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racing track

By Sandy Macdougall
Staff Reporter 7.

Just when oddsmakers were
beginning to think the Colony
Farm race track proposal had
been scratched, an announce-
ment by the provincial Solicitor
General's office has put everyone
back at the starting gate.

Solicitor General Russ Fraser
has given permission to the B.C,
Racing Commission to issue a

Proposal call for a one-mile race

track somewhere in the Lower
Mainland.

Coquitlam officials remain
adamant that such a track wont
be welcome on the portion of
Colony Farm on their side of the
Coquitlam River.

Colony Farm Holdings Ltd.
(CFHL) president Gary Newman
is delighted with the announce-
ment, though.

“We've been gearing up for
this for five years and now we'll
have a chance to show what we
have,” Newman said,

Newmans proposal includes a
One-and-an-eighth mile all-
weather track arid a turf track on
the Port Coquitlam side of the
river,

The Coquitlam portion of the
Property is seen by CFHL as an

ideal site for a demonstration
farm or for UBC's faculty of agri-
culture,

Longer-range development
would include two golf courses
on Douglas Island and a resort
hotel on the Fraser River.

Coquitlam Mayor Lou-Sekora
has described the project as “so
far-fetched, it’s laughable.”

“I'm totally opposed,” Sekora
said. “All we'd get is a sea of
parking and a lot uf noise. We
already have enough traffic prob-
lems on the Barnet corridor and
the Lougheed Highway. This
would only make it worse.”

Port Coquitlam Mayor Len
Traboulay said Thursday night a
majority of his council still favors
the project because it would cre-
ate jobs and revenue.

Traboulay said it was impos-
sible to guarantee that Colony
Farm will always ;emain as farm
land.

Residents along Coquitlam’s
east-facing slopes that overlook
Colony Farm have voiced their
Opposition to the race track pro-
posal several times. They want
the site preserved ag green space.

The solicitor general's an-
nouncement contained the provi-
sion that any proposal must be
acceptable to local governments.

Race track proposals must be
filed by March i, 1991, a date
Newman said would still allow
completion of a new facility to re-
place the Exhibition Park track
when its current lease expires in
1993. ,