A group opposed to the 77-acre truck parking and washing development in at 192nd Street has a public meeting with several experts speaking against the project.
Sunday’s meeting is at Residents in the area have formed the group Friends of Hazelmere Campbell Valley to help stop the proposal. Registration starts at 12:45 p.m.
Residents in South Surrey and surrounding communities are joining forces to help stop the City of Surrey from building a massive 77-acre commercial truck parking facility in an ecologically sensitive area.
“We think it’s irresponsible to take agricultural land, which drains into an important salmon and trout spawning river, and turn it into a commercial truck parking facility,” said Brian Coote, of Friends of Hazelmere Campbell Valley, the group organizing Sunday’s community meeting. “Parking hundreds of trucks on this land would cause pollutants and chemicals to drain into the Little Campbell River, one of the most productive steelhead rivers in the Lower Mainland. The damage would be irreparable.”
Residents in the area have formed the group Friends of Hazelmere Campbell Valley to help stop the proposal and find an alternative location.
Concerns include risk to the watershed and the Brookswood aquifer which provides drinking water for Langley and Surrey, salmon and other animal habitat, the needs of Surrey truckers to have legal, affordable parking, and municipal laws regarding habitat and environmental protection.
There are several speakers.
* David Klassen on the challenges of regional truckers. He’s a former member and Transportation Committee chair, Unifor, Local 114.
* Kevin Mitchell about the consequences of industrialization along 16th Avenue corridor. He is a professional engineer with 33 years of experience in engineering and technology management. He was nominated for the 2014 Environmental Hero award.
* Grant Rice will speak on food security highest and best use of land and is a founding member of the Surrey Urban Farmers Market in 2008 and a presenter at the Food Matters forum at Kwantlen University. He has a masters degree in Urban Studies from SFU.
* Jim Armstrong on stormwater management in sensitive ecosystems. The former technical lead at Metro Vancouver for the Regional Integrated Stormwater Management Plan is also involved in the Boundary Bay Assessment and Monitoring Program, is a current director of Nicomekl Enhancement Society, and the DFO salmon enhancement habitat advisory board, Fraser Valley Watershed Coalition.
* John Werring’s topic is the need for, and value of, public engagement. He’s a biologist with the David Suzuki Foundation; senior science and policy advisor; and author of High & Dry: an Investigation of Salmon Habitat Destruction in BC. He investigated salmon habitat destruction in Campbell Heights
* Bob Donnelly will address provincial bbligations on truck parking and protecting the environment. He is president of the Semiahmoo Fish & Game Club and Little Campbell Hatchery.