City of North Vancouver
City council is expected to make a decision, of sorts, on the Harry Jerome Recreation Centre: Put it on ice. As reported by the North Shore News last week, council is holding off making a final decision about the massive project until staff have completed a community recreation strategy.
Council will also revisit a project that was rejected by the previous council in April 2018, now reconfigured. Starlight developments is back asking the new council to consider 40 rental units in two infill buildings at 151 East Keith Rd. At the original public hearing, the proposal was highly unpopular due to concerns over parking, setbacks and neighbourhood character.
And council will vote on whether to ban rail companies from blowing their whistles while trains cross Bewicke Avenue next to Squamish Nation land. CN Rail upgraded the at-grade crossing with safety improvements in late 2018.
District of North Vancouver
District council has swapped out their usual 6 p.m. Monday meeting for a special meeting dedicated entirely to passing the 2019 budget. The previous council actually set a “provisional;” 2019 budget that includes the standard three per cent average tax increase. Council will vote Monday on setting the exact tax rates for residential, commercial, light industrial and heavy industrial taxpayers.
At the 5 p.m. committee meeting, council is expecting an update from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on the Highway 1 improvements in Lower Lynn. The first phase of the project, the Mountain Highway interchange, is now expected to be fully completely in late August.
And the committee will discuss the pending “targeted review” of the district’s 2011 official community plan, which is expected to focus on housing, transportation, climate change, and economy and employment lands. Staff estimate the review will take 10 to 12 months and cost $360,000 to $395,000.
Lastly, the committee is expected to discuss some tweaks to the rules that guide how council meetings flow, how bylaws are debated and passed, and how public input fits into the council schedule.
District of West Vancouver
West Vancouver council members will also be finalizing their 2019 property tax rates ahead of the provincial deadline. After much debate, council settled on a 4.78 per cent overall increase last month.
Council members will get an update from their Childcare Services Working Group, which is tasked with advising council on the current need for childcare spaces in the municipality and sourcing strategies to increase the number of spaces available.
And council will vote on whether to give the go-ahead to its public art advisory committee to commission a new piece of public art for the West Vancouver Community Centre after receiving a $700,000 donation from West Vancouver’s Lalji family, the owners of Park Royal. The budget for the piece, which is to “celebrate the community” is $100,000.
This article has been edited to correct a typo.
