MOTION ON NOTICE

At the Council meeting of February 19, 2002, Councillor Bass submitted the following Notice of Motion, which was recognized by the Chair.

5. The Construction of Highways Through Greater Vancouver Watersheds (File: 3753)

WHEREAS, a number of schemes have recently been proposed to build highways through portions of the Capilano and Seymour areas of the Greater Vancouver Watersheds as alternate routes to Whistler for the Olympics;

AND WHEREAS, on Nov. 10, 1999 the GVRD Board of Directors adopted watershed management principles and guidelines that state:

· The primary purpose of Greater Vancouver's watersheds is to provide clean, safe drinking water.
· The watersheds will be managed to reflect and advance the region's commitment to the environmental stewardship and protection of those lands and their biological diversity.
· The region's Management Plan will be based upon minimum intervention absolutely necessary to achieve the Board's objectives.
· The Management Plan will contain policies to return areas disturbed by human activities as close a possible to the pre-disturbance state consistent with the primary goal of protecting water quality.

AND WHEREAS, building new roads or highways through the Greater Vancouver Watershed is not consistent with the GVRD's watershed management principles and guidelines as road construction would:

· expose the watersheds to substantial environmental risk;
· result in increased disturbance from motorized vehicles;
· disturb the natural filtration system;
· allow pollutants in run-off from highway traffic to possibly contaminate sources of drinking water;
· increase the possibility of a spill of hazardous material into the watersheds.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the City of Vancouver notify the GVRD Board of its opposition to the construction of any new roads or highways through the Greater Vancouver Watersheds.

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver