body after allegedly cutting the victim up into more than 100 pieces.
The victim, 42-year-old Gang Yuan, was Zhao’s wife’s cousin.
Members of the victim’s family alleged the killing followed a dispute over money.
At least five Chinese women filed lawsuits claiming their children were fathered by Yuan and thus in line for his estimated $50-million estate. He left no will.
As many as 26 families were burned out of their homes when a fire tore through the River Woods Co-op complex.
“I cried while breathing in the acrid smoke. We left with the clothes on our backs,” one resident said.
Tough as things were, help came flooding in, including donations of clothes and household items to replace the ones lost in the fire, a crowdfunding campaign to assist burned out families with minimal insurance coverage and a trust fund set up by BlueShore Financial.
“It’s heartwarming to think what a fabulous community we are blessed to live in,” said co-op manager Diane Bennett. “You say ‘Thank-you,’ but it doesn’t seem enough.”
Oil Spill Study Predicts Burrard Inlet Impacts
North Shore residents got a disturbing look at what a worst-case scenario oil spill at Kinder Morgan’s Westridge terminal would look like thanks to a study that used wind and tide patterns to model what would happen within days of a 16-million-litre spill.
“We’d have a horrific effect on West Vancouver,” Mayor Michael Smith said.
Future PM Visits
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau chose the North Vancouver waterfront as the site of campaign stop to announce he would reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard base if elected. Trudeau also sat down for a one-on-one interview with the North Shore News about his policies and his personal history on the North Shore.
JUNE
Western Stevedoring went public with plans to build, in partnership with a Manitoba-based company, a massive new grain silo and export facility at its Lynnterm Westgate terminal at the foot of Brooksbank Avenue.
If completed, the silos will hold about 180,000 tonnes of grain – about the same size as Richardson International’s silos in Moodyville. But, proponents said, the new facility would be far more efficient with a new rail loop allowing about 130 railcars to unload their haul in the time Richardson or Cargill Canada take to unload 50.
The company estimated the new terminal would result in another 60 to 100 jobs to operate. The existing breakbulk terminal at Lynnterm Westgate would be migrated over to the Lynnterm Eastgate property next to the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing.
Ships Ahoy at Seaspan
Seaspan reached a deal with the federal government to build the first three 55-metre offshore fisheries/Coast Guard vessels. The project has a “target” price of $400 million and a ceiling price of $514 million.
The job was expected to grow the number of skilled trades workers on-site from 200 to 500.
Just two weeks later, shipyard workers were cutting steel.
The first vessel, dubbed the Sir John Franklin, is expected to launch in early 2017 with two other ships expected later that year.
Seaspan spent $155 million modernizing its shipyard at the foot of Pemberton Avenue to be ready for construction of several non-combat vessels under the national shipbuilding program. The contracts are expected to provide 15 years of work for up to 1,000 employees at Seaspan.
$4-million Teardown
A Chinese buyer went more than $1 million over the asking price for a West Vancouver waterfront home, which sold for $4 million.
The purchase spurred debate about the extent to which offshore money is hoisting up high-end property values.
“It’s a market on steroids,” selling agent Viv Harvey said.
Mayor Michael Smith said he favoured putting higher taxes on properties that are being flipped for profit and for homes that aren’t being lived in as a principal residence.
“I don’t personally believe in speculating in houses. It’s a house. It’s a place to raise your family,” he said.
Weather Warnings
What started as a “dry spell” that brought with it a rash of brush fires on the North Shore soon became a drought, leaving Metro Vancouver’s creeks and streams that feed our water reservoirs at record lows for that time of the year.
Metro cut back yard sprinkling to three days a week.
The summer forecast predicted a hot, dry summer but the worst was yet to come.
