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“WEDNESDAY
MAY 20, 1998

Natives ask

Gitanyow set to block
roads if Nisga’a treaty

overlaps their claim

By JEFF NAGEL
GITANYOW natives are vowing to bar
provincial govemment employees from
their traditional territory if they lose a court
challenge aimed at blocking the imminent
signing of a Nisga’a treaty.

Lawyers for the Gitanyow will argue

provincia! and federal governments have
infringed Gitanyow rights to their tradi-
tional territory by proceeding with a
Nisga'a treaty without first resolving land
claim overlaps between the two neighbour-
ing groups.

But the province is asking the court to
dismiss the Gitanyow action on the basis
that the move to seck court protection is
premature and that the Gitanyow relied on
privileged information from negotiations in
filing the court challenge.

“Tn the event that we’re not successful,

TANDARD =

for court protection

the indication from the chiefs is that we'll
have to stop the province fram roaming
around on our territory,’ Gitanyow chief
negotiator Glen Williams said Thursday.

He said they'd look at all options — in-
cluding measures such as road blockades
and checkpoints — to enforce that.

“(And then there'll be enormous prob-
lems,’’ Williams said.

Gitanyow territory, a swath of land from
northwest of Kitwanga to north of
Meziadin Lake, overlaps with the tradi-
tional territory of the Nisga’a, who mostly

_ over to the Nisga’a rights to fish and hunt

°

93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST. ~

VOL, 11. NO..6

live in the lower Nass River valley.
The Gitanyow claim the Nisga’a treaty —
said to be just wecks away — will hand

in Gilanyow traditional territory, as well as
key chunks of land.

“People are quite pissed off,’’ Williams
said. ‘‘Eighty four per cent of our territory -. &
is going to be severely impacted. We're: .
going to lose some key fishing sites right

Cont’d Page A12

Fy

tomorrow in B.C. Supreme Court that the

CITY WORKS employee Henry Craveiro is a keen advocate of the
city's plan to use bricks instead of asphalt in rebuilding the Greig
Ave. and Kalum St. intersection. The bricks he’s selected are a

Bricks planned

A FLASHY new took to the inter-
seclion of Kalum St and Greig
Ave. could be the beginning of a
downtown revitalization.

When the intersection gets rebuilt
this summer, it won’l be made of
asphalt,

Instead, the intersection will be
built out of interlocking red and
grey bricks, says city planner David
Trawin,

The other change to the intersec-
tion is that it will narrow down
from two lanes in each direction lo
just one lane just before the inter-
section,

That's designed to slow down
motorisls notorious for speeding
through that arca, Trawin says.

The intersection will also sport
brick sidewalks and trees. And
Kalum St. south of Greig will allow

angled parking, so itll act more
like a parking lot.

“IVll probably look out of place
for the first couple of years,’’ «
Trawin says of the new-look inter- .
section. “‘People will probably say
why the heck did you do all this
down here.”

The reason is that that look could
be the beginning of more to come.

A similar theme may eventually
extend up Greig Ave., making it :
similar to the 4600-block of
Lakelse Ave.

And Trawin says the city has to |
* look forward and decide what kind ©

of downtown to work towards.
With that in mind, they’re hiring
a consultant lo study how the
downtown should develop in the
years ahead.
Trawin said it’s expected the con-

high-strength concrete brick expected to last years and save money.
They can be simply lifted up if crews need to run new lines or ser-

vices through the intersection.

for intersection

sullants — who are yet to be named
-— will look at the city’s bylaws
and recommend measures to take to
promote a more vibrant downtown.

“We want to creafe more of a
downtown-type atmosphere than
we have now,” he explained.

“The only downtown block you

"really see here is the 4600 block (of
Lakelse). We want to extend that.

type of atmosphere over a larger
area instead of continuing the way
we have been going with parking

. lots in the front and buildings in the

back.”

The consultants may, he added,
end up taking a hard look at the
city’s parking regulations. It may
be that relaxing those rules will
make for a downtown with more of
the sidewalk shopping feel city of-
ficlals are after, rather than lines of

strip malls with large parking lols.

“We want the buildings if pos-
sible right up front,’ he said.
‘We're trying to get an interaction
going, so you can window shop,
you can have street cafes, shops
can have a little sidewalk sale.”

The recommendations coming
from the consultants’ work will
likely end up as part of the revamp
of the Official Community Plan
(OCP), set to go abead Jater this
year.

Council has approved Trawin’s
plan to spend $283,000 on the new
intersection ai Greig and Kalum,

But nearly half of that money
comes from CN Rail, which paid

_the city $138,000 as part of its re-

quirements of subdividing Jand it
held along Railway Ave.

City needs more multifamily land — planner

A SHORTAGE of mulli-

family zoned land is one of -
ou |

list for future placement of
multi-family zoned land.

the

would recommend

idea of multifamily
zones being planned into

neighbourhood,

‘Are people’s property
values lowered because of

staff must complete the:
comprehensive development
plan, which will determine

the things Terrace's city °
planner says he’s going to |
be oul to fix when he
rebuilds the Official Com-
munily Plan,

David Trawin gave an in-
dication of that during a
recent council discussion
about the proposed layout of
city streets between Norih
Eby and Sparks St, north of
Gair.

That area, he said, is one
of those that will be on his |

probably four to five acres
in that area go to muliifami-
ly,” Trawin said, ‘“We need
more multifamily land be-
cause I’m- running very
short of it.”’

The prospect of apartment
buildings popping up amid
single family houses and ex-
peiisive subdivisions is one
that sometimes sets off
neighbourhood protests,

That’s why Trawin prefers

neighbourhoods as carly as
possible, so people know
what to expect.

*] am more of a
proponent of mixed-use
neighourhoods. Most people
aren’t. They get very scared
when we talk about that,”
he added.

But Trawin says the apart- ,

ment building at ihe comer
of Sparks and Halliwell, for
example, didn’t change the
character of the surrounding

that? I don’t think so.”’
Mixing multifamily into
R1 and R2 zones will be a
necessity, he predicted, be-
cause of the shortage of ex-
isting multifamily land.
Trawin is expecting

~ detailed work on the new

Official Coramunity Plan to

‘begin near the end of this .

year.
Before that happens, city

what population density can
be supported in each part of
towri, based on sewer, walter
and other infrastructure,
There will eventually be
public hearings on the direc-
tion for the Official Com-
munity Plan, with many op-
portunities for focal citizens

‘to make it clear how they

want their neighbourhoods
to develop.

Glen Williams

Trustees hold
off on cuts

Ministry team to seek school savings

A THREE-MEMBER efficiency team given the job of finding
out if the Coast Mountains School District is spending money
correctly is due to arrive June 1. .

Its report, expected no later than the end of June, could point
the way to savings which could then be used to ease csbudget
deficit of more than $1.3 million.

The team was appointed by education minister Paul Ramsey
after massive protests were held to oppase program cuts.

By far the greatest protests were issued over the proposal to axe
elementary school music and band programs.

The protests caused the board to deter filing a balanced budget
by. the required deadline of May. 12. —

nstead, the board said it would wait to file until the efficiency
team reported. ;

Although the board broke the law by not filing the budget on
time, Ramsey isn’t pursuing the matter.

“They could either have done a budget and revised it as they
wish after the efficiency team does its work but unless there's
some bureaucratic wrinkle I don't see it as a probiem,” said
Ramsey last week.

“The important thing is to get the work of the efficiency team
done as fast as possible 1o get a budget in place so plans for the
fall can be finalized,” he said.

The team will make non-binding recommendations to the min-
ister and to school board chair Roger Leclerc.

As the situation now stands, the board did attempt to come up
with a revised budget calling for a deficit of just under $300,G00.

But the board’s allempt to file this budget was booed by a
crowd of more than 200 at the special board meeting May 12.

Schoo! board trustee Peter King from Kitimat requested that
the board defer the budget unti] a review committee came in
with recommendations for cuts,

“} think that this process is flawed,” said Peter King. “We don’t
have an answer from the government.”

Kitimat trustee Linda Campbell seconded the motion which
was then passed.

The revised budget plan called for axing the music program in
kindergarten and Grade 6 and 7 classes but keeping the program
intact for Grade | to 5 classes. ;

There would be no change to the elementary band program.

That would result in a savings of $263,000.

Cuts to physical education for kindergarten and grade 6/7 in
Kitimat, resource centres, resource centre supplies, special serv-
ices, custodial, employee training and technology co-ordinators
were also proposed in the revised budget.

The board also planned to reduce the size of the Kitimat sub-
office and cut music band supplies, curricular transportation and
board and board committee expenses.

Tax notices go out

TERRACE homeowners whose assessments haven't swung
wildly will be paying about the same amount as last year on their
property taxes.

Tax notices are arriving this week and must be paid by July 2.

The notices show a total taxation rate of $12.21 per thousand
of assessed value for residential homeowners. That figure was

. included in the city budget passed by council May 11,

That’s down slightly from $12,647 last year, so taxpayers
whose home assessments haven't risen by more than 3.5 per cent
should see no inerease and possibly a slight drop in their total
property tax bill.

The overall rate consists of the general taxation rate of $5.83
for the city, and a rate of $5.16 for the school district.

Both of those numbers have gone down steadily. In 1992 the
city rate stood 65 per cent higher at $9,618 per thousand
assessed value, and the school rate was $9.3212.

The city budget projects the city will raise $8.24 million in
revenue from property taxes this year — up 4.1 per cent from last
year. The increase comes primarily from new construction.

Another area where revenue is rising is in cost-sharing with the
Kitimat-Stikine Regional District. The regional district this year
will pay the city $548,569 —41 per cent more than last year ~ for
shared services, That’s a result of ongoing city council negotia-
tions with the regional district to have Thomhilt taxpayers pay
for their shate of services that the city contributes toward.

“Those negotiations aren't finalized yet so we'll get another
whack at it next year,’ mayor Jack Talstra said.

Another area where more money is coming in is from pool and
arena fees, which go up five per cent on July 1.

On the downside, however, the city is forecasting a plunge of
38 per cent or $140,000 in the amount of revenue taken in
through permits and licences. That's because city officials are
expecting a dramatic drop in'construction this year because of

-the economic slowdown, and therefore fewer bullding permits
being issued... ras