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Wal-Mart zoning approved

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District of Squamish Council adopted the zoning bylaw for the property Wal-Mart wants to build on in the Squamish Business Park.

Tiffany Duzita of First Professional Management, a consultant working on behalf of Wal-Mart, said she is now working with district of Squamish staff on the development permit approval.

Duzita hopes council will make a decision on the development permit at one of the council meetings in April.

Downtown Smart Growth team forms

Coun. Dave Fenn is joining seven other Squamish residents to participate in Squamish's next charrette process.

Council voted in support of Fenn's appointment to Smart Growth on the Ground (SGOG) team.

Fenn joins Tom Bruusgaard, Theodora Carol, Casey Dorin, Kirsztina Egyed, Andrea Harris, Peter Legere and Paul Russel. While Fenn will speak on behalf of Squamish Council, the other citizens on the team will participate on behalf of developers and property owners; the environment; educators; the arts, culture and social services; recreation, business and residents, respectively.The team will work together with SGOG staff to create a revised vision for Downtown Squamish.

The charrette will take place over the course of four days; April 20, 21, 27 and 28. Public meetings will be held before and during the charrette process so local residents can monitor the work of the group.

More properties ordered to clean up

District of Squamish Council directed district staff to clean up the Government Road property between the Petro-Can station and Emerald Estates in Brackendale. The empty lot is filled with vehicles, many of which are not in running order.

The property owner, Allan Shaughnessy of Squamish, was notified the property will be cleaned and he will be billed for the cost of the work.

Avoca Management Ltd. of Cochrane, Alta. is facing the same fate after the company was asked to tidy the property it owns at 37794 Second Ave.

If district staff does work to tidy the properties and the bill for the work isn't paid, the property owners will have the bill be added to and form part of the taxes payable on the properties.

A third property owner, Dwayne Engelsman of Langley, is off the hook for the time being because staff was not certain Engelsman received notice of the possible decision by council to take clean up action. Engelsman's property is located at 1186 Wilson Cresc., a property currently occupied by a tenant.

Maor critical of letters to the editor

Two letters to the editor published in the March 11 edition of The Chief led council to pass a motion supporting the work of Trudy Coates, the district's manager of administrative services.

Mayor Ian Sutherland said the letters written by Darren Doak of JR Trucking contained inaccurate information with regard to Doak's attempts to secure an extension of his company's lease of District-owned property on Loggers Lane.

In the letters, which were sent to the mayor and council and MP John Reynolds and copied to The Chief for publication, Doak claimed he received unfair treatment when his request for a lease extension on district owned land was denied despite the fact a lease extension request from Burritt and Son Trucking on a neighbouring property was granted.

"The Chief should know better than to run letters that have patently false information," Sutherland said.

"A letter writer shouldn't have carte blanche to slander someone in the community."

Coun. Corinne Lonsdale expressed support for staff but said she didn't feel comfortable that Doak was not present to address the issue and opposed the motion.

"Everything that Mr. Doak wrote is 100 per cent incorrect," Sutherland replied. "Mr. Doak is wrong, Mrs. Coates is right and you weren't there," referring to the fact that Lonsdale was on holiday at the time council rejected Doak's lease extension.

"The Chief should check their facts before they run things," he added after the vote.

Tunnel supporter speaks

Dennis Perry of the Coalition to Save Eagleridge Bluffs at Horseshoe Bay presented his argument to council on why his group feels a tunnel is needed as part of the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project.

Perry was limited to speaking for only five minutes and when he went over his time allotment the mayor asked him to wrap up.

After Perry finished his presentation, council moved on with its agenda without taking any action following Perry's presentation.

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