BUSINESS A25 CALENDAR Al6 CLASSIFIEDS A27 COMMUNITY A115 GARDENING A24 OPINION Al SPORTS A21 OUTDOORS Al2 BEYER AT GRENBY A25 HAMPSON Al2 LANG Ag4 TOP OF THE PILE A7 LEADING THE WAY The Sidney post office i$ first On Gi list Of local heriiage sites Page A3 DANGEROUS DRUG A survey shows hat alcohol is ihe drug of choice over others Page A4 AIR CADETS HONORED Two Duke of Edinburgh awards are presented by Li-Gov. Lam fo 676 Kittynawk members Page A7 TRAINING HER BABIES It's a lifelong love for a Sandown trainer who treats horses like babes Page A21 FLYERS e Shoppers e Cloverdale Paint e Woodwyn* e Panagopoulos* e Co-op* e Tru-Value* e Kapteyn’s Hair* *select areas Review Office Hours The Review office, at 9726 First St in Sidney, is open from 9 am. untl 5 p.m. Monday. through Friday. Mail to Box 2070, Sidney, B.C: V8L 3S5. Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agrea- |» ment #41815, - Audited Circulation 12,762 A Victoria Weeklies Publication Wednesday, November 4, 1992 50¢ Councils will look at $3.6 million hall Talks start on C.S. rec agreement The Peninsula Recreation Com- mission began talks last week with Central Saanich on a partnership in Panorama Leisure Centre. If an agreement is reached, Cen- tral Saanich council has agreed to hold a referendum on joining North Saanich and Sidney in sup- porting the recreation centre. At an Oct. 22 recreation com- - mission meeting, Central Saanich Coun. Gary Valiquette presented the municipality’s negotiating position. The commission then entered an in camera meeting to discuss the Central Saanich position. Commission members appointed Chairman Brian Sibley, vice-chairman Sheri Williams and Panorama manager Monty Hold- ing to negotiation on behalf of Panorama. Valiquette, Central Saanich Mayor Ted Jones and admini- strator George Sawada are to nego- tiate for Central Saanich. Brian Johnson of Professional Environmental Recreation Con- sultants — the company whose recreation study recommended Central Saanich join Panorama — will be invited to act as moderator, Sibley said: Bayside ‘opens’ this month Minister of Education Anita Hagan will attend the official opening of Bayside Middle School, slated for November 16. Students will star in the opening ceremony, which will include a student master of ceremonies and presentations of work written by students on their new school. The school’s band and choir will perform and students will act as tour guides or demonstrate some of the school’s facilities. From 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. the new school will be open to community Tesidents who want to tour the 84,200-square-foot facility. Built at a cost of $13 million, the school can house up to 750 Students divided between three separate areas, or pods. Construction on the school Started in the fall of 1991. The school was completed ahead of schedule, in time for the start of the 1992-93 school year. Once the negotiating teams reach an agreement, that agrec- ment will be taken to Central Saanich council and the recreation commission for approval. An agreement on the process will remove the final condition holding up the referendum, Sibley said. As soon as that condition is ~removed and the referendum goes ahead, Sibley said he would rec- ommend the restrictions on Cen- tral Saanich residents using Pano- rama be lifted. The restrictions include a. two- week delay on registering for pro- grams and a 30 per cent surcharge on fees. Both measures were designed to give preference to Sidney and North Saanich residents, who sup- port the centre through tax dollars. Sibley said the commission would probably remove the restric- tions as a sign of good faith once , Central saanich-moves toward ref- erendum. “The indications are pretty strong that the commission will support that,” Sibley said. by Paul Wyke The Review Plans to build a new $3.6 mil- lion community hall and perform- ing arts centre at Beacon Avenue and the Pat Bay Highway will not proceed until concems on property taxes and “obvious” annual oper- ating deficit are addressed by council, the proponents say. The joint proposal by the Sidney and North Saanich Community Halil Association (Sanscha) and the Memorial Park Society has identified the “most feasible” option of the project as a 100,000 square-foot free-standing com- munity hall, Memorial Park vice- chairman Richard Holmes told Sidney council members in com- mittee on Monday. The option would leave about 120,000 square feet of land that could eventually be landscaped to provide a passive recreational area for activities such as bowling — greens, Omamental gardens or an outdoor town square, Holmes said. In recent addendums to the building brief, the feasibility of a performing arts centre, a kitchen capable of cooking for up to 100 and catering for 400 people, and a theatre area to accommodate an audience larger than 200 were suggested. “Nothing is cast in stone at this time. These are simply suggestions and important questions for coun- cil to consider and address,” Holmes said. Although Sidney would be the tax authority for the proposed building site, North Saanich should contribute to the project, Mayor Marie Rosko said. : “They would be our partner in this and their taxpayers. should help out. There’s always a good percentage of North Saanich resi- dents at Sidney functions,”’ Rosko said. Getting the taxation issue cleared up is a number one prior- ity, Holmes said. “Tt clearly wouldn’t be prudent to proceed unless the project is exempt from property taxes,” Holmes said. Property taxes on the proposed 100,000 square-foot area would be about $62,000 a year, Holmes said. Continued on Page A2