B.C. Mills House: a step into the past

 

The B.C. Mills House Museum, a hidden reminder of Lynn Valley’s history, is located near the entrance of Lynn Valley Headwaters Regional Park.

Originally purchased from a 1904 catalogue of the B.C. Mills Timber and Trading company, it represents the first prefabricated house on the North Shore.  It was purchased and built in 1908 by Captain Henry Pybus as a home for his family.

Later, it was converted to a schoolhouse and still later became the political headquarters of the infamous Rhino party. After  many years of neglect, the building was to be torn down. However, Stella Jo Dean, a councillor of North Vancouver City at the time, suggested it be moved to the newly established Lynn Headwaters Park to serve as a historic reminder of the early lumbering days.

With the approval of the planning department and the physical resources of the 6th Field squadron of engineers, the building was dismantled, reassembled and refurbished in its present location.

Over the next few years, various hikers and interested persons started bringing  to the museum  a variety of artifacts found in the woods  – objects that dated back, in some cases, to the late 1800s!

Subsequently an inventory was created of all these items and became available about the time the museum opened in 1998.

Items have since been added and an update of our inventory is becoming a necessity. Although storage and display space is limited, the museum still lures visitors from a broad geographic region – many of whom have loggers as their forebears.

The museum is staffed by a few keen volunteers on Sundays and statutory Mondays from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. from May to September. If you’d like to join us, just see our notice, below!

– Ruth Sherwood, Lead Volunteer

Volunteer in beautiful Lynn Headwaters!

Spend the occasional Sunday afternoon in the park, and learn more about how our forebears first made their living in this part of the North Shore!

Join the group of avid volunteers at the B.C. Mills House Museum as an occasional host from May to September, on Sundays and statutory Mondays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The volunteers’ aim is to provide information about the early logging and mining history in this area. Experienced volunteers help newcomers become oriented to the program.

Volunteers also provide park and trail information to the many hikers and dog walkers who head out into this large wilderness region.

To obtain further information about this opportunity, contact West-Area Metro Regional Parks at 604 224-5739, or just drop into the museum during the open hours.

 

LV Elementary band hits new heights

Congratulations to the Lynn Valley Elementary Concert Band, and Jazz Band on a busy and successful year – it could even be described as “out of this world,” as you’ll read below!

The Concert Band achieved a gold award at the Kiwanis Concert Band Festival in Richmond, and gave a first class performance at the District Band and Strings Festival.

This year Lynn Valley had a large number of students accepted to the North Vancouver Honour Band. They had the incredible opportunity of being invited to play along with Chris Hadfield, Commander of the International Space Station, at Music Monday celebrations at Science World.

The Lynn Valley Jazz Band won the Most Inspiring Jazz Ensemble award at the Kiwanis Jazz Festival at Capilano University. One of the school’s band members also won Most Outstanding Soloist for the second year in a row at that festival.

The Jazz Band has been invited to play at the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival on Saturday June 22nd 1pm at Robson Square.  This is a free venue and open to everyone. Please come down and cheer on this incredible band!

– Submitted by Lynn Valley Elementary School

LV town centre planning: a range of perspectives

UPDATED: June 28, 2013

You’ve seen the signs around the neighbourhood, the pamphlets in your mailbox, and the emails in your inbox. As public consultation regarding the implementation plan for Lynn Valley’s town centre intensifies, a range of views are being expressed from North Vancouver District, informal citizens’ groups as well as individuals, and Mark Sager on behalf of Bosa Devlopments.

Exchanges amongst fellow citizens range from enlightening to heated. Well-presented opinions have the undecided amongst us swinging from one perspective to another and back again. Less helpful are those people who are taking up a post at the entrance to the NVD open houses and encouraging attendees to sign their anti-high rise petition even before they’ve had a chance to go inside and research the information for themselves. (This was the subject of one recent presentation to council by LV resident Dan Ellis.)

At LynnValleyLife our position in this whole process has been to encourage two things: first, that people get engaged in learning about the options and expressing their views; apathy isn’t the path to a healthy neighbourhood. Second, that people engage in debate that is constructive, not inflammatory. Anger is rarely the path to a creative solution.

To that end, we asked our readers to give us their response to the earlier implementation plans that included mixed housing, including high-rise towers, and a variety of public amenities. We published all the responses we received; they were well thought out and make for good reading.

Now that a new consultation round is under way, there are a range of individuals expressing their considered views. Two very different perspectives  are expressed by longtime Lynn Valley community volunteer John Gilmour, whose recent email describes why he sees the proposals as a great chance to create a “multi-use lifestyle centre,”  and by the anonymous author of this tract,  which is being distributed online and around the neighbourhood and calls the proposals a form of gentrification.

The “StopHiRises” citizen activist group is decided in its views and its eagerness to get more signatories to their petition, which demands a cap of five storeys on future building in the valley. Recently, a supporter of the tower-inclusive development proposal published his views on a “Lynn Valley Revival” website of his own; it includes a page of letters from other residents supportive of building up, not out.

Fortunately, amongst the divergent voices there are some resources available that will help you make up your own mind. The North Vancouver District “Identity” website has been made easier to navigate in the past view days, and includes a “Frequently Asked Questions” document that gives an excellent background to the debate (and explains why more homes need to be built in the first place).

The Identity website has links to the display boards and models from the open houses, and to an online feedback form that is available until July 5. Under Step #4, they have also linked relevant documents, such as the aforementioned FAQ as well as the recently released Lynn Valley traffic study that will show the impact of density on traffic flow in the neighbourhood.

At time of writing, there is one more DNV open house at which to see the models in person and to ask questions of the District planning staff. We’ve been to two of the four open houses, and are pleased to see that they seem to have been well attended by a mix of people. The last one is at Argyle Secondary on Wednesday, June 12 from 6 to 9:30 p.m.

 

Town centre proposal can bring vitality, says Gilmour

 

This email was sent by John Gilmour to LynnValleyLife and to many of the other Lynn Valley citizens in his network. We have reproduced it here to illustrate our story about the divergent views being expressed in the neighbourhood. Please see our story for links to background information and different perspectives.

As you may know, I am a big supporter of the Lynn Valley Town Centre redevelopment as a “Mixed-use Lifestyle Centre” concept with lots of community amenities.

A community developed in South Surrey by Larco called Morgan Crossing, has some videos on it’s web site, that explain the type of potential Lynn Valley has:

The month ahead may be our last chance to have a say on how Lynn Valley will re-develop and retrofit over the next 20 – 30 years in regard to building form, character and particularly height.  It’s all about the trade-offs.  The more open space we want, the taller a few of the buildings will have to be.  Despite the fact that the OCP was passed unanimously in 2011, height was not stipulated.  So now is the time to make that choice.   I don’t think anyone is against redevelopment of the town centre, it’s just a matter of what height.

Open the web site by clicking on the link and you can review the plans and see the various options.  There are 4 of them.  Option A, B, C & D.

In my opinion:

  • Option A – not enough open space and amenities. Streets are shadowed all day every day.
  • Option B – still not enough open space
  • Option C – gives quite a bit more open space.  Almost as much as option D, but with a few less 16 storey towers (16 stories is the same as the Kiwanis Tower at Whitely Court)
  • Option D – A bit more dense and would give more amenities… including affordable housing and more taxpayers to help share the financial load. (Did you get your property tax bill last week?  More taxpayers means less upward pressure on taxes). Includes one 22 storey building.

Action items:

  1. Attend one of the remaining open houses and vote using the iPad computers on site, or
  2. Use your computer at home to vote on the options, or
  3. If you are still undecided, the DNV has offered to hold small group meetings in the community regarding the proposals.  If you would like to attend a small group meeting, please let me know  and I will arrange one.

Either way don’t miss this opportunity to have a say.

Regards,

John Gilmour

(speaking on behalf of myself and not any group that I am a member of…)

C: 604-808-1171

 

LVL-sponsoring realtor to speak at RBC retirement planning event

Ever wondered what your Lynn Valley home is worth, and what choices you might make for downsizing in this neighbourhood? And how to best use your freed-up capital to create an ongoing income stream?

LynnValleyLife-sponsoring realtor Jim Lanctôt and Jeffrey Smithson, RBC financial planner, will address these questions and more at an upcoming seminar hosted by RBC Financial Services. As you’ll see below, the food is good and the seating is limited, so scroll down for details on how to RSVP asap!

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Interesting online option for sharing town centre views

We’ve been promoting the two most recent opportunities presented for Lynn Valley residents to get involved in shaping Lynn Valley’s future – those are the NVD June Open Houses, and Mark Sager’s Bosa-sponsored storefront in Lynn Valley Centre.

It’s our hope that everyone made or will make the effort to attend one of these forums – especially given the importance of the issues, and as we know there are a variety of strong views out there in the neighbourhood!

But regardless of how you learn about some of the options for future development, there are different ways to share your feedback. One of them is a great online tool that asks you about your priorities and preferred “looks” for the village area, and gives visual examples  you can choose from to best illustrate your likes and dislikes.

Please click here for instructions on filling out the online or paper-based feedback form – this stage of input ends on July 5. That’s a month away, but it will be a busy month, so don’t put it off!

Coach Janet’s Top 5 tips for delivering legendary customer service

If you have customers, you are in the customer service business. The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer base through delivering legendary customer service. Over 80 per cent of all sales in North America originate from the recommendations of satisfied customers. Dedicating yourself to excellent customer service is one of the smartest and most profitable things that you can ever do for your business.

 1.   Understand customer expectations

Do you know what’s important to your customers? Very successful salespeople are repeatedly referred to as friends and advisors by their customers. If you can explain the need, want or frustration better than the customer can, they will automatically assume you know how to solve the problem.

 2.   Exceed expectations

Disney calls this delivering a “WOW” experience. You want to be remembered, and it takes a lot for that to happen in the eyes of a customer. Expectations are high. Even if you are dealing with a complaint make it a “WOW” experience. Organizations are often remembered for how they deal with difficult situations more than how they perform on a daily basis. If you are not exceeding customer expectations then you are just like every other business out there.

 3. Create customer service systems

Set out to create internal systems that enable the consistent delivery of legendary customer service. Create simple processes, policies and tools to support the delivery of your quality service standards. Processes should never be hassles; they should be designed to remove barriers to providing legendary service.

 4. Make people happy to do business with you

People are predominantly emotional; we are greatly impacted by the warmth, friendliness, cheerfulness and helpfulness of others. Make sure ALL of your staff are capable of making a good first impression within the first 10 seconds of an interaction. It is very difficult to provide a legendary customer experience if YOU are not in a warm, friendly and personable mood.

 5. Do everything to make it right

When you mess up – and you will – how you deal with it will define your business. When faced with an issue, own the issue and promptly do EVERYTHING in your power to make it right. WOW your customer with how you deal with issues and you’ll be forever remembered as an organization that cares. Remember, you are in business not for just this one sale but for the many more to come from that customer in the future.

Janet Bonaguro is a Certified Business Coach with FocalPoint Coaching. She works with business owners and executives in order to improve revenue, profitability, productivity and teamwork. For more information please visit her website; for more of her coaching tips see her Merchant Profile on LynnValleyLife.

June Garden Tips for Lynn Valley

What’s on this month’s garden to-do list? We asked local landscapers Matt and Rob Boyd of Endless Summer Landscaping to give us their top tips for a beautiful yard.

Mulch. It seems to be many landscapers’ philosophy that when all else fails, just go for a thick layer of decorative mulch or rocks. It gives a clean look and hides a multitude of landscaping failures. Mulch is also a relatively cheap material to purchase. There are a million types of mulching materials, including natural sources like fallen leaves, and you can get creative.

Outdoor lighting. Most people assume outdoor lighting means solar lights along the driveway, but there are many ways to incorporate lighting outside, including candles, lanterns hung from trees, and others. For a unique look, DIY Network dresses up a plain strand of lights with aluminum screening.

Pots. While we acknowledge a large collection of pots can be expensive, it encourages people to buy one or two a year over time to create an impressive display.

Annuals planting. You can start to plant your favorite selection of annuals to bring colour and life to all your garden beds.

Trim Perennials. Trim up and divide your perennials to get ready to complement your annuals.

Lynn Valley Day 2013 was a blast!

– photo courtesy Sonia McDiarmid

Well, we had a great time at Lynn Valley Day, and we hope you did, too! To judge by the smiles in the crowd and the happy participants in the LVL games and races, Lynn Valleyites know better than to let a little rain dampen their spirits.

From the Friday night gala, to the pancake breakfast, parade, displays, crafts, races, carnival rides, concerts and more, Lynn Valley Days 2013 was a wonderful celebration of community. Thank you so much to the host organizations (Lynn Valley Lions and the Lynn Valley Community Association), the extra volunteers who stepped up, the incredible merchant sponsors who make the event possible, and everyone else who went the extra mile to make this day something to be proud of.

Take a minute to check out our online photo album, and submit some of your own shots to us if you have a favourite you’d like to share!

Town centre feedback invited at June open houses

As promised, North Vancouver District has expanded the time frame for public consultation on the issue of how the municipality’s Official Community Plan will be implemented in Lynn Valley town centre.

We hope that people will share their views and bring their ideas to the table. You can visit the North Vancouver District booth at Lynn Valley Day, and attend one of the four open house events that are taking place in our neighbourhood from between June 1 and 12. Online feedback will also be collected. All details for engaging in the process are here.

Once options are explored over the spring and summer months, the vision will be narrowed down in the fall to preferred option(s) that will be put before NVD council for their consideration.

We’ve already reported on Mark Sager’s invitation to give your thoughts about the Bosa redevelopment of the mall area, and this will be ongoing up to and including Lynn Valley Day. Read this post for information about Mark’s storefront in the mall.

There have never been so many opportunities to share your thoughts, Lynn Valley, so we encourage you to get out there and have your opinions registered!

 Here’s some information from the NVD Identity website: