The Chilliwack Progress from Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada • Page 4

4A THE CHILLIWACK PROGRESS, Wednesday, September 29, 1976 THE EDITORIAL PAGE Transit dance As we have in the past with other projects, we could end up as the johnnies-come-lately who ask for money just after the treasury door has closed. With all due respect, we really do not, need a LIP grant to tell us transit expansion is needed. Our increasing urban density tells us that a decent transit system is not only needful but possible with the right kind of help. Other communities have demonstrated that a properly coordinated transit system frequently reduces the number of expensive road accesses needed. We urge township council to seek an early consultation with the provincial transit bureau.

Officials of that body have indicated their preparedness to talk about the subject, but it takes two sides to make a discussion designed to lead to results. Township is moving to apply for a LIP grant to study the need for expanded public transit in our community. As the cartoon to the right indicates, we hope this is not merely a delaying tactic, designed to postpone the inevitable. Sooner or later, township and city will need to get their political heads together and take some real action about transit. We would have thought the logical move is to invite provincial transit bureau officials over for a down-to-earth discussion of the subject.

The machinery is now in place and many of British Columbia's non-metropolitan communities are beginning to get the transit help they need. But like any other government agency, the transit bureau will only have money available as long as the government of the day keeps it in the budget. CHILLIWACK'S TRANSIT SCENE IN 2031 AD? Land issue's new look Hipwell home chimney at the front of the home; a port-cochere was added to improve the proportions of the old square building. The garden was reclaimed, pruned, planted and formally landscaped, and the home became a show place in the best sense of the word. The Barbers, through their connections in journalistic and public affairs were hosts to people from all over the world who fell in love with the house and its surroundings.

This tradition of hospitality was carried on by the next owners, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Worthington. (Mrs. Mary Barber died in 1936; Mr.

Charles Barber and his second wife, the late Mrs. Laurie Barber, sold the house to Mr. Worthington in 1948 and moved to Chilliwack.) Mr. Worthington, a gentleman farmer with a famous team of Clydesdales, added to the property by purchasing further farmland surrounding it. With regret, he cut down the acres of apple orchard behind the house inow a subdivision) because the 'trees were too old.

Mr. Worthington died in 1956 and his widow, the late Mrs. Toge Worthington, lived there until 1961, when she sold the property to Mr. Bill Hipwell, who has owned it since then. Constance Newby (Mrs.

W. G. Newby) ABANDONED FOX FARM IN 1931 Editor, The Progress: I would like to supply some further footnotes to the story of the Bill Hipwell house (The Progress, September 1), having had close family ties with the house through my first marriage to the late Leslie Barber, whose parents reconstructed the house in the early 1930s. The house was built in 1908 by Mr. Seward, comptroller of Edenbank Creamery.

Mr. Seward married a Sardis girl, Miss Ogle; planted the giant rhododendrons which are still breathtakingly beautiful almost 70 years later; built the Edenbank Trading Co. building which now houses Towler Realty; and as a further distinction was a great-uncle by marriage of B.C's Premier Bill Bennett. (Genealogical details supplied upon request.) After Mr. Seward departed from Sardis, the home with its 10 acres was purchased by the Mallory family, who operated it as a fox farm during the 1920's After the onset of the depression the Mallory family moved to the Okanagan, and the house stood empty and dilapidated for two years.

The picture shown in the September 1st issue of the Progress with the caption "Barber Home in the 1920's" shows it at this stage, and is inaccurate historically. In 1931 the late Mrs. Mary A. Barber began to dream about this wreck of a house. A woman of great taste and determination, co-publisher of The Progress with her husband Mayor Charles A.

Barber, she looked at the fallen-in roof overgrown with honeysuckle, the broken windows, the garden gone back to wilderness. She persuaded her husband to buy the property for a song. Enlisting the help of architects (McCarter and Nairne) and interior decorators (Gervan, Inc.) from Vancouver, she completely remodelled the house. The old bay window was replaced with french doors leading to the patio off the dining room; a wing was added to the living-room, which included a beautiful fireplace and new Before the controversy flared, The Progress supported township's exclusion plan in principle. We said the plan recognized the need to preserve almost all our farmland while permitting breathing space for a moderate number of people to live and work in a congenial urban atmosphere.

We still support those objectives. We will always urge long-range planning that is responsive to people's varied needs. A close study of both the chamber brief and the township plan indicates one sure thing; we do not require anything like 1,800 acres out of the land reserve to meet short-term urban needs. The provincial cabinet, in making its decision, should act on what we legitimately need now. It should carefully consider the chamber's emphasis on the need for increased job opportunities within our community.

Township planners must look years ahead at what our rural-urban community should become. However, there is no reason this particular provincial cabinet should rubber-stamp all those plans now. Agricultural land in the corridor can afford to stay frozen unless two conditions take place in tandem. One condition is that the land will not be needed for agriculture; the other is that it is required to meet other "people" needs. Recognizing that fact, the cabinet should face up to the responsibility of making its decision soon.

Victoria should not fiddle while Chilliwack is left in a planning lurch. Some observations about the township land exclusion application are, at this point, timely. Chilliwack and District Chamber of Commerce has come out against township's exclusion plan but urged that 70 acres of agricultural reserve land be saved for agriculturally-oriented processing industry. Some might be surprised at a business-oriented organization like the chamber taking what could be construed to be an anti-development stance. There should be little surprise, however, when several factors are kept in mind.

Firstly, the chamber is addressing itself positively to one particular factor; the threat of loss of our food-processing industry. Secondly, the difference between the views of the most avid farmland preservationists and the strongest supporters of the township plan remains at about four per cent. Virtually everyone wants at least 96 per cent of the land now in the reserve to stay there. Thirdly, Environment Minister Jim Nielsen has said for the record that a 30-year withdrawal plan makes things very complicated for the provincial cabinet. The injection of the chamber into the issue has changed the nature of the controversy.

People now realize they can speak in favor of farmland preservation without being labelled either leftist or insincere. They also recognize that saving farmland does not mean adopting a mandatory "no growth" policy for our community. Questions about real estate beneficially answered by the four professionals involved, the inference is left, at least in my mind, that these professional people may have degraded their morality, their professional code of ethics, and their consciences. Fred Tossell mystery behind Mrs. MacGregor's apparent irrational behaviour in first exposing the whole matter to Action Line and now seemingly being unwilling to comment further.

Until these questions and perhaps others are fully and C. A. BARBER HOME IN 1933 kVBMilL Public conflict AFFAIRS real intention to resolve that conflict. Although controversy can often be "newsworthy," we do not feel it must invariably become news. In a world filled with dissension, there is a need for people to square off in private and frankly discuss their differences.

People who air conflicts without having first attempted reconciliation should not be surprised if others mistrust their motives for When should a conflict between two people or groups be aired in public? At the risk of sounding like we are working against a newspaper's own best interests, we suggest it should not be aired unless private conciliation efforts have failed. We make this suggestion because of the sometimes persistent efforts of individuals or groups to "lead with the media's chin." By that, we mean using the media to air a conflict without any Editor, The Progress: Not so much by what your investigative reporter Mike Doyle has said, but rather by what, in my view, he has left unsaid, the impression lingers with me that lawyer Joe Erickson, Wheeler Realty Fred George Realty and especially real estate salesman Ernie Sawatsky may have been involved in a scheme which deprived Mrs. Ellen MacGregor of the full market value for her late brother-in-law's residential property! It seems to me very clear that all the parties involved ought to cause to be published in your newspaper a detailed statement of their respective involvements in the various transactions centering around the property in question. Particularly, the public ought to have answers to the following questions: 1) Were all or most of the three bids received by Mr. Erickson from buyers who were licensed under the Real Estate Act? Who were the unsuccessful bidders and what relationship did they bear to the parties? 2) What was the time interval between the Multiple Listing publication on the property and the date the Interim Receipt was signed by the MacGregor estate and salesman Sawatsky? 3) Was the property shown to all the real estate people who attended the weekly real estate tour arranged through the Multiple Listing Service? 4) How much commission did Sawatsky receive on his own purchase of the property? How much additional commission did he receive on the re-sale of the property after repairs and improvements? 5) How many times did Wheeler Realty or other realtors show the property to prospective buyers who were not licensed real estate people? 6) What accounts for the veiled mobility and reasonably priced accommodation." He said that the government is therefore committed to prohibiting all residential impost charges which do not have a fair and justifiable basis in actual cost.

Although he agreed this sounded like strong medicine, the government did not propose to cut off a source of revenue and then wash its hands of the matter. "In fact," he indicated, "we are about to embark on a program of revenue-sharing the very fairness of which should make it unnecessary for any municipality to employ excessive residential development charges." Asked later what is a "reasonable" development fee, Mr. Curtis said it varies so greatly that he could not put a figure on it. However, it should be what covers the cost. He said he saw one case in the lower mainland he didn't identify the area where a forty-acre parcel was to.be divided into four 10-acre parcels.

The impost fees, he said, were He underlined that his department is speaking of limiting impost fees on residential development. The ruling did not apply to, say, a shopping centre, commercial or industrial development. In his speech, Mr. Curtis commented that if there is no crown land suitable for residential development within municipalities, his department will consider buying appropriate parcels for the purpose. "In an effort to reduce the escalation of land prices, we are fully prepared where warranted to subsidize development," he said.

He added: "Where a municipality takes on the development responsibility, the department will provide land at no charge to the project. Any surplus over costs from sales proceeds will be divided evenly between the province and the municipality, provided these funds are used for housing purposes." Mr. Curtis indicated that regional districts will get the same offer for rural subdivisions. He sharply criticized municipalities which charge heavy impost fees. "I am disturbed by the horror stories about exorbitant charges which regularly come to our attention," he said.

"While I can sympathize with and defend the legitimate right of any municipality to recover a fair share of the costs occasioned by development, I simply cannot condone flagrant fees, the severity of which can have no other purpose than to deprive Canadians of their right to By JOHN DA VIES British Columbians can expect to see more crown land made available for housing. This message was given to the Union of B.C. Municipalities by Hugh Curtis, minister of municipal affairs, when he spoke at the organization's annual convention. He said the department of housing has been given the task of preparing development and management plans for all crown land designated as suitable for housing. "This policy represents the fulfilment of a major pledge of the government prior to last winter's election," he said.

This summer a land inventory was completed in the capital Regional District, the area around Victoria. This, Mr. Curtis indicated, was just a start. In addition, his department has already identified other blocks of crown land suitable for housing and has placed a reserve on more than 2,000 acres. A staff group will be travelling throughout the province preparing an inventory in and adjacent to each municipality.

"We recognize this as only the first step," said Curtis The land then must be serviced and on the market if we hope to affect the escalating cost of land. It is my view that the department should be the developer of last resort." Interviewed following his speech, Mr. Curtis revealed that the 2,000 acres identified as suitable for housing are in the lower mainland. "We will announce just where these acres are a little bit later." His department's program, he said, is initially hoped to slow the escalation of land values "and in time it would perhaps reduce it." "We can imagine that speculators will be very unhappy, but that's their problem," he said. Asked about the development of hillside housing, Mr.

Curtis said, "I am extremely interested in housing on the slopes." Various ideas are being investigated, including those presented at Habitat. "It's a little premature to discuss the practicality of it, but I hope it is sufficient to say I am extremely interested." (Ehtlltxttark progress Established 1891 Published at 36 Spadina Avenue every Wednesday by The Chilliwack Progress Ltd. Second Class Mail Registration Number 1191. Member Audit Bureau of Circulation and Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions: 20? per copy; by carrier boy, 75t per month; by mail, in Canada, $9.00 payable yearly or $5.00 half yearly in advance.

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