A weekly roundup of noteworthy news in municipalities across B.C.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is hoping some of the billions of federal dollars earmarked in Thursday’s budget to help provinces and communities meet water, transportation and other infrastructure needs will go toward building a light rail system in her city.
Word from Ottawa that Kitimat will be turned from a private port into a public port has taken local officials by surprise. The plan was included in Monday’s federal government announcement in Vancouver of numerous measures to improve tanker safety off the B.C. coast. But Kitimat Mayor Joanne Monaghan says her community was never consulted.
Residential development is not a problem in Maple Ridge, public works general manager Frank Quinn told Maple Ridge council Monday. Instead, the issue is narrowing the gap between commercial and residential development. In that way, the municipality won’t be as dependent on residential taxes to pay its bills.
With tall houses squashing views and high rents squeezing tenants, the District of West Vancouver voted in favour of a plan to shape the future of housing in the municipality at a council meeting Monday. [But] the housing action plan, which places an emphasis on coach houses, housing diversity and purpose-built rental apartments, may be too restrictive, according to Coun. Bill Soprovich.
Money for job and skills retraining, and a commitment to share the costs of municipal infrastructure projects marked the highlights of the federal government’s 2013 budget on Thursday. On the North Shore, projects like the stalled $70-million revamp of North Vancouver‘s Harry Jerome Recreation Centre and a planned $400 million upgrade of the Lions Gate sewage treatment plant to secondary treatment could both potentially benefit from the infrastructure plan.
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A selected image from the Spacing Vancouver Flickr pool. Image courtesy of waferboard.