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