T-shirts help kids with nut allergies /25
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006

Cats drowned Glasses by Swift donated by Current /8 Lions /13

Robin Williams returns with Man of the Year /17

$1.00 (HOME DELIVERED: 59 CENTS A DAY)

Housing starts reach new high
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff The Prince George homebuilding industry enjoyed its most productive third quarter since the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation began collecting statistics, says a CMHC market analyst. "A total of 96 single-detached homes were started between July and September, the busiest third quarter on record going back to 1988," Andy Ni said Tuesday. This year's third-quarter figure for starts on single-family homes was up 14 per cent from the 84 recorded during the same three months last year, the CMHC said. "The ongoing low interest rates and strong labour market in the region have underpinned the confidence among both homebuyers and homebuilders," Ni said. "More housing starts will increase housing supply in Prince George, give more choices to consumers and eventually bring the market to more balanced conditions." Construction also started on projects totalling 29 multiple-housing units in the city during the third quarter of this year, up from two during the third quarter of 2005, according to CMHC statistics. Most of the multiple starts came from phase three and four of the Asher Place seniors residence on Hopkins Road, Ni said. When single-family and multipleunit housing starts figures are combined, statistics indicate a total of 125 housing starts between July 1 and Sept. 30, an increase of 45 per cent over the 86 noted during the third quarter of last year, Ni said. -- See ACTIVITY on page 3

Mining claims soar
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff The detection of "significant" signs of gold and copper in a geological survey in the beetle-killed timber area of central B.C. has sparked a wave of claim-staking. Nearly 450 claims totalling about 170,000 hectares have been staked by 40 companies and individuals including heavyweights like Teck Cominco and Phelps Dodge. Junior companies like Rimfire Minerals and Serengeti Resource have also got in on the action. Most of the claim activity has been in an area south of Vanderhoof and east of the north end of Tweedsmuir Park, which is one of the centres of the beetle epidemic. Communities have been looking at ways -- with the help of the B.C. government -- to diversify their communities' economies in preparation for a decline in forestry activity because the timber supply will drop in the wake of the beetle epidemic. Mining, as well as oil and gas development, will be part of that strategy, so the results from the geological survey, as well as the industry response, are good signs, Vanderhoof mayor Len Fox said Tuesday. "It gives us some real hope in terms of future economies," said Fox. But he cautioned that the survey results and the industry response is still a long way from the reality of a mine starting up. Fox also noted that since it's an area that has a lot of overburden -- glacial deposits and volcanic rock -- it's expensive to explore, which leaves a question of how much exploration activity there will be. The survey was funded by Geoscience B.C., a non-profit agency set up with a $25 million start-up grant by the B.C. government in the spring of 2005. Geoscience B.C. has tried to fill in gaps in geological information in the province, in this case, specifically focusing on an area hit hard by the beetle epidemic. The survey was conducted over 19,500 square miles, with samples of lake sediment and water samples taken every 13 square kilometers. Nearly 2,000 samples were taken, and gold values of 694 parts per billion and copper values of 1,536 parts per billion were detected. -- See INDUSTRY on page 3

Citizen photo by David Mah

QUAD CAPERS -- Brody Adams, 15, and Bryan Allen, 7, went for a quad ride together Tuesday along Foothills in the hilly region behind the old North Nechako elementary.

LIVE ree!
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FOR A YEAR

Trustees juggle classroom size limits
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff There are 16 classes in School District 57 that break the B.C. government's classroom size limits, while 87 secondary classes and 22 elementary classes break the ceiling of three special needs students. At a special meeting Tuesday night, the numbers and the reasons were p r e s e n te d to t h e s c h o o l b o a r d . Trustees had to be appraised of the situation and approve of the district's actions on the exception classes in order to comply with Bill 33, the government's new set of laws for class sizes and composition. "There is no cap on the number of special needs students in a class," explained district superintendent Brian Pepper. "What exists is a process of consultation when a class exceeds (three), to ensure the needs of (that class) are met." In all the cases of classes with more than three special needs students, the teachers and principals involved have met and agree the situation is satisfactory, trustees were told. Regarding overall class size, Pepper informed trustees that not a single classroom in Grades 4 to 7 contained more than 30 kids. (Preexisting district limits already capped the size of classes in kindergar ten t hrough Grade 3.) "There are 16 classes containing more than 30 students in Grade 8 to 12," Pepper said. "In these instances we needed to consult with teachers and have meaningful discussions about each of these classrooms in this situation." In all cases, a satisfactory rationale was arrived at whereby teachers and administrators agreed to accept the larger class instead of other alternatives. Each of these classes were identified for the public in the district's report to trustees. College Heights secondary had four oversize classes (English 11, Principals of Math 10, Band 9-12, Chemistry 11), the largest being 33. Lakewood Junior secondary had a Physical Education 8-10 class at 32. Mackenzie secondary had a P.E. 8 and a P.E. 9 class each at 32. John McInnis secondar y had a Math 10 Honours class at 31 students. Prince George secondary had a Law 12 class and a Math 12 class each at 31. D.P. Todd had six classes over the ceiling (Band 11/12, Band 10, Leadership 11, Leadership 12, English 12 and P.E. 8). In most cases, Pepper explained, the teachers themselves requested the oversize situation. In some cases, such as the 49 kids in D.P. Todd's Band 11/12 class, the size was seen as an asset to the program. Likewise, the 41 students taking the Leadership 12 class. These were the largest overages in the district. In other cases, the extra student or two (11 of the 16 oversized classes were either one or two kids past the mark) was the only option available or it avoided splitting specialized classes like Honours Math that were better off working together. "I think it is excellent that in a district this size we only have 16 classes over 30 students, and each has been reviewed, and appropriate consultation has been done with the teacher," said school board chair Bill Christie. Approval of the report accepting all the oversize situations was given unanimously by trustees.

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 27 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . .3,5,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 18-21 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 17 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,15

Public forum to explore neighbourhood plan
Citizen staff A public open house will be held next week for a neighbourhood plan for the 674-hectare University Heights area in southwest Prince George. The open house will be held on Oct. 18 at the Civic Centre from 7 to 9 p.m. Neighbourhood plans are required for developments greater than 40 hectares and are meant to provide a long-range vision of what's in store for the land. The area is located between UNBC and Highway 16 West, with the neighbourhood to fall on both sides of Tyner Boulevard. A draft plan calls for 2,320 single-family homes over 232 hectares, and a further 1,320 multiplefamily units over 44 hectares -- enough housing for 10,724 people spread over 41 per cent of the area. A further 24 hectares, or 3.6 per cent, is designated for commercial and 25 per cent would consist of greenspace. The process was initiated by the sale of 230hectares of city-owned land within the area to Vancouver-based BFW Development Corp. A further 135 hectares lies within the Lhiedli T'enneh's treaty lands. The remainder is owned by a dozen groups and individuals. More information, including the complete draft plan, can be found at t he city's website, www.city.pg.bc.ca. Click on the link to the University Heights neighbourhood plan on the home page.

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