STAYING PUT. Andreas Oeste is one of five people who had faced possible eviction at the end of last month. He says he's tried his best to find somewhere alse to live, but has found there's very little affordable housing in Terrace. Tenants face eviction THE FATE of five people living in illegal suites in Thornhill now rests in the hands of the regional district’s lawyers. The district had notified the five renters they had until April 1 to find new places to live. That did not happen, and it’s now up to the lawyers to decide what to do with them. “I can not put them out on the street,’ says landlord Helmet Reinert. ‘‘] can no do it.”’ The five live in trailers on property Reinert owns on Old Lakelse Lake Road. The property is zoned to allow just one home on it and earlier this year the dis- trict told Reinert he’d either have to move the trailers or kick the tenants out. Initially the district set Feb. 1 as the April 1 to give both sides time to try and work out a compromise solution. Last month the tenants wrote to the dis- trict asking for another, indefinite exten- sion. One of the tenants, Marilyn Sutherland, says she and her husband Al did not hear anything back, and they still have no place to go. “It’s up in the air right now,’’ she says. “We're still looking but it’s very tough.’’ She says she hopes the district acts in good faith and trusts that the tenants are looking for new living quarters. Reinert hopes to start circulating a peti- tion in area businesses by the end of the eviction date, but later bumped that up to munity plan is adopted. 10.9% qu Financing 0.A.C. Available only at your Recreational Specialists. - Tea Poa? en] No Mo No Interest For 90 Days “In your face" bothers council City shuts illegal suites By CRIS LEYKAUF INCREASING PRESSURE from the public is causing the city to shut down some illegal suites built since 1991. These are secondary suites built in RJ (single family only) zoning or suites which don’t conform to the BC Building Code, That code requires secondary suites have smoke alarms and a separate entrance among other safely requirements. There are currently about 50 suites or potential suites .in town that fall in either of those categories, says cily build- ing inspector Paul Gipps. - He says he knows of four illegal suites that-are currently occupied and other cight to ten suites that might be. oc- cupied. A number of suites have already been shut down during the course of construction. - Usually building inspectors can identify these suites be- fore a house is finished. ‘‘When somcone’s putting in plug oullets at counter top height in their ‘family room’, it’s pretty obvious,” says Gipps, ; Tr’s that ‘‘in your face’? attitude that bothers city council- lor David Hull. ‘‘They get a permit to build to a certain spec and plan and then decide to build a secondary suile,”” says Hull, ‘'When they’rc told to stop they kecp right on going.”’ That angers their neighbours who cither want to protect the peacefulness of their R1-zoned neighbourhood, or who tried to build a suite themselves, then stopped when they were told it was illegal, When the city knows of an illegal suite built since 1991 it can take many steps to force the home owner to stop renting, says Hull. The city can puta legaf notation on the land tille, and then pull the occupancy permit for the entire structure. If that doesn’t work the cily can then advice hydro and gas suppliers of the situation, and all services 10 the house can The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April3, 1996 - A3 potentially be pulled. As for suites in properly zoned ateas that aren’t built to codec, Hull says the cily could be held potentially negligent in case ofa fire or other disaster, since it new about the suite but took no action, With suites built before 1991, Hull says no action will be taken unless complaints are made and they present an ob- vious fire or safety hazard. ‘We can’t throw a 1,000 or 1,500 people out without rental units,’’ he says. But Huli claims shutting down the illegal suites shouldn't have too negative an impact on the rental market in Terrace, Helga Kenny of the Terrace Housing Registry disagrees. She currently has 239 people registered as locking for rent- al accommodation. The number of units listed with the registry is only 94, not including units in the Skeena Kalum Housing Society. According to Canadian Mortgage and Housing statistics, the vacancy rate in Terrace as of April 1995 was 1.1 per cent, That’s down from 1.4 per cent in 1994, “‘Nothing’s changing in our rental market,"’ says Kenny, She’s worried about the impact shutting down more suites will have. ‘The must be some alternative,” she says. ‘I’m not saying they shouldn't enforce their bylaws, but I’m just saying they should explore other options. People are living in hotels who can’t afford rent and can't find anything.” However Kenny points out that contrary to other media reports, she doesn’t think the city is targeting minorities or the poor. “T think it’s about people wanting to keep quality of life the same, and they feel secondary suites will destroy quali- ty of life,” says Kenny, ‘I don’t feel it’s a minority issue or a poor issue.’” There might be good news for local hospi HOSPITALS HURT by years of frozen budgets might be next on the NDP government’s pre-election goodies list. Health ministry officials are saying this is the week hos- pitals can expect to hear about their budgets for the new fiscal year which began April 1. Hospitals, including Mills Memorial, have been planning for months to deal with budget cuts of up to five per cent. Cutting up to five per cent of the budget at Mills trans- lates into $500,000 and job layoffs. Officials there are planning a $1’ million renovation to make its medical nursing floor more efficient. This will mean the hospital can function with fewer people, enabling it to cope with a reduced budget by cutting jobs. But last week health minister Andrew Petter laid out four priorities to which he'll devote cash in the coming year and one of those is to protect what he called hospitals’ “core services,”' Michael Leisinger, the chief executive officer of the society that governs Mills, said details about what might happen were lacking as of late last week. , “They’ve been talking about minus five (per cent) for so tal this week long that it was a strong signal of what was going to hap- pen,”’ he said of the planning at Mills to reduce expendi- tures, Leisinger’s curious about what this week’s announcem- ent might mean in terms of replacing union contracts which ran out March 31, ; Wage increases would be welcome for workers but if there wasn’t any other overall spending increases, jobs would still have to be cut, said Leisinger. “Tf, for instance, that minus 5 was not to happen and if everyihing else remains equal, that’s great news. A couple of jobs could be saved,”’ he said. Mills has been planning to tell the workers affected by its lay off plans as early as this month. That may now change given what health minister Andrew Petter could announce this week. One of the keys to the provincial government’s health spending plans this year is reaching new deals with health care labour unions. Nurses and support workers held strike votes Monday to back up their demands for new contracts with the health care facilities, Terrace Standard and Overwaitea Volunteers Nomination Form The Terrace Standard and Overwaitea are holding a Volunteer of the Year contest celebrating the achievements and work of iocal community volunteers. If you know someone who's helped make Terrace a better place, tell the town! Of the Year Name of Volunteer Organization(s) valunteer is active in: Nominated by: Organization: Volunteer's profile. Please provide a brief history on the nominee, How long have they been active in organizations in Terrace? How have they helped make terrace a better place? | Telephone: group or.society is not mandatory. EADLING FOR ENTRIE TANDARD Le3 Who's elegible: Anyone who does unpaid volunteer work.Membership in a -.: Drop off form at Overwaitea, Skeena Mall, ..” ee or The Terrace Standard office, . fax to 638-8432, or mailto. 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2 S IS FRIDAY, AP Overwaitea Foods OUNT ON US FOR SERVICE YOAMLL COME BACIC FOR!