Editor: Why should Township residents care if Surrey’s 77-acre truck stop goes ahead?
“What truck stop?”
You know, the one at 16 Avenue and 194 Street; next to the Little Campbell River and Fish Hatchery. To many residents, it’s “the llama farm,” right on top of the Brookswood aquifer.
That aquifer provides drinking water for many residents in Township.
And it won’t be just anywhere on the aquifer, but right over a recharge area, so that any spills have a high risk of contaminating both the salmon stream and your drinking water.
How likely is it that contaminants will be present?
The proposed plan includes truck washing and maintenance facilities, including oil fluid changes.
The developers are proposing a strata style of ownership so managing the facility becomes very difficult. Imagine up to 600 owners all denying responsibility for a spill. Surrey Coun. Tom Gill, the councillor pushing for this facility at this location has stated that Surrey will not be responsible for spill cleanup.
He says that is the job of the province. We are still waiting to hear what the province has to say about that.
If Surrey goes ahead with this truck facility in that location the pressure on the Township to accept transforming 16 Avenue into a four-lane highway, carrying more than its share of truck traffic, including over-height trucks and trucks transporting dangerous goods, becomes very hard to resist.
If you think that having 16 Avenue as a four-lane highway is going to make your commute faster and easier, think again.
It will mean more and bigger trucks, at an increased maximum speed limit of 70 or 80 km/h.
This is just the beginning of the story as to why Township residents should care if Surrey’s truck stop goes ahead.
Check out the following websites for more information and upcoming events:
www.casalangley.org
www.fhcv.org
If you want to help stop the Surrey truck stop, contact Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner and the Surrey city council at: clerks@surrey.ca
Kevin Mitchell,
CASA – Community Around
Sixteenth Avenue