Al6 Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 31, 1990

- Church seeks grant ‘for downtown youth ¢ center

If funding from the B.C.
Youth Grants Program is ap-
proved, Terrace’s Pentecostal

- Church may be opening a new
youth drop-in center in Terrace.
There are, however, a few local
hurdles to cross first.

Pastor Cliff Siebert submitted
a.copy of the proposal to city
council last Wednesday stating
that there was a funding appli-
cation deadline of Feb. 15, 1990,
and he requested a letter of sup-
port from council indicating the
need for a teen drop-in center in

Terrace. In an effort to accom-—

modate this request, the Com-
mittee of the Whole discussed
the proposal Monday night but
found they had been given too
little time to deal with too many
issues.

Concerns raised by the com-
mittee included the number of
available parking spaces at the
newly expanded Pentecostal
Church located at Sparks and
Scott, the probability that the
property in question (a Pente-
costal-owned residence south of
the church) would first require
rezoning, and assurances that all
health and safety requirements
could be met.

A representative of the church
was not in attendance to discuss
or respond to any of these con-
cerns, however, and while the
Committee of the Whole seemed
to agree on the need for the
center, they recommended that
council forward the request to
the Planning and Public Works
Committee at their next meeting
on Feb. 12. If this recommenda-
tion is followed, the earliest
council will be able to respond to
the request will be their meeting
Feb, 26.

In reality, though, an official
response could take much longer
than that, possibly as long as
three months. The biggest prob-
lem is the fact that the Olson
Ave. residence intended for use
as a teen drop-in center is zoned
for residential use only. Under
the permitted uses of this zone,
the building could be used as a
church or Sunday school but not
a drop-in center. Rezoning
would require.a public hearing,

. according to city administrator

Bob Hallsor, and this process
could take as long as two or
three months, Even with re-
zoning, however, the Pente-
costal proposal could still be in
trouble.

Fix or get
out, TK told

If you have been frustrated
trying to read the lips of our city
aldermen while you try to follow
the action at city hall on channel
10, your days of frustration will

- goon be over.

Terrace city council passed a
resolution Jan. 22 that requires
CFTK to find a way to transmit
their voices along with the pic-
ture or remove the whole setup.

-They set a deadline of Feb. 25
- for their ultimatum. Poor audio
quality on the channel 10 council
broadcasts has been a source of

complaints since it was installed

and: city. aldermen say they’re

| tired df. being told by television

viewers , to: “speak up’’ during
council meetings.

When the church expansion

was first discussed with council:
last August, parking was a con-

cern. According to city ad-
ministration,
building will have a capacity for
up to 500 church-goers, or, if
every room was used. simultan-
eously, as many as 1,014 people.
It was recognized at the time
that it was unlikely that every
room in the complex would be
used at the same time and the ci-
ty and church apparently agreed
that 127 parking spaces, approx-
imately one for every four peo-
ple, would be sufficient.
According to some city
aldermen, this meant removing
the residence now in question in
order to provide parking space.
It is now thought, however, that
by leaving the building in place,
the number of available spaces
would be reduced to about 100.

According to city director of

INSURANCE’

the expanded

Hallsor

82% of accidents in B.C.
result from driver error or

; engineering - Stew - Christensen,

the 127 parking spaces agreed on
last summer was the bare

‘ minimum for the intended use.

He says that when compared to

other communities this number __
is still considered fair. Kelowna,

he says, would require 140 to
203 parking spaces, Thornhill
247 and ‘Prince Rupert 101.
-adds-
adherence to the Terrace bylaw
would have required the church
to provide 333 parking spaces.
The teen drop-in center, Pen-
tecostal pastor Cliff Siebert
says, would be named
““Crystal’s Place’’ in memory of
16-year-old murder victim
Crystal Hogg and would provide
a place for teenagers in need of
help. The ground floor of the
two-story Olson Ave. residence
would contain a sleeping area,
sauna, weight room and pool
table. On the second floor would

CORPORAT

industrial and
organizations.

that strict

‘bea counsellor’ s office, kitchen,
‘games. room, ping pong and
video room, and a combined
library and office.

Siebert says the center would
initially open three days a week
— Monday, Wednesday and Fri-
day, from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. —

and provide sleep-over services.

when required. Eventually,
though, thé center would be
open from Monday to Saturday,
he adds. Services available, ac-
¢ording to Siebert, would in-
clude ‘spiritual guidance, free
meals, budget and financial
planning, goal setting, friend-
ship and role modelling, enter-
tainment, sports and recreation,
‘agency referrals and informa-
tion on current youth issues.
Also available would be life
skills and social skills programs,
a work experience program and
job creation and volunteer train-
ing programs.

community

_ promote their own safety
campaigns. |

The Youth Grants Program,
says Siebert, is a project of the
B.C. Youth Advisory Council
and chaHenges young people to
match their energy and ideas
with- provincial resources in
order to enhance their personal
development. He says funding is
available to innovative projects
which: foster the independence,

participation and active involve-

ment of teens. The grant would
cover two-thirds of the project

- cost, according to Siebert, while

the community would be respon-
sible for the balance. .
Following the meeting of the
Committee. of the Whole,
Siebert told the Terrace Review
that the church will submit their
funding application as planned
and will continue to seek the

- support of council and the com-

munity. He added that he feels
the church can successfully deal
with all of the city’s concerns.

inattention. So the obvious
way to reduce spiralling
insurance costs is to improve
our drivers. The 1991 model
should be smarter, safer and
less expensive to insure.

In 1981, ICBC set up
a traffic safety education
program that has become a
standard for similar programs
throughout North America.
We work with groups from
many fields in every part of
the province — the school

Our field staff uses
programs to encourage
children from elementary
schools to “buckle up” and
they in turn educate their
parents, Older students
produce their own videos |
on what can happen to teens
who drink and drive; they
also organize CounterAttack
Clubs and events. In addition,
we sponsor regional and
provincial youth leadership
conferences and encourage

_ youngsters to create and

Our objective in all this
has been stated very clearly
by ICBC’ president, Tom
Holmes: “...to eventually

produce a safer generation of

drivers who will not tolerate
the destructive driving habits
of their parents’ generation’

Together, we can drive
insurance costs down.

system, police, health care,

Announcin:
the new,

improved
1991 driver.

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