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Metro Vancouver may end up scaling back on any future waste to energy facility.

Chair Greg Moore says food waste collection programs have vastly cut down on the amount of garbage going to landfills.

The most recent report says that rather than dealing with half a million tonnes per year, any facility could be looking at between 250 and 400 thousand tonnes.

Abbotsford Councillor Patricia Ross has been a firm opponent to any waste to energy facility.

She says the concern about a smaller scale project is that it might not be subject to the same standards.

“There’s a certain threshold where, if they’re below that threshold they don’t have to go through a full on environmental assessment process, and it wouldn’t necessarily be very public.”

She also says regardless of size any waste to energy building is still a source of pollution.

Chilliwack city staff will be delivering the 2012 financial plan bylaw to council this afternoon, and what they’re recommending is a 3.44% property tax increase.  Chilliwack Mayor Sharon Gaetz says the policing budget went up this year by 6%, so besides the cost adjustment, they will be adding an additional officer, an information officer, and exhibit staff support.  They will also be adding 2 more firefighters, there will be additions in transit including new buses, and of course, road rehabilitation will be a big one.  They will also be putting money away for equipment for the new Sardis Library.

“It’s a plan that meets the goals and objectives that council set for ourselves and for the city.  It reflects a re-investment in infrastructure. It funds all of our projects without debt, which I think is really important to the city….we have a “pay as you go” philosophy.  It increases service levels and amenities and maintains our low taxation levels.  As most people here know, we are on the bottom end of taxation in the lower mainland.”

It should be noted that garbage collection will also be going up 4%.
The 3.44% increase at this point is just a proposal, being recommended by staff.  As usual, the public will have an opportunity to view the budget in it’s entirety, and will have a couple of weeks to contact the City, Mayor or Councillors with any questions or concerns.
It will be available online after today on the city’s website:   www.chilliwack.com

It appears there will be no environmental impact after a semi truck collided with a pickup and spilled diesel on the road east of Chilliwack.  The accident happened around 9:30 yesterday morning on Hwy 9 just off Hwy 1.  The right hand side of the semi was ruptured and approx. 140 litres of diesel was spilled.  That’s less than the 400-500 litres that was originally reported.  The road was closed for several hours to facilitate the cleanup, but we’re told by Fraser Valley Traffic that there is and there will be no environmental impact from the spill.  There were no serious injuries in the accident.

About a dozen people got up to speak last night at the public hearing in Abbotsford for Chances’ application for a liquor license.
All but one spoke in favour of allowing it. One resident exclaimed that he didn’t need Council to make moral decisions for him, while another quite bluntly told Council to “get into the 21st century, mind your own freaking business, and don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

Council gave the application second and third reading, with Councillor Simon Gibson the lone opposing vote.
He says Council was elected to stand up for the values they believe in.

“If it was the case that council members would simply support everything that came forward, then we wouldn’t need a council.  All we need is bureaucrats or staff.  Although I realize that sometimes we can be subject to criticism, I think it’s important that we stand up for what we believe in.”

Gibson also voted against revisiting the issue of adding more slot machines.
However the rest of council decided to have another look, and at a future meeting they’ll vote once again on whether to go to public hearing on that.

Investigators are saying the body found in a field near Farmer road was the victim of a homicide.

Sergeant Jennifer Pound of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says they still don’t have a lot of details.

“We still have yet to identify the deceased. An autopsy will be done so hopefully that will shed some light onto what happened such as how this homicide occurred, how long the deceased has been in that area”

Pound says the victim is a man between 20 and 30 years old but they haven’t identified him yet.

She says it’s too early to tell whether this was a targeted killing.

Fraser Valley Traffic Services are looking for witnesses to a crash that left a 46 year old Chilliwack man with two broken legs.

Police were called out Friday night around quarter to midnight to Highway one near Lickman road.

A 2010 Ford Fusion in the westbound lane had rolled end over end, sliding into the median on its roof.

The driver was thrown out of the car but is in stable condition at Royal Columbia Hospital.

Anyone with any information is asked to call 604-702-4039.

Chilliwack’s downtown task force will be submitting their recommendations to Council on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Starlee Renton says the City had created a downtown land use and development plan a couple of years ago.
However Renton says that document was a 30 year plan.

“Council created the task force to see if they could speed up their realization of that plan.  Some of the recommendations are already happening, like continuing to foster a vibrant atmosphere downtown with various events, while others are going to take longer.”

Renton says the 20 recommendations range from marketing to land development to addressing unsightly premises.  She says not all of them will be approved right away…some will require further analysis.

The much talked about backlog in the BC court system is especially evident in Chilliwack, where the NDP claim the average delay for a court date is 16 months.
Chilliwack MLA John Les admits there is definitely a problem.

“It’s interesting in that we have fewer cases going to court than we have had before.  Our crime rates are down significantly, and yet we have these backlogs in court.”

Chilliwack-Hope NDP candidate Gwen O’Mahony says the issue dates back to when the Liberals took office.

“What we’re really seeing is the result of a decade of severe cuts, and simply just ignoring the issue altogether….not giving our court system any attention whatsoever.”

Solicitor General critic Kathy Corrigan says the problem is that we have fewer judges around the province than we did in 2005, as well as fewer sheriffs.   She says there have been deep cuts and no additions within the system.

Les says he won’t speculate until the results of a government report come in.

Homicide investigators have now been called in after a man’s body was discovered in Abbotsford yesterday morning.
A man was driving along Farmer Road near Mackenzie and spotted the body in a field at about 9:30am.
Constable Ian Macdonald says things look suspicious, so that’s why IHIT has taken over the investigation.

“On the surface of it, for an adult man to be found on a property that he has no attachment to, metres away from the roadway and deceased…that in and of itself is enough to deem it suspicious.”

An autopsy will be done to identify the body, as well as determine a cause of death.

Premier Christy Clark was back in the valley yesterday.  She was touring Agassiz and Rosedale with the local byelection candidate Laurie Throness.  Throness says they met with local business owners, and he didn’t hear too much in the way of complaints.

“We didn’t hear a lot about change….we heard a lot about satisfaction.  A lot of satisfaction that they are having well paying jobs, knowledge based jobs, engineering jobs, and that’s the kind of thing that we are trying to replicate across the province.”

Clark re-iterated that having the BC Conservatives running in this riding could have a big impact on the outcome.

“People who care about free enterprise, who care about creating jobs, keeping our economy moving, strengthening families…people who care about that, need to be supporting Laurie Throness.   Because if the vote splits in this community, you’re going to have an NDP MLA out here, and I don’t think that’s what most people in Chilliwack want.”

We asked her once again when the by-election would be called, but once again, she was non-committal.  She says the budget will be delivered on Tuesday and debated for 3 weeks, so considering a campaign would take 28 days, a representative from the riding wouldn’t be able to debate the budget anyhow.

When the by-election IS called, and it has to happen before the summer, Throness’ opponents will be Gwen O’Mahony (NDP) and John Martin (BC Conservatives).