2 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEB. 4, 2016 EDITOR KEVIN UNDERHILL tlarge Residents attached to Sexsmith memory With the old Sexsmith school slated for demoli- tion, residents make final plea for posterity By ANNA TILLEY serve the older J.W. Sexsmith E]- ementary School building that is facing demolition. The demolition of the 104-year-old building located on the 7400 block of Ontario Street is scheduled to happen by March 31 and will be converted to grass fields for schoo] and community use. The Facebook group, South Vancou- ver Changes, argued against the demo- lition and wants a tribute of some kind on the land. Ron Todman, a member of the Face- book group and South Vancouver resi- dent attended Sexsmith in the 1970s. He has fond memories of playing sports and attending community activities in the field but said that preserving the school might not be worth the price. Todman, however, agrees that ac- knowledging the school would be a good idea. “Maybe a picture of the old school in the new one or a little plaque,” he said. Although it’s difficult to confirm whether all heritage buildings deserve preservation, “it is always reasonable for communities to fight for what is im- portant to them,” said Kathryn Mor- row, communications manager of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. “While heritage projects can be more expensive on paper, there is also significant value in retaining irreplace- able historic building materials, along with the cultural value significant buildings represent to the community,” Morrow said. Janet Fraser, a Vancouver school board trustee, supports acknowledging the school and is aware of heritage im- portance, but said they don’t always have the mechanism to save all of the heritage schools. Alternative proposals for the build- ing were looked at but were unsuccess- ful, as renovating for safety was too expensive. “The challenge is that you have an old building that’s not earthquake safe. When looking at how to provide a safe school, it was cheaper to buy a new school than to renovate the old one,” Fraser said. Before the demolition of Sexsmith Elementary, the school board staff will check for any heritage artifacts to save. Geri: members want to pre- ANNA TILLEY photo The old Sexsmith building is slated for demolition by March 31, 2016. ASHLEY SINGH photo While visiting Sunset neighbourhood last month, Kajol Jattan had her car broken into. Stolen goods included sunglasses and change. Auto crime worries locals Theft from cars a growing issue for Sunset neighbourhood residents By ASHLEY SINGH fter 41 reported cases of auto break-ins in the past four weeks across South Vancouver, resi- dents are concerned about how safe they are in their neighbourhoods. According to a Vancouver Police De- partment crime map, Sunset neigh- bourhood and_ Victoria-Fraserview have become hotspots for theft from vehicles. Last year there were 248 cas- es reported in Sunset and 216 cases re- ported in the Victoria-Fraserview area. These numbers are high enough to be considered an issue for South Van- couver residents and a problem Van- couver Community College student Kajol Jattan is well aware of. About a month ago, Jattan’s vehicle was broken into while she was visiting a friend in the Sunset area. “T was shocked when I came out and saw my car, the passenger side window was completely smashed,” Jattan said, adding that stolen goods included loose change and a pair of sunglasses. Jattan decided not to report the incident. “We just didn’t see the point in doing that.” Gagan Sanghera, a resident from the Sunset area, has also had her fair share of experiences with vehicles being bro- ken into. Last month Sanghera was awoken in the middle of night by loud sounds coming from outside. “It sounded like gunshots, but when I looked out through the window I saw someone trying to break into a car,” Sanghera said. “I’m definitely con- cerned for my safety, this happened right outside of my bedroom.” Const. Brian Montague from the VPD said the police can’t be every- where and that the best way to catch offenders is by having residents in- volved in block watch programs. “We have many enforcement strate- gies such as the Bait Car and crime watch programs and crime teams, but we try to educate the public on how not to be a target because many cases of theft from auto can be preventable,” he said. Montague also said that the police educate people by reminding them not to leave anything valuable in their ve- hicles. 66 I’m defi- nitely concerned for my safety, this happened right out- side of my bedroom. GAGAN SANGHERA SUNSET RESIDENT Aquifer limits Oakridge expansion Developers scale back Oakridge Centre development after recent testing reveals extent of water table MAJOR changes HM Decreasing in size to 3.5 million from 4.6 million square feet. HE Moving proposed roof-top parking to street level. ME sReducing the num- ber of residential units available. HM sless underground parking due to aquifer. ME The decrease in square footage is a 25 per cent reduction from the original plan. HM oOver 2,000 fewer parking spots. HE Construction is now aiming to begin in 2017. Source: Ivanhoe Cambridge By ROBERTO TEIXEIRA panding Oakridge Centre said it is scaling back its major develop- ment project because the cost of build- ing on top of the existing aquifer would be significantly more than anticipated. Roger Beckie, the department head of groundwater hydrology and geo- chemistry at UBC, said late discoveries like this are quite common in major de- velopment projects. “They probably bet their initial plans on partial information, which is quite common in big engineering works that involves geotechnical as- pects because it’s not easy to see what’s down there,” said the UBC under- ground water expert. Last month, it was announced that because of the aquifer discovery below the construction site, the project would decrease in size from 4.6 million square feet to 3.5 million square feet. Revi- sions include fewer parking spaces and a decrease in residential units. The reason is purely economical. “T assume what happened is when {Ivanhoé Cambridge] started testing the sub-surfaces they probably found that the aquifer is more permeable than expected and that’s probably what tipped the scale,” he said. “If the aquifer is really permeable, then a lot of water is going to want to rush into the construction site. And making sure that the excavation is dry Te: real estate agency that is ex- is an expensive challenge,” Beckie said. “The foundation of the building would have to be watertight and they would have to manage the water that wants to come in and that is expensive as well.” In a statement, Susan Nicol, general manager of Ivanhoé Cambridge, con- firmed that the costs would increase if the project went ahead as originally planned. “Working within the aquifer would entail costly and unconventional con- struction techniques that the project team recommended be avoided,” she said. If city hall approves the project, con- struction will begin in 2017. ROBERTO TEIXEIRA photo Neighbourhood residents can prepare for a new-look Oakridge in 2017.