10 Terrace Review —— Thursday, January 2, 1992 Amendments in the twilight zone It’s a long and twisted road to the Bingo Palace by Tod Strachan gréen n light for the relocation of the Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace. A second rezoning. application t the end of a long trail of paper, there is light. was approved by city council on Dec. 9 and the way is now clear for the relocation of the Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace from Hwy. 16W to Legion Ave, But it’s a move that didn’t come easy, and the problems for city council might not be over yet. On June 25, 1990, the city received application for a Devel- opment Variance Permit from John C. Becher of the Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace. Becher wanted to relocate the Lucky Dollar to Legion Ave. but he had a problem. The embankment below Lakelse Ave. meant that - Becher would not have room for. the building unless the city Not a traffic light. A reduced. the required 20-foot setback from his Legion Ave. property line to five feet. Council cleared the way for construction on July 9, 1990, by granting Becher’s request on ‘three properties located at 4406, 4408 and 4410 Legion Ave. But there was a condition. The resol- ution stressed that parking and other bylaw requirements would still have to be met. Bingo, after - all, attracts a lot of cabs and private cars. There was cause for optimism, however. It appeared as though the project was about to proceed. Things looked even better on Aug. 13 when council received a rezoning application for a vacant lot located at the northwest comer of the Greig/School St. intersection. Becher wanted the property changed from Single and Two Family Residential (R2) to Administration and The following convictions took place in Terrace adult . Palace. Assembly (P1) so he could use it for overflow parking. The application was questioned by area residents, but Becher promised a high fence to block out the sight and. noise of the parking lot. While the parking lot proposal was being sorted out, though, another matter arose. Most of Becher’s property. needed to be: rezoned, At the. same time, another complication was tossed in the ring. Twin River Estates residents were concernéd about traffic in the area and wanted a traffic light at Lakelse and Apsley. : In a letter to mayor and coun- cil, Skeena Senior Citizens Housing Society secretary Frances Olsen wrote: "At present it is somewhat difficult .at cer- tain times to make a left turn off Lakelse Avenue onto Apsley Street. In the near future there will be approximately 60 vehicles at Twin River Estates -— add to that the traffic from: the bridge, the proposed Neigh- bourhood Pub at the Bavarian Inn, the restaurants and drive-in on Lakelse plus the traffic coming from the Legion, the curling rink and now a Bingo The congestion at Lakelse and Apsley will -no doubt lead to many accidents or near misses." But everything was sorted out in October, 1990, and it appeared as though the project Was ‘about to begin: The’ seniors . were out of luck. Council con- sidered their request but decided _ that the volume of traffic at the criminal court on the dates indicated according to information provided by the court registry. Monday, December 9 Barry Anthony Shanoss was ' sentenced to seven days in jail for being at large without lawful excuse before the expiry of a prison term. Louisa Ann Cooper was fined $75 for theft. | Tuesday, December 10 Fred Lawrence Newman was fined $800 and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for dangerous driving. Newman was also sentenced to one day in jail for failure to appear in court. ‘Robert Edward Wesley was sentenced to 14 days in jail and placed on probation for one year for assault. Thursday, December 12 ~ Deitmar Hahne was fined $500 and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for impaired driving: . Gordon Bruce Hayward was fined $500 for committing mis- chief on property of a value execeding $1, 000. “Friday, December 13 . Carlos” Manuet Barbosa was fined $25 for-theft. - Samuel Jonah Gray was sen- tenced to 90. days in jail and given a oné-ycar driver’s licence suspension ‘for. driving. with a blood:alcoho! content over the legal limit, Gray was also given a 14-day concurrent sentence and fined $300 for driving while prohibited. Richard Lyle Williams was fined $400 and given a one-year | driver’s licence suspension for impaired driving. Williams was also fined $150 and given an additional one-year driver's licence suspension for driving without due care and attention, Victor William Hatch was fined $150 for driving without reasonable consideration for other people using the highway adn $250 for failure to appear in court. Ray Bruce Johnston was fined $150 for driving without due care and attention. . Edward John Derrick was fined - $25 for theft. Malcolm Todd Stewart was fined $450 and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for driving with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit. Rhet Harris Gibson was fined $25 for a bylaw violation. James Clarence McColl was fined $500 and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for impaired driving. Alan James Johnson was fined $500 and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for impaired driving. Irvin Alfred Chief was sen- tenced to seven days in jail for driving while disqualified. intersection in question didn’t ‘warrant a traffic light at the time. Council did agree, how- ever, to "review the situation as the need arises". Just how that "need" would be determined, though, was not specified at the time. But as far as the Lucky Dollar was concerned, things were looking good. Becher’s three Legion’ Ave. lots, and the Tha est Famous statin the Worl ~Weone Wao SINCE des) ' It’s time to call your . Welcome Wagon hostess. ~ KAREN: 638-0707 _ Assistants: Eleta Moye, Gillian Wilde & Natalia Wiens | M)) “(R2) parking lot across the street north of the curling rink, were rezoned from Light Industrial to Administration and Assembly . Pl). And the over- flow parking lot (a lot of cars Werle - expected) ‘at Greig and School was changed from Single. and’ Two. Family Residential to Administration ‘and — ‘Assembly (P1), - ' At the same time another legis- lative requirement was met, The three Legion Ave. lots were changed from Light Industrial to Parks and Institutional -on the Official Community plan. And the overflow parking lot, which was listed as Low Density Resi- dential, received a change on the Official Commun- ity Plan. Let the building begin. Not quite. Sometime before this past summer, Becher pur- chased three more lots from Dave’s Plumbing and Heating. This parcel of land included the three lots immediately west of those he owned. Now, with more real estate, Becher decided to move the building from lots one to three to lots two to four. And that meant a new Development. Variance Permit. Application for the permit was made on Aug. 18 and a public hearing was scheduled to be-held in council chambers on Oct. 15. No one attended, and the 20-foot . setback was reduced to five feet on the three lots in question. But that wasn’t énough to “satiaty the situation. — The additional three tots pure chased by Becher were zoned Light Industrial (M1) and this required a change. The logical thing might have been to rezone these three lots to Administra- tion and Assembly (Pi) which ‘would have conformed with the rest of Becher’s holdings in the area, But Becher told the city his bank wouldn’t go. for that. They -wanted all his holdings rezoned to something entirely different. The area was developing more as a commercial area than light industrial, and according to a report given city council on Dec. 9 by city planner Marvin Kamenz, "The applicant states that the rezoning application was demanded by his bank to ensure _ mortgage approval." So on Dec. 9, 1991, it became official. Following a public hearing, which no one bothered to attend, Becher’s property was rezoned once again. This time, all the. properties mentioned above were rezoned from Ad- ministration and Assembly (P1) to Central Commercial (C1) and the additional three lots were changed from Light Industrial (M1) to Central Commercial (C1). On the Official Commun- ity Plan, the designation on all eight lots was revised to read Central Commercial. At this point, you might have expected us to say, "Let the building begin." Wrong. Con- struction had already begun. A building permit was issued on Nov. 12 and the concrete foun- dation was poured on Nov. 14. So why the change in zoning if these © questions ‘Similar: the building was already under construction? And how did Becher get a mortgage without the zoning change being approved? We couldn’t answer so we ask Kamenz. He didn’t really have an answer either, but he did offer a clue. ; ‘His report of Dec. 9 was "apparently not quite correct. The bank’s demand’ wasn’t that the property be rezoned. The bank’s demand was that application for tezoning be made, But what ‘if ‘the rezoning application had not ‘been approved? Does it mean ‘the bank really didn’t care what the zoning was placed on the property? Does it mean that the property, which was zoned Light ‘Industrial (M1) in the first place, didn’t need to be rezoned at all? Apparently so. As past regional district chair- man Jack Talstra suggested during a board meeting a couple of months ago, bureaucrats seem to feel a need to do strange things and use big words to confuse us, perhaps.in the hope we won't catch on to what they’re really up to. There are others, though, who say the confusion is likely more accidental than intentional. These people believe the politi- cal and bureaucratic ramblings it takes to get things done simply tun amok sometimes. And that confuses.us. So it’s stories like this that might. help us ‘decide who’s right. A zoning change was required for Becher to proceed. Not to the majority of his property. Light Industrial (M41) is just fine for a bingo hall. Light Industrial (M1) allows a myriad of things including theatres, assembly: halls, dance halls and commer- cial recreation establishments. But you might recall one lot out of the eight we mentioned a few paragraphs back. The one at -the corner of Greig and School that was zoned Single and Two Family Residential (R2). The zoning on that lot had to be. changed, You can’t. build a parking lot in a residential zone and get away with it. | In the wisdom of city’s planning department, Adminis- tration and Assembly (P1) was the way to go. And while we’re at it, the reasoning went, why not change the zoning on all eight lots to the same thing? It thade ‘sense. So it was done. Even though the zoning on most of those lots at the point at which this story began, Light Industrial (M1), was just fine. But the bank apparently didn’t like the name — Central Com- mercial (C1) had a better ring — and made a ruling of their own. So it was changed. Even though the zoning on all of those lots at the time, Administration and Assembly (P1), was just fine. As far as the traffic at Lakelse and Apsley is concerned... Well... Council did agree to "review the situation as the need — arises". Just how that “need” would be determined, though, was not specified at the time.