LARGE COMMERCIAL vehictes using the Sande Overpass are
regarded as a problem because of the tight maneuvering required
to get on and off of the structure. The overpass has been the

Alderman warns of traffic
_ problems from zoning move |

“By MALCOLM BAXTER
TERRACE — A council deci-
sion to broaden the interpreta-
tion of zoning on the north side

of Keith Ave. from the Sande
Overpass to the Skeena River
has the potential to make an
already bad traffic situation
worse, says alderman Ruuth
Hallock.

Hallock’s comment came
during discussion of a request to
relax zoning requirements for
the area. The stretch of road in
question is currently zoned M3
commercial-light industrial.
One of the permitted uses under
that designation is ‘“‘warehouse-

retail operations.”*

In a memo to council, city
planner Marvin Kamenz said
the owner of the building cur-
rently under construction adja-
cent to the Sande Overpass — it
will house a United Buy and Sell
furniture outlet — had asked if
a video rental store could also
locate in the building.

Pointing out allowing this re-
quest would run contrary to
current interpretation of what

’ qualified as a warehouse-retai!

operation, Kamenz asked if
council wished to apply a more
liberat interpretation that would

One-way streets

‘TERRACE ~— Although heavy
‘lobbying by council appears to
have persuaded the provincial
government the sometimes
Kethal Sande Overpass must be
replaced, building a new
through-route for heavy traffic
is not going to solve the pro-
blem at the city's accident
-black-spot, says a local alder-
man.

_ David Hull said the area in
question is the’ stretch of Keith
Ave. from the overpass to
Kalum St. and the problem is
the number of accidents involv-
ing vehicles executing left turns
on to Keith as they exit south-
side feeder streets.

: He said many of these ac-
cidents occured because vehicles
in the near-side lane often
obstructed the view of the se-
cond lane for drivers trying to

make those left turns. ‘They
pull out and bang!" he explain-
ed,

“Obviously it’s an easy
mistake to make because it’s
been made by lots of people’’
including experienced, careful
drivers, he said.

In particular, he fingered the
Tetrgult-Keith. intersection.
Maintaining the list of accidents
there ‘‘goes on and on,’’ he ad-
ded, ‘‘Two of my own staff
have been clipped there in a
year, 1”

Although. the provincial
government had now initiated a
traffic study of the overpass and
road — that stretch of Keith
and the overpass are designated
part of Highway 16 — Hull sug-
gested it would be ‘‘a long
time” before any resulting im-
provement project got under-

n

Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 5, 1990 —~ Page A A5

| LETTERS __

A TO THE TERRACE STANDARD.

scence of accidents and solutions to the situation are. being ad-
dressed in a study to be finished by the end of the year.

permit retail outlets to locate in
M3 zones.

While her colleagues were
prepared to take that step,
Hallock argued what alderman
Danny Sheridan had referred to
as ‘‘a refinement” of the by-law
effectively rezoned the north
side of Keith as commercial.

‘*That’s fine, provided we've
addressed all the traffic dif-
ficulties,”’ she said. Prefering
the video store request be dealt
with through a special use per-
mit, Hallock opposed ‘blanket
rezoning’? because it meant
‘““we’re going to throw the door
open. to complete, commercial

get a boost

Kalum, that street ‘would. ‘has

way.

In the meantime, however,
‘That problem from Tetrault to
Kalum can be solved quite
quickly,”’ he said.

His proposed solution involv-
ed the following changes to traf-
fic patterns:

* maintain Tetrault as a two-

way street but prohibit left turns .

on to Keith-Highway 16
{towards the overpass). _

* make Sparks, Hall and
Evergreen Sts. one-way, south-
bound .only. That would
eliminate vehicles trying to exit
those streets on to the highway.

* leave South Kalum St. as a
two-way and place traffic lights
at its intersection with the
highway. Because this would
direct south side drivers heading
for the downtown area on the

development along ‘that «street
when we know we have major
problems with the Sande Over-
pass (and the Keith-Tetrautt i in-
tersection). .

“Traffic patterns in this com-
munity are getting worse and
worse and if we don’t address
them before long we're going to
be in a really major morass,”
she warned.

’ Agreeing traffic problems ex-
isted, Sheridan suggested it was
something the planning and
public works committee —
Hallock is its chairman —
should be looking at: re

have to be upgraded to handle
the extra traffic.

Hull said the above would
eliminate uncontrolled left turns
on to the highway and with it
nearly all the accidents along
that stretch.

Although the highway
designation meant the province
would be responsible for cover-
ing ihe cost of traffic light in-
stailation, Hull suggested they
should also contribute toward
any improvement work required
on municipal feeder streets.

He argued Victoria should
shoulder some of the financial
burden because any such work
would only be carried out in an

effort to correct problems

created by a provincial
highway.

Study ponders traffic solutions

TERRACE —_ Solving traffi ic
flow problems along Hwyl6é
“here could involve immediate
measures such as traffic lights
to long term projects that could
include a new overpass, says a
highways ministry spokesman.
-. Dirk Nyland, the ministry’s
regional planning director, said
‘many different facets must be
taken into consideration when
_ proposing improvements,
_ “Growth patterns are impor-
tant, Maybe something isn’t a
‘problem now but could be given

‘what’ kind ‘of | growth” is OX:

pected,” he said,

. The ministry has comniigston-
ed a traffic study for the section
of highway so it would be dif-
‘ficult to make firm predictions

“untilit’s completed at the'end of
the year, Nyland added, -

But the ministry does regard
the section of highway from the
Sande Overpass to the Dudley

. Little’ Bridge heading east . of
‘town as:a problem, he said,

R LARGE ail nker truck failed ta negotiate the‘corner. jeading off the Sande Ove Overpass or on to Kelth Ave.

this past January. Alternatives to. the overpass are. ® being Included ina: Highways ministry study on

-Hwy16 as it passes through the ily.

commenting on the kind oft af

fic that uses the section.‘
He did add that*more: roon

uch:a project...

‘there: Is little. available land for
yland ‘sald any. planning for

provements to the Nass Valley

_ Road are completed. ;
- Possible ‘short term solutions _

out a question

Dear Sirs

lam writing ‘his letter to
‘warn all pet owners of a
policy by the city animal
shelter of - which I was
unaware.

Our family - recently. went
on holiday and left a relative
living in our house to look
after our two cats. While we
were away one of our cats
disappeared,

My sister-in-law searched
the neighbourhood, con-
tacted neighbours and put
ads on the radio and in the
paper. When we returned the
cat (a well-looked-after male
- with both a. flea ¢ollar and
collar with bell) was. siill
missing.

* [ continued the radio and
newspaper ads, offering a
reward and checked with the
vet and the animal shelter. J
‘was stunned to learn from
the shelter that our cat had
been there for the com-
pulsory three days and then

J.-:had been adopted out,

| understand that the

- Shelter cannot keep pets

“indefinitely, but | don't
. feel that a grace period
of a few weeks for the:

“Original owners to
‘reclaim their pets, and

recompense the new
owners, would be
unreasonable,

1 was told that we-had no
legal right to the cat, that we
could not have any informa-
tion about the new owners
and that we should have con-
tacted the shelter to say we
were going on holidays. ~

My husband asked the
shelter if they would contact
the new owners for us and
_. tell them we were offering a

Zi "reward and we would be glad <”

“to Teplace our pet with a new
cat, .
When we phoned the next

op day we were told that the

‘people who adopted our cat

“were in a Winnebago from

out-of-province.
We were told that we
should have had our pet tag-

Bad attitude
in one letter

An open letter to Pete
Weeber of New Hazelton in
response to his open letter to
the Honorable Tom Siddon,
Minister of Indian Affairs,
Ottawa, printed in The Ter-
race Standard, Aug. 22,
1990,

Dear Pete:

.. Lpray that what is coming
from your mouth is not from
your heart but out of ig-
noranice.

Contrary to what you
‘believe there is a double stan-
dard when it comes to ad-
“ministrating the affairs of
‘each and every community in
this province. Every dollar
received through the fiscal
framework by the native
communities has to be ac-
counted for through annual
audits. Surpluses realized
through good management
are taken back by the federal
government. This is federal
policy. This does not occur in
the federal-provincial;
provincial-municipal govern-
ment fiscal relationships.

We also pay taxes each
time we purchase items from
non-native retailers. These

taxes do not benefit us direct- |

‘ out. Cats could be housed at

-to search fost pet an-

Pet policy draws |

té

” ged, but one of our cats came
from the Terrace shelter and.
this was never suggested to us
when we gother, ~~
I understand that the
shelter cannot, keep pets in-:
definitely, but 1 don't’ feel-
that a grace period of a few
weeks for the criginal owners,
to reclaim their pets,. ‘and
recompense the new. owners,
would be unreasonable. |
We now have to try to
make our sons understand
the needless loss of a muich-°*
loved pet. _
Yours sincerely,
M. Robinson .
Terrace,"B.C.

Editor’s note: Frank

Bowsher af the city’s animal }-

‘Shelter says that it is physicat-'
ly impossible to keep cats
housed at the shelter until
their owners can be found.
He said all cats are kept
for three days and then every
effort is made to adopt them

the shelter for longer than
three days, depending upon
how long it takes to have
them adopted, Putting them
to sleep is the last resort.
Every effort is made to
Jind owners of cats that come
in wearing an indentification
tag. Those can be bought at
the shelter for $3.50. Ap-
proximately 100 cat owners
have bought such tags.
Bowsher said shelter
workers do not have the time

Rouncements in newspapers
or listen for them. on. the
radio. He said animai
shelters should be among the
Jirst places people should
look for lost pets.

Bowsher added that it is
not unusual for out-of-
province visitors to adopt
animals from the shelter. The
shelter is required to obtain
names and addresses of those
within B.C. adopting
animals but not for those
who live elsewhere.

He said names and ad-
dresses of those who do
adopt pets are not given out
because the shelter has to re-
main impartial in its deal-
ings.

ly or indirectly. We pay in-
come tax when we work off
reserve. Like you, we take
pride in doing so. Our
mother pays property tax
and school tax to the
municipality of Terrace and
while she was employed, paid
income tax all her working
years.

_Our mother wanted to
leave Canada to go on a holi-
day when she could finally
afford one. She couldn't go
because she wasn’t a Cana-
dian citizen. She found this
out when she applied for a
passport. She was born and
raised in the Naas Valley
where our Nation has always
lived. She paid taxes to
Canada even though she was
a “non-person” in ‘‘our own
lands.”

Our aunt, who married a
white person, through the In-
dian Act, which was suppos-
ed to protect us, was con-
sidered along with her
children as “illegal aliens’?
whenever they came home to
‘visit us, their family. Our
aunt was also born and rais-

-cont'd AG

The Terrace. Standard 3
cumstances.

welcomes: letters to the editor
on all topics, ‘All letters must
be signed* and carry an ad-
dress. anid “local telephone
number, Addresses or phone
numbers won't be printed
with the letter, but they are
necessary for confirmation
of “the; letter's. authenticity
‘The: riter’s name . will be

_ writer. All letters are run on.

granted i in extraordinary. cir-

Thank you letters should
be submitted to the ‘Card cf
Thanks’. section of the
‘Classifieds. * ; .

Letters containing libelous.
or objectionable. matter will
be edited or'returned to the

a space available basis, with. |

‘Tt may not be so.much: of a. for trucks to turn off. of and on ew overpass ill have to ine are“to be-included in budget” ' published. Requests: for shorter “letters likely to be*
nee as one oO “to: the: overpass ‘at. both: ends ‘clude. the impact of moretraffic planning by.the ministry for the nant ‘0 be withheld may be published sc soonest. ‘
‘tric problem,” st sald (vlan th? ‘might be one. solution ‘but: tha hat? BE expected: when © im- next, ‘fiscal Yeats, oe | ceerereeeiorsiiainie _ A

et en te, PE Te ag th atts arom ade ad he OP BP