Dear Editor,
The Surrey City council has decided that within a special “study area “ in the Hazelmere Valley, there should be a parking lot and service centre for 1,000 diesel transport trucks.
It is a pristine valley that is not only one of the most biologically diverse ecological zones in the province, but is, according to information available on the City of Surrey’s own website, a virtual heritage site from one end to the other.
And it just so happens that ‘a river runs through it’.
It is the delicate Campbell River which meanders its way from its headwaters which merge with the planned diesel park, to a picturesque outflow to the sea, through the Semiahmoo Nation in White Rock.
Some of the councillors say the need is critical because otherwise trucks will be illegally parked elsewhere.
They are the very ones that have outlawed every other attempt by residents with acreage to park trucks, even within the 1,900-acre Campbell Heights Industrial Park, and on acreages along the Pacific Highway corridor (176th Street), from the border all the way to Cloverdale.
Could it be that rezoning pristine agricultural land rings in at a price the developers can afford?
You may wonder why, with all of the heavy transport rolling along Highway 1, the South Fraser Perimeter Road, Port Kells, North Langley and Aldergove, there would not be interest to serve the trucking industry in a more central location?
This is heavy industry that they are pushing for, and it is noteworthy that council now refers to the Hazelmere Valley as the South Campbell Heights area, as if it were a natural extension of that light industrial park.
Imagine, heavy industry, in this ecological paradise, which is one of the largest bird migratory routes in the province.
South Surrey, South Langley and White Rock are a precious and easily accessible recreational and natural resource, enjoyed by those who live here and visited by hundreds of thousands of people who walk, swim, paddle board, bike, ride horses, or just simply take in the beauty of its wild life throughout the region.
Another course must be chosen.
Dave Wasmuth,
Campbell Valley