FHCA meeting minutes, January 30, 2019

Posted on February 12, 2019 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

January 30, 2019

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA met four times a year in the past to discuss issues that affect our community but we are now meeting 3 times per year to minimize costs (meeting dates at end of minutes).
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free and open to all residents. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member). You will receive three notifications and three reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

Treasurer’s report: The report was given with current financial status – $1,888.67

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was not able to attend tonight (Community Response Unit). In his place, Corporal Teri Leslie attended to present the policing report. You can contact Sgt. Mike Spencer or Corporal Teri Leslie through the following email address: fleetwood@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Specific officers can access this email to insure your issue is dealt with in a timely manner. Mike can also be reached at: mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca and voicemail messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396 if your concerns are not urgent. If urgent, dial 911.

Please note the District 2 office has been closed since a sewage line ruptured in August 2018 and a re-opening date has not yet been announced.
Dec 15 to Jan 15 police report for Fraser Heights:

2 Break & Enter
2 theft of vehicles. Older models easier to steal. Do not leave your cars warming up with keys left in cars.
12 theft from vehicles (coins, electronics etc., taken) – thieves are in and out of cars quickly so they’re difficult to catch. Glenwood area had the highest number of these crimes
Car jacking Jan 15 in FH (2 more elsewhere in Surrey) near 155 St and 109A Ave. Female was in her driveway with her white 2016 Jeep Cherokee. Guns were involved in this car jacking. If you see this vehicle with plates 605 KMP, call it in so police can locate vehicle (the plates have probably been changed). Suspects have been identified and one of the 3 vehicles stolen was recovered. It was reported that there was a suspicious white SUV Nissan or Santa Fe parked nearby. If they have gun, give car over and call 911. Police say, when you get home, park your car and go into your home. Do not sit in car on cell phone.

Police mentioned that a lot of the offenders (theft from auto) that are caught are repeat offenders and are eventually released. Police do not do forensics unless valuable clues such as blood are left at the scene.
More police presence was requested in FH. Video surveillance can be valuable for police if you see something suspicious on your home security video feed, provide the information to the police.
A resident asked if there was a ring operating here. Since criminals are so fast and have no set times in which they target cars, they have been hard to catch. This is happening all over Surrey with a higher concentration in South Surrey.
A resident mentioned unhygienic trash (e.g., condoms), liquor bottles and drug deals happening on 164 St north of 112 Ave (on the outer west edge of North Slope Buffer Park – green space that is on the east side of 164 in that area). She reported it to police but was asked to give license plate numbers. Since she doesn’t walk there at night, it would be helpful if any residents witnessing suspicious activity in that area report the license plate numbers to police. Call in when it is happening (probably late at night). Put in complaint to City of Surrey for clean up – keep on complaining so City will take note. Also write letter/email to District 2 RCMP (this is a City and police issue) and send a copy to the directors of the FHCA. If the area is made less attractive (cameras, lighting), perpetrators will move on. Ask City what they are doing about the problem. Send exact location.
A Resident mentioned the installation of cameras on the southeast side of the 156 St underpass. This is most likely being done by the City of Surrey to monitor traffic.
A resident mentioned that vehicles are speeding along 104 Ave. (especially between 160 and 164 Streets) and it is hard to cross 104 either in a vehicle or as a pedestrian. Partners in Traffic can be requested to come to measure speed of vehicles. Note – FHCA directors have met with the City about 104 Ave/164 St Intersection and were told there was enough volume of traffic to have a signal light installed there. This area is controlled by City and Province so even though it is in the works, it could take some time before the lights are put in.
Patrols were heavily present in FH Oct/Nov. but it was found that the criminal activity was lighter compared to previous years.
Call non-emergency line if you see something suspicious

Development – residential:

9845 182 A St – 4 lots – no issues with this development

MLA Constituency report by Amna Shah (amna.shah@leg.bc.ca) who spoke on behalf of Garry Begg as he was unable to attend tonight’s meeting. Deanna Fasciani, constituency assistant for Garry Begg, also attended the meeting (Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca)

Constituents can book appointments in advance with Garry Begg by emailing him at begg.mla@leg.bc.ca or by calling his office at 604-586-3747. Constituency office is at #201 15135 101 Ave (in the lot with Wendy’s)
Office – advocacy for constituents and outreach, plus can help connect you to provincial services
Garry’s office deals with provincial matters and he will refer to MP or City of Surrey as necessary
Referrals are made to gov’t services, programs and non-gov’t services
Please contact the office if you are looking for volunteering opportunities
Garry will provide special congratulatory and greeting messages
If you have problems with gov’t forms, Garry’s office can print them, help you fill them out and fax them to the various gov’t offices
There was a Christmas open house in Dec. Several hundred people came out. Note – there will be more events in the future to bring the community together
Deadline and applications – community gaming grants are available for not for profit organizations that benefit the communities. Currently active – Arts provides up to $100,000 a year for regional or provincial – applications get posted Feb 1 to Apr 30. There are other grants posted later in year – check gov.bc.ca This site is especially good for ‘not for profit’ organizations needing money.
Order of BC – if you know of any worthy individuals, ask Garry’s office where to submit the names – March 1 deadline for this year.
Public engagements – gov’t likes feed back on their public consultations such as reviewing money laundering and real estate. The deadline was Jan 31 to give feedback. Submissions had to be emailed on gov’t website – engage.gov.bc.ca. Check this site to see feedback.
Money laundering tip portal – submit any information you might have on luxury cars, horse racing and other forms of suspected money laundering before the Feb 28 deadline (at 4 pm ).
Speculation tax exemption forms for your residences. These should arrive in mail but if you haven’t received yours by end of Feb., contact Garry’s office. The forms will have Declaration code and letter ID numbers on them that you will have to use when applying online. If you do not have a computer or this is too difficult to do, ask Garry’s office or phone 1-833-554-2323. This easy process takes 3 to 10 minutes to do online. If there are two owners of your property, both must declare they are the property owners (each one gets an individual set of numbers). Line at end of declaration letter states, if not received by March 31, you may be charged 0.5% tax. This won’t be charged if you’ve filed and are exempt.
156 new child care spaces are being created in Surrey (these are BC Childcare spaces). Qualified individuals can apply online to work at these Childcare Centres on the BC Childcare website.
The Surrey Urgent Primary Care facility is open and operating on 137^th Street across from Surrey Memorial Hospital. This is for medical visits that are not emergencies such as minor cuts, sprains etc. If individuals are unable to see their family doctors in a reasonable time for a health problem, they can also use this facility.
HOV exit off #1 to 156 St. A resident wants this HOV designation removed so all can use this on/off ramp. It is often policed in rush hour but individual residents and guests to FH have been ticketed using this ramp (it is just for HOV vehicles). Garry’s office will check and see if it is possible to have this exit/onramp changed from HOV so it can be used whether HOV or not.

Traffic – Golden Ears Connector intersections at Hwy 15, exit from Hwy 15

Doug Hyde, Alaina Farmer and Michelle Bell (project managers and technicians) were present at our meeting (they had previously met at Garry Begg’s office with some of the FH Directors)
SFPR opened 2013, Golden Ears construction started 2015, and the interim facility opened 2017. This project has now been funded to complete the work.
There is an elevation change on Hwy 17 but the connector is relatively flat. This route is ½ km shorter than going Highway #1.
The connector passes through 177A and 179 Streets and connects to Golden Ears Way
Design changes – The 104 Ave intersection uses at-grade crossing over CN rail. While the crossing was originally designed at 177A street, due to land ownership issues, the new location will now be shifted 60 meters to the east of the current location. This creates storage for the left turn to Barnston Island, improves traffic off #1 and separates traffic from intermodal yard. It was noted that the number of crossings was monitored, and it was noted that the railway gates went down 93 times in 72 hours due to trains shunting out and going back and forth. The plan is to move the rail crossing slightly to east so there are less “calls” on the railway crossing. CN had said the shunting would be in Thornton yard. FH directors have contacted/attempted to contact CN multiple times about this problem but it has not been resolved.
Pedestrians and Cyclists will have their own railway gate so they can connect to the multiuse pathway.
Currently, 179 Street intersection has centre median barriers and no railway signal pre-emption so it is unsafe to make turns. When the sensor recognizes train coming, the left turn movement cannot go, as they would obstruct the connector. When a traffic light is installed at the intersection, opening to full movement traffic – right/left turns and a long left turn queue – should entice lumber mill to use 179 St access rather than 104 Ave so there would be fewer “calls” on the railway system. Prior to installation of the light, there is the need to re-orient the usage of the intersection.
Anticipated construction schedule for this project:
Mid February is the call for tender to get pricing for project
Contract awarded in March
3 months of work anticipated so completion of project should be middle of summer
104 Ave rail crossing – there is an elevation difference between east and west bound rails that could be dangerous to trucks so a rail lift will bring both rails to the same elevation.
Traffic management – in order to do a rail lift, that crossing will have to be closed for a maximum of 72 hours. Traffic for Surrey Bend or Barnston Island will be diverted through Triggs road and connect to 104 Ave. The lumber mill has not yet been approached to see if this is do-able.
CN rail improvements next step;
West bound on connector – there currently is no advance notice of what lane to be in – must be in center lane. Signage will be put in so traffic will know which lane to be in.
A resident made request to make signs bigger (currently, they are up high and too small). Standard ministry signs will be put in place. Road lane markers are needed. Thermoplast will be used (it is a plastic based paint with higher concentration of glass beads) so the lane markers will be more reflective.
A resident mentioned the shadowing of the old lines which show up in rain. It was noted that, as asphalt wears, those shadowed lines disappear.
A resident mentioned – Trucks line up in left turn lane coming from west queuing to go into CN intermodal yards, which causes congestion in getting on to the Connector. It was reported that there will be separation of this from 104 Ave. Currently, they stop at gates so trucks back up. The access will be extended so trucks will be driving further into the yard and less queuing outside.
Left turn both coming west bound on connector and going east bound onto connector – need left turn signal. Light is not long enough, especially when trucks are coming out of Intermodal yard. One truck might get through on a light but not the rest of the traffic. People can’t see the sign across the highway and the one on this side is too high and far back so the first car cannot see it. The cars behind it can and so they sit and honk at the first car.
Trucks run in peak times as they are commissioned to get goods to/from the railway in a specific time frame. It’s the nature of the businesses along the connector.
176 St and 104 Ave – there are so many lights and it’s confusing which light is for which lanes/directions. Need traffic engineer to look at lights as people end up in the wrong lane. Part of solution is signage so people know which lane they should be in. There will be some work on traffic signals to coordinate them.
104 Ave left turn onto Hwy 15 (176 St) – if the 3^rd vehicle is behind two 18 wheelers, they have to wait 3 lights. A dual sensor system is needed to extend left turn light. Even when there are 6 vehicles, the light is not currently extended.
Right turn coming off Hwy 15 northbound on to the Golden Ears connector – timing of this signal needs to change – can wait 3 minutes before can turn. Doug Hyde responded that this will be changed to allow right turn when other light is red – currently no right on red.
With the new traffic lights at 179 St, there will be significant noise from trucks using air brakes to stop for the intersection – what noise mitigation plans are there for nearby residents. Doug Hyde responded that there are no noise mitigation plans in the works. The noise levels that were measured were of background traffic noise, and did not take into account airbrakes or railway.
Airbrakes – signage will say airbrakes should not be used in the area but it is not enforceable.
When vehicles come down 176 St to make right turn to Golden Ears or to Barnston Island – due to signal pre-emption, when train occupying crossing they can’t move into right hand lane. Lots of storage up the hill but they have to wait. CN not very willing to compromise – trains on tracks mean that vehicles have to wait. Vehicle vs. train conflict.
A resident stated that in the News tonight, there was talk about Roberts Bank expanding. Will SFPR be able to handle the added truck traffic? It was noted that trucks tend to use both lanes and have their lights flashing while going up the hill which means regular traffic is not able to get by the trucks. Trucks need to be limited to using only the right lane.

Announcements and Members Concerns

Aerial spraying for gypsy moths in the northwest corner of Fraser Heights from the #1 Hwy and Fraser River (https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018FLNR0328-002345) will occur between April and June 2019 as there were several gypsy moths caught around Dogwood campgrounds and in the ravine nearby. The moths defoliate leafy trees including fruit trees.
Chafer beetle – City has no plans in place to deal with this widespread problem that has affected many areas of Fraser Heights. New West had a program that used Nematodes but Surrey didn’t buy into it as it is a very time-sensitive application that may not work if not handled properly.
104 Ave and 170A St – currently, there is no crossing guard at the flashing pedestrian light. It is dangerous for school children to cross there as the traffic is going fast. The Commissionaires have no crossing guards available. The City said that enforcement of speed was the main issue.
Parkview Place, a project of just short of 100 homes, is under construction (south of 104 Ave between 165 and 167 Streets) – a resident asked if there will be a working light at the entrance to this project. 164 St/104 Ave is slated to get a working traffic light. Once the homes are built, traffic volume testing should be done as most homes will have 2 or more cars.

Meetings for the remainder of the 2018/2019 school year:

May 8, 2019

FHCA Meeting minutes – September 19, 2018

Posted on September 23, 2018 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

September 19, 2018

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA has met four times a year, in the past, to discuss issues that affect our community but we will be meeting 3 times this year (see dates at end of minutes).
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free and open to all residents. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member). You will receive three notifications and three reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

Treasurer’s report: The report was given with current financial status.

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was not able to attend tonight (Community Response Unit). His office is at 10395-148 St. The best way to reach him is through the following email address: fleetwood@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. If Mike is away, other officers can access this email to insure your issue is dealt with. Mike can also be reached at: mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca and voicemail messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396 if your concerns are not urgent. If urgent, dial 911.

Please note the District 2 office has been closed since a sewage line ruptured in August. There has been no given re-opening date and it could still take a few months to make all the repairs.

Trans Mountain (TM) pipeline update, NEB Decision Letter dated August 29, 2018 confirming route through Fraser Heights:

There has been a court hearing that has halted construction
CN and Provincial Ministry of Transportation – Trans Mountain could never get the two together so they made a deal with the City of Surrey as to pipeline location as it runs through Surrey.

Development – residential:

Directors from FHCA met with Ron Gill, head of planning for City of Surrey, in regards to contentious issues such as Parkview Place. Our association wants to be involved up-front rather than have to get a large number of residents to go to council meetings to try to make changes at a later stage in planning. The City now sends potential developers to our association to discuss their plans prior to submitting their proposals to City planning.
9650, 9684 and 9716 182A Street – townhouses are proposed for this site. The group of townhouses facing 182A will look more like single family homes to be a better match for the single family houses across the street. The whole complex will be served by one entrance.
100 Ave at 176 – 77 townhouses will be going in there but building has not yet started.
Our association is making sure the townhouse complexes do not go over the limit of 17 per acre for those sites. Although the City regulations state there must be 1 extra parking space per 5 units, we have insisted there will be 1 extra spot for every 3 units. This should help reduce the number of vehicles parked on the roads.
The developer will hold a public information session about the townhomes. A memo will be sent to those who would like to attend. The location of the info session will most likely be at the Korean church, on 176 St, in their meeting room.
160 St/106A Ave – There is talk of putting in an intersection at this site. When Ruby Hill was being developed, we were assured 106 Ave would not go through to 160 St and now the developers want to put 106A through to 160 St. This is already a very busy location due to the high school, pedestrian light, the Rec Centre entrance off 160 and steady traffic on 160 St. Due to 160 being a 2 lane street, there is no room to put a left turn into the Rec Centre lot (when heading south) nor to put a left turn lane (when heading north) onto 106A Ave. Traffic would become backed up from left turners trying to get into that area. The road curves just south of 106A which would make this a dangerous place to have an entrance/exit onto 160 St.

MLA Constituency report by Deanna Fasciani (email Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca) – constituency assistant for Garry Begg:

Gary was unable to make it to the meeting tonight
Can book appointments in advance with him by emailing him at begg.mla@leg.bc.ca or by calling his office at 604-586-3747. Constituency office is at #201 15135 101 Ave (in the lot where Wendy’s is)
Office – advocacy for constituents and outreach, plus can help connect you to provincial services
Events planned by Garry’s office have been outreach focused for the past few months and the following are events that are planned:

Volunteer appreciation party (by invitation only for those who have volunteered over past year), – Friday Sept 21, 6 p.m. (most volunteers are high school students and seniors).
Mingle – Sept 27 from 4 to 5:30 this is a volunteer orientation for new volunteers – it will be at constituency office
Barbeque – Sat Sept 29 at Erma Stephenson from 12 to 2. Bring your own chair or blanket since seating is limited. Vegetarian and meat options will be available – free to constituents
Pumpkin decorating event on Wed Oct 10 from 4 to 6 at constituency office for children and families. There will be pumpkins available to decorate or bring your own.
BC Summer Games participants – there will be a reception for athletes who competed in the winter and summer games on Fri Oct 12 from 6 to 7:30 at constituency office
Provincial – Oct 11 BC budget consultation at the Sheraton Guildford (104 Ave) 9 to 5 p.m. email committee@leg.bc.ca for more information.
Deanna brought a box of bound printed books for residents to take. Both books are full of excellent information and are available in several languages at the constituency office. –

BC Seniors’ Guide
Healthy Eating for Seniors.

The BC Legislature will be back in session starting Oct 1. Garry will be available here one week in Oct and one week in Nov. He’s currently in Surrey and available to meet with anyone during the rest of September.

Traffic

Golden Ears Connector

GEC and CN intermodal, SFPR and 104 Ave intersection – there has been some prefill dumped in this area but progress appears to be at a stand still. This intersection is very dangerous for those cycling or walking to/from Surrey Bend Park
179 St intersection now has the lights hanging and bagged. The lights are supposed to be put into operation in the fall once the road work is completed.

Announcements

Municipal election – advanced voting is at Guildford on Oct 6, 10, 11 and 13.
There will be a meeting on Oct 4 with candidates. A questionnaire requiring 150 word answers was sent to city council on various issues. The information from the questionnaires will be available before the meeting If anyone wants to attend, let Ed MacIntosh know – he can be reached at directors@fhca.ca
Election is Saturday Oct 20^th 2018 (information available at surrey.ca/election, email election@surrey.ca or phone 604-591-4389.
Some opinions were voiced regarding current City Council and whether we had been well-served with developments such as High Crest and the massive development at Parkview Place, in particular with the retention of foliage and the emphasis on livability. It requires much effort on behalf of the community to keep the density to what has been proposed on neighbourhood plans. We all have to determine if incumbents running for council are shaping the community in a fashion that serves us well.
Examples of other communities that have had densification and retained foliage and livability were described, including Redmond Washington. In Surrey, developers strip the land of all vegetation. With current property prices, it would be a small increment in pricing to ensure we retain the foliage and livability element of our community.
We used to be called “Surrey, the city of Parks” but that no longer is the case.
Residents should elect council who will shape a long-term vision of our community in a fashion to retain the look and feel of the neighbourhood.

Candidates that attended our meeting were Laurie Guerra, Brenda Locke and Steven Pettigrew. They are all running with Doug McCallum on the Safe Surrey Coalition team. Their platform included 3 pillars they all agreed with:

Skytrain instead of LRT
Surrey Police force – RCMP are understaffed. Local police would be integrated into RCMP and the building at Green Timbres will remain. There is a retired RCMP veteran on team. Many RCMP officers would be interested in staying in Surrey on a City police force. There are lots of cost issues to consider such as City police are paid more, they operate with 2 officers per car and their pensions would have to be costed out.
Smart/smarter Development – look at what our communities will look like both for traffic and development in 10 to 15 years from now. We need to have policies and procedures in place and not fast track development as the current council has been doing. The City has grown too fast for the existing infrastructure

Laurie Guerra has lived in Surrey 27 years and most of it in FH
Brenda Locke has lived in the Tynehead area of Surrey for 38 years. She was an MLA from 2001 to 2005. She ran independently in the last election and is interested in looking into the Ward system.
Steven Pettigrew lives in Guildford. He has been a Block Watch captain, on his strata council and he teaches computer programming. He was one of the leaders involved with trying to save Hawthorne Park. He wants to insure parks are given full protection of the law so they aren’t destroyed for development/roads.
The Safe Surrey Coalition has a full slate/team (other members are Doug Elford, Jack Hundial, Mandeep Nagra, Allison Patton, Bableen Rana)
Voters can vote for 8 council members, 6 trustees and 1 mayor
Safesurreycoalition2018 is the Facebook page for their team. You can view an article about Skytrain/LRT on that site.

Meetings for the 2018/2019 school year:

September 19, 2018

January 30, 2019

May 8, 2019

Minutes of May 9 meeting of the Fraser Heights Community Association

Posted on May 19, 2018 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

May 9, 2018

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development.
The FHCA has met four times a year, in the past, to discuss issues that affect our community but will reducing the number of meetings to 3 next year.
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community.
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member). You will receive three notifications and three reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

Treasurer’s report: The balance was not available as our treasurer was absent. It was explained that expenses per year for our association have been around $1,000 for renting the school, paying insurance to hold the meetings in the theatre, paying a student to run the audio/visual, etc. and that the directors do not use any of the money for personal expenses related to attending meetings/open houses etc. – it is all used for the community association. Last year we collected around $200 from the container passed around which was not enough to support our organization for one year.

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was in attendance tonight (Community Response Unit). He is at 10395-148 St. The best way to reach him is through the following email address: fleetwood@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. If Mike is away, other officers can access this email to insure your issue is dealt with. Mike can also be reached at: mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca and voicemail messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396, if something of concern is taking place in the community that you want RCMP to deal with and it is not urgent. If urgent, dial 911.

Break-ins in Fraser Heights

Since our last meeting in February, 2 key arrests were made and these felons are currently incarcerated so crime has essentially stopped in this area. Lots of residents supplied video surveillance to aid the police in capturing these two individuals.
There have been very few crimes since last meeting but as a community, we must stay diligent to defend our property and that of our neighbours. Don’t become complacent – keep calling police when things do not seem normal or if you see something suspicious. If the community remains vigilant, the criminals move onto other areas.
The one B&E reported in progress was of a garage that had been left open and a neighbour saw the perpetrators. Due to the resident making a report, the bad guys left without stealing anything. Warning – do not leave your possessions unattended.
Auto theft has always been a problem in Surrey but in past quarter, there has been little to report in FH and there has been no mail theft.
If your home has video surveillance cameras, you can register with the RCMP for Project Iris as footage collected from these cameras has been quite effective in solving crimes.

Make sure the video camera is located so it will be helpful e.g., showing who is at your door. Video feed should be clear and not have the porch light shining into it. Most video cameras produce very high quality footage.
Quarterly crime stats and current media releases can be obtained on the Surrey RCMP website at:

http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=69&languageId=1

There is a Surrey RCMP app (picture of a Mountie saluting on a dark blue background) that provides valuable information in our community as well as can use it to call RCMP.
District 2 RCMP Blockwatch coordinator Amy Ghag (ghag@rcmp-grc.gc.ca) can supply info to neighbourhoods about Block Watch. More information about Blockwatch can be found at http://bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2177&languageId=1&contentId=732.
There have been many smash and grab car thefts in Tynehead Park and other areas of Surrey. Thieves see something in a car they want or think is of value and it only takes them seconds to smash the glass, grab the item and go. They prefer not to smash glass (it makes noise) so they go around checking to see if vehicle doors have been left unlocked. Avoid leaving items in your car. Dash cameras are popular for crooks to steal so take them with you or put them out of sight when leaving the vehicle.

City of Surrey – Neal Aven, Manager of Parks:

Chafer beetle infestation
This beetle has caused serious crop and turf destruction. It was identified in New Westminster in 2001. By 2014, it had spread to Surrey and has now been found throughout most of Surrey.
Turf grass along main roads and in/around parks is cared for by the City Engineering Dept.
Test plots have been tried in various places in the City using tall fescue or micro clover instead of grass. The clover did not survive well over the winter.
Since Surrey Bylaws prohibits the use of Pesticides, biological control using nematodes is used to control the problem. Packages of these parasites can be purchased from garden stores. They have to be spread on a well-watered lawn during a very short window of time (mid-summer) and the lawn must be kept moist for the time it takes the nematodes to infest and kill the chafer beetle larvae (usually a total of about 6 days. The City found the nematodes worked well on some sites and not on others. Each package of nematodes costs about $80 and covers around 75 square meters. Permits would have to be obtained from the City in order to be allowed to water for the 6 or so days (note that the watering must be during the very early morning hours in Surrey)
The City has been and is investigating a grant program to help purchase and apply nematodes. The City of Burnaby has voucher program – 50% off and they also give a city watering permit when the nematodes are purchased). Surrey is focusing on “A” level parks to eradicate the beetle larvae as these are the most used/serviced parks. Burnaby’s program begins first week of May as they need to know the volume of nematodes to order for their community.
To help reduce infestation by beetles, maintain your lawn by fertilizing it and keep it a few inches long as this helps deter the beetles from laying larvae. Do not cover your lawn with chicken wire or other products to stop the raccoons, crows and skunks from pulling up your lawn as they do a good job of eating and ridding your lawn from the larvae. If the grubs are left in the lawn, they will eat the roots of your grass, kill it then they’ll mature, become adult beetles, fly upward and mate then re-infest your lawn and your neighbours’ lawns.
Info fact sheet from Province’s website on chafer beetles is found at: https://www.google.ca/search?q=Ministry+of+agriculture+European+chafer+beetle&oq=Ministry+of+agriculture+European+chafer+beetle&aqs=chrome..69i57.11779j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on . They have one cycle a year – eggs hatch around mid-July (the best time for spreading nematodes), they feed throughout the fall and into the spring until April when they form pupae. Adults emerge in late May and June, fly up to mate then each female deposits about 50 eggs nearby. Although they eat all types of grass, they will also feed on roots of corn, potatoes, berry and other crops.

European Gypsy moth has been found in west Fraser Heights the past couple of years. It can cause serious defoliation of trees and plants.

This year, the City used a liquid ground spray instead of spraying from planes/helicopter. The spray contains Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt – naturally found in the soil) which is sprayed on the leaves eaten by the grubs and it kills them. It is safe for pets and other wildlife.
The spraying days were in early May (signs were posted on 154^th Street or Fraser Heights Greenway on the spraying days) and there will be a 3^rd application 10 days later.
Intensive trapping (little cardboard tents hung in trees that are coated with a sticky substance inside and a pheromone that attracts the male moths) will take place in this area to see if any moths are left.
If the moths get into any forest products, the infected wood cannot be exported.
One resident asked why one side of her street was sprayed and not the other. The City tries to narrow the areas needing to be sprayed based on where moths have been found. They draw lines on the maps and keep within those boundaries.
Vancouver uses the pesticide Merit (imidacloprid) but Surrey prohibits the use of pesticides.

Fraser View off-leash dog park (the park on 112^th Ave at the north east corner of 160).

The off-leash park plan was approved and was to have been completed this spring but other higher priority projects, with time sensitive funding such as Hawthorne Park, had to be completed first.
The new date for the park is late 2018 or early 2019.

Surrey Request App (white check mark inside white outline of a circle on a green background) – use this app to make any requests to the City – they will answer you but, depending on what the request is and its urgency, it could take days to weeks or months to address your request (new tree plantings to replace dead or fallen trees are done at specific times of the year)

How to download the app – Go to the Playstore on Google or iPhones
Type in Surrey Request and download – use for requests of services or reporting emergencies (if urgent, please contact 911 or police directly)
Click on submit a service request then click on the category list that best matches your request (note, if unsure, ask for request to be forwarded to right department)
On the next screen, make another selection that will best identify your concern.
The menu/selection list may be a few to many screens, depending on what is being reported
The next section says to Enter Additional concerns (you can also type the address or location in there and any descriptors)
Do you want to add a photo – you can select one from your gallery or take one and add while filling out the request on your phone – these are helpful in identifying the problem
Next, a city map shows up. The drop pin is fixed in place but you can move the map so the pin lands on the location of your complaint or the problem area (or you can select “my location” which will pin the spot you are standing at when filling out the app complaint.
Finally, add your person information (first/last name, email address and phone number) as the City will contact you in regards to time frame for completion or that they got your request. Accept the terms and conditions then submit your request. Sometimes, the City will email or phone you with a survey upon completion as to how well the complaint was handled by them.
Question – how to get updates on where request is on the list. Typically City responds – note – requests go into a giant cue and are dealt with depending on various factors.
If you haven’t received an email saying “closed”, then it still is in the cue. 4 weeks is nothing for tree replacement as volume of requests is so high. If you get an email/phone call saying it was closed and the problem hasn’t been addressed, call in with the number you were assigned and the City can look into what has happened. You can also call in to find where your request is in the queue. Don’t resubmit the request as it will go at the end of the current queue.
If several people make same request, the urgency will increase

Trans Mountain (TM) pipeline update, NEB Hearing March 17, 2018:

Meeting with the NEB (National Energy Board) regarding the routing of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, March 17
Our request was to cluster the pipeline with railway and SFPR and it was well received.
Although 3 of our board of directors attended (Ed MacIntosh, Ed Moore and Lindsay Ryerson), they were not property owners who would be directly affected by the pipeline. Due to this, the decision went largely to the City of Surrey who owned much of the land that the pipeline is proposed to go through. Some home/land owners did have their own separate hearings as they were directly affected.
Ed MacIntosh attended a meeting last week with all community associations across the City where the PIPE UP Network shared information. Their email address is pipe-up.net and they can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PipeUpNetwork. They have concerns about the potential impact of the proposed pipeline, especially if there was a spill or rupture and the impact of the bitumen on the Fraser River. They are dedicated to empowering communities with the knowledge needed to stop the proposed Kinder Morgan Pipeline expansion and to work toward a just transition to a fossil free future in collaboration with Indigenous People. Check Facebook to see what activities they have scheduled.
They hold workshops – one was held in FH about 3 years ago.
Note that the pipeline will be all underground using horizontal directional drilling or cut and cover

Development:

Meeting with the City of Surrey Engineering Department – Doug McLeod (transportation planning)

100 Ave upgrades from 172 to 175 St – there is a lot of roadwork going on. Multi-purpose pathway is being constructed in this area as well.
104 Ave & 170A St intersection – issues with traffic and school patrol due to increased traffic heading east along 104 to SFPR and connector. City thought this was more of a policing issue and that the traffic needed to be slowed down (from 168 down to 176 St on 104 Ave) – Police are monitoring this site. There is a pedestrian light on the far sides of 104 Ave/170A St
104 Ave upgrades – currently, there is too much speeding along this corridor. The more open side of road is, the faster people go. Curbs and gutters are being installed as they give structure so a road appears narrower and vehicles tend to slow down.
Resident mentioned that when she heads north on 176^th in the morning, there is a line of cars waiting to turn left onto 104 Ave. These stopped vehicles are not seen until she has come over the hill on 176 and this is an accident waiting to happen as they are at a full stop in the traffic lane. MOTI (Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure) is working on improving this intersection.
The 77 proposed townhomes have been designed to look like other housing in FH
104/176 upgrades – new sewer line is being added as the current one is almost at capacity
164 St & 104 Ave traffic light – there have been numerous accidents here. The City said, based on the number of vehicles going through this intersection or entering FH via the #1 off-ramp), a traffic light is warranted. A round-about was not considered as it cost considerably more than traffic lights. Time line to installation of the lights is 1½ to 2 years.

Public Hearings April 9

Fraser Heights Wine Cellar application for liquor store – it was passed to be a full liquor store (they will rearrange product inside store to accommodate all the new items)
77 Townhouse proposal at 100 Ave & 176 St was also passed

MLA Constituency report by Deanna Fasciani (email Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca) – constituency assistant for Garry Begg who was not able to come (he was in Victoria for meetings):

Gary was in Victoria today but will be back from June to Sept.
Can book appointments in advance with him by emailing him at begg.mla@leg.bc.ca or by calling his office at 604-586-3747
Advocacy for constituents – his office deals with range of issues such as residential tenancy problems (both for owners and renters), ministry of health (though Fraser Health), Ministry of social development and poverty reduction
Outreach – community drop in sessions were from Feb to May. There have been evening meetings but regular office hours are 9:30 to 4. Garry is at his office most Fridays but is in Victoria from Mon to Thurs.
His annual summer barbeque is Sat Aug 4^th
Sat Aug 11 is a barbeque put on by MP Ken Hardie
“Town Hall” will be coming up again in the fall. This year, it will be a bit more open and a few of the themes that will be released in advance. Details will be on website
Can sign up for the newsletter on the website – next issue will be June (there isn’t one in May)
Tynehead hatchery (http://tyneheadhatchery.ca) – this coming Saturday will be a release of the fish
Childcare – the new benefit plan will come out in Sept (for families making up to $111,000, they can apply online). Reductions may be as high as $350 per month.
earlyyears@gov.bc.ca (lots of childcare providers have signed up). BC childcare map – can find these childcare providers in your area
Community grants – non-profits seeking funding, related to sports and recreation – check with Garry’s office. If your community program falls into one of the categories, you can apply.
Educators, EAs, principals can nominate school staff for awards by June 18. The winners will receive up to $3000 for furthering their education or they can donate money to their school.

Concerns or comments:

A resident from Abbey Glen complained about the train whistles. Lindsay Ryerson addressed this issue. This has been an ongoing problem that individuals and the association have been working on for about 8 years. Panorama Ridge residents/association were successful after addressing this problem for 12 years. Note – If there are no whistles and someone gets hit, the railway does not take responsibility. It could take another 5 years before we get whistle cessation in FH. The procedure takes a long time due to legal issues.

There was a call for interested residents to join our board of directors. We meet 1 to 2 weeks before each community association meeting and attend various meetings and open houses that deal with issues in our community.

This was the last meeting of the FHCA for the 2017/2018 school year. We will be going from 4 meetings to 3 next year due to costs. The 3 meetings for the 2018/2019 school year will be announced during the summer and the first one should be toward the end of September.

Minutes, February 21, 2018 FHCA meeting

Posted on February 25, 2018 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

February 21 2018

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA meets four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

Senior Chinese Dancers from Fraser Heights (the minimum age was 55 and the average age was 70 years old) entertained us with 3 graceful, elegant and colourful dances at the beginning of our meeting to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They will also be a part of the Celebration of Chinese Lantern Festival at Fraser Heights High School on March 9 in the cafeteria from 6:30 to 9 p.m. All are invited (see invitation on the fhca.ca website)

Treasurer’s report: Financial statement – total account balance is $2201.18

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was in attendance tonight (Community Response Unit). He is at 10395-148 St. The best way to reach him is through his email address: mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. but voice messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396 if something of concern is taking place in the community that you want RCMP to deal with and is not urgent. If urgent, dial 911.

Break-ins in Fraser Heights

Number of auto thefts has been down over the last month. A group of 6 or 7 men, who committed many of these thefts, are now in jail but they will eventually get out so do not let your guard down. Do not leave your vehicles running in this cold weather with key in ignition and doors unlocked as it is an open invitation for someone to steal your vehicle. If your car needs a fob to start it, the thieves have been known to take the cars and leave them running (in one case, a vehicle was running for 1 ½ days). The vehicles don’t need the fob nearby to keep running but once the vehicle is turned off, it cannot be restarted without a fob. Note that the criminals use these vehicles to commit other crimes.
Number of residential break & enters has risen substantially and it appears Fraser Heights is being targeted. A very large organized group, who have been difficult to catch, is responsible for most of the B&Es. Normally, B&Es happen during day but this group works in evening hours. They scout around the area to discover which homes are empty or have people home.
A flyer was sent to many homes/mailboxes of residents to get information to the public (not all residents have received the flyer yet) about this problem and what to do.
The RCMP property crime team is diligently working in FH now. Many residents have very good HD video surveillance systems and have provided videos to police that have helped identify the culprits. If you have video surveillance at your house, it would be helpful to register this information at surrey.ca/iris so that the police can contact you if a crime is committed in your area. These videos are very important to the police to aid the capture and identification of the criminals. If you want more information, please contact cctvregistry@surrey.ca. Make sure you preserve video footage because the system eventually records over itself. If you think you have video footage of a crime or suspects, put it on USB and save it. Many systems only tape when there is movement so you should not have hours to view if you are looking for suspects or criminal activity.
The Vancouver Police Department also made arrests of group members that were operating in Vancouver. There are still more of them operating in Metro Vancouver – if they can be identified, they are held and then go to court which will put them off the streets for a while.
There are covert police teams doing surveillance in FH
The mode of operation – the offenders, usually 3 to 4 men from ages 18 to the 30s, can be of mixed races, wear dark clothing and have longer hair and facial hair but some don’t fit the profile as one had white shoes and light clothing. They arrive in a vehicle which they park away from the houses being targeted and may leave a driver in the vehicle while they walk down the street checking out the houses. They knock on residents’ doors and if residents answer, they act confused and ask for a random person then say they must have the wrong house and leave. They try to determine if someone is home and if movement is seen in the home, they take off to another house in the area. If they see police, they usually keep on walking.
Once the crime is committed, they may call the driver to pick them up. If you see someone sitting in a car or men out on foot, please contact the police! Make a note of car make/model and licence plate number and a description of the people to give to the police.
From watching the neighbourhood, thieves know the homes they are picking on and where to go once inside the house.
They will do a walk around your house and disable your motion sensor lights. Make sure those lights are out of reach so they can’t be disabled or the wires snipped. Many homes have cameras within reach that are easily disabled.
Make your home look occupied – leave your TV/stereo on as if someone is in the house. These men do not want to be detected and will move on if they feel someone is home. If all residents make their homes look occupied, thieves will move on and they likely will not come back here.
Talk to your neighbours – don’t discount any suspicious activity and make sure to call the police. Trust your instincts. If in doubt, call the police – police will show up. Your call may stop the thieves’ activity for that night and if this happens often, they will move on. Remember, the police will check out the people/vehicles (take pictures of licence plates) that you report. If you aren’t sure, let the police be the ones to determine who these people are and what they are doing.
It can be concerning if residents have left their children alone in the house and the thieves enter the house. Teach your children to call 911 if they suspect someone is casing your home or the neighbours’ homes.
Police have priorities 1 through 4. If a life is in danger, it is priority 1, property crimes are priority 2, and anything else is 3 or 4. If you see something happening, immediately call the police so they can get to the scene and then call your neighbours. Do not email this information as police presence is needed immediately, not when someone reads the email which could be too late.
These men will operate in a small area one night then leave. The next night or week will hit another area so there are pockets all over FH that have been targeted.
FH is close to #1 Highway and SFPR so it is easy to escape from but if police have enough warning, they can block our 3 exits and catch the criminals as they try to leave.
These crimes are not usually considered to be a priority one (not life and death). If these thieves think they are safely in a home and are confronted by someone at home, they might fight or flee. Since some of these men may be high on something, their behaviour could be irrational and it is not known how they might behave if confronted but generally, they have not resorted to violence
Alarms are a deterrent but these men may disable cameras and alarms by cutting wires and destroy the surveillance footage. Once inside the home, they know they have a set amount of time to get in and out. Point of entry is usually through the back door – they like to be quiet and so will pry out the sliding door – it is quiet and easy to do and does little damage. You may notice small pry marks on your back door if you were targeted. They gently close door on way out so neighbours don’t see any secondary evidence of a break in (no broken glass or damage). Once inside house, they won’t give up until they find what they are looking for. In one case, they even had time to take a wall safe out of the wall and drag it onto the lawn. The quieter they are, the more time they will have to spend inside the house looking for valuables.
Secure your sliding doors by putting a screw through the middle column. These security kits can be bought at hardware stores. The screw goes in most of way through the doors or windows it is installed on. If you put a hockey stick or wooden/metal dowel in the track, fasten it to the bottom of the track.
Communication with neighbours is important! Even if you are going out just for a few hours or the evening, let trusted neighbours know you’ll be out so they can watch your house. A big dog might deter a person from entering but a small dog probably won’t – they’ll bark and let people know someone is there but if thieves want in, they’ll throw food at the dog to keep it busy.

MP report by Ken Hardie (MP for Surrey – Fleetwood/Port Kells):

There is a federal program dedicated to fighting the guns/crime problems in Canada. The gov’t is aware of an acute problem in the Metro Vancouver area.
On March 7^th, interested parties, (such as City mayors, including Surrey’s mayor Linda Hepner) in the guns/violence program, will be in Ottawa to get an idea of what this program should look like.
Focus of meeting in Ottawa – to use federal gov’t funding for crime prevention and target hardening which may look different in various communities. Guys who had been in gangs came up with a documentary on the gang life. A community approach is needed on how to deal with children/adults heading into or are part of a criminal life.
Good book to read “Broken Windows Theory” by James Q Wilson and George Kelling (1982). This book had an enormous impact on New York City police policy. The premise was, if there was a house in the community with broken windows that had not been fixed, it showed nobody cared so the criminals started to test the limits. By cleaning up the community, removing graffiti, fixing street lights, mowing lawns, etc., the crime rate dropped significantly.
Resident complained that the Bylaws department appeared to be run by non-residents of Surrey and they don’t tend to go after vehicles parked on street that might be part of a B&E or are stolen. These vehicles can sit there for weeks with no response. Please note, call the RCMP non-emergency line about these vehicles as police will take care of the problem in a timely manner.
Kinder Morgan line – issues have been arising about the proposed route. Ken met with Kinder Morgan CEO, Ian Anderson, last week in regards to this.
Construction impact on residents – the issues as to where to put the line and the timeframe of the construction activities were discussed. Ken will be attending the hearings in Burnaby in regards to the portion going through our community, especially Fraser Heights.
Kinder Morgan wants their construction to have minimal disruption on the community
A Resident asked why we were not refining the oil from the pipeline here in order to create jobs? The Prairies ship their oil to the Gulf of Mexico rather than send it to eastern Canada as they say it is it is more economical to refine in warmer climates. There has been no application to build pipelines to feed refineries in the east.
There are still major refineries in Alberta. We had 2 or 3 in Metro Vancouver but now there is only one left. The refineries that work well are large ones. Canada is not a large enough market to refine the product close to where it is extracted.
The highest gasoline prices in Canada are found in Metro Vancouver due to all the taxes added on to the price. Abbotsford’s gas should be about 25 cents a litre cheaper as the tax rate is lower (the gasoline companies in the Fraser Valley may take a bigger profit and not reduce the price by 25 cents.
A resident was concerned about the summer student program that appeared to exclude churches and places of religion from getting grants to hire students. Ken has been in touch with most of the churches in the area to clear up this matter.
It originally sounded like Trudeau had said the churches had to agree with gay marriages/abortion and the whole LGBTQ community in order to get funding to hire students for the Canada summer job program. This was put in place to ensure public funding wasn’t going to groups working against women’s right to choose and the other groups. The core mandate of organization must not restrict women’s rights or LGBTQ. Ken said every church in Surrey had nothing in their mandate that said the purpose of that organization was to work against those rights and LGBTQ. The Gov’t looked at the mission and vision statements across Canada and found nothing that would prevent them from getting funding. Initially, a lot of churches interpreted core mandate as core values but these are not same.
Between now and next year, this will be reworded or removed or all the faith based groups will meet so the meaning of core-based mandate is clear. Lots of churches applied for funding but had refused to check off the attestation. Ken said, if you are not working against your values then this has nothing to do with issues in question and the attestation can be signed.

Trans Mountain (TM) pipeline update, NEB Hearing March 17, 2018:

Select FHCA directors will be attending the Trans Mountain Hearing on Saturday, March 17 – our position is simple – instead of coming up through the community and behind the backyards of houses along 113^th Ave, we want the pipeline clustered with the railway and SFPR. Timing and type of construction were the other issues.
Although there had been several presentations, many residents did not become concerned or involved until Kinder Morgan started drilling bore holes behind their backyards.
Kinder Morgan has stated that at no place will the pipeline be above ground but there is still the matter of where it goes and how deep it is laid.
There is a lot of room by railway, the Golden Ears Connector and the SFPR to lay this pipeline alongside it or under it as the pipeline will be down deep in the ground.
Their position has been that they didn’t want to damage the shrew population and ecosystems but they did not appear to be concerned about affecting the nearby residents by removing most or all of the trees behind their houses. These residents have already had part of the hillside stripped to build the SFPR which has increased the noise by the SFPR and intermodal yard. Few to none of the trees will be replaced as only grasses can be planted on a large swath along/beside the pipeline. Lack of trees and vegetation will increase the noise level once again. There has been no consultation with intermodal yard or SFPR. They need to deaden sound as much as possible rather than strip more trees between the houses and the river.

MLA Constituency report by Deanna Fasciani (email Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca) – constituency assistant for Garry Begg who was not able to come (he was in Victoria for meetings):

Gary was in Victoria today but will be back for the May 9^th
The budget came out this past Tuesday. If you have feedback on this budget, call or email their office. He is having community drop in sessions on Mar 16, 23 or you can make apt to meet with him privately.
Telephone Town Hall – this deals with issues in our community. The date for this will be on website. At this point in time, only a landline can be used to call into the Town Hall but they are working to make it mobile friendly so those with only mobile phones can also call in.
Electoral referendum. gov.bc.ca/howwevote – go to this website and do the survey to let the gov’t know how constituencies should be set up and how you feel votes should be counted. Results will go to attorney general. If you require a paper version (pdf copy), you can request this online or phone Deanna and she’ll send it to you.

The last meeting of the FHCA for the 2017/2018 year will be:
May 9, 2018

Minutes, Dec 6, 2017 FHCA meeting

Posted on December 14, 2017 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

December 6, 2017

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA meets four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

A moment of silence was observed, at the beginning of the meeting, for Constable John Davidson who lost his life in the line of duty in Abbotsford on November 7, 2017.

Treasurer’s report

Financial statement – total account balance is $2206.68

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was in attendance tonight (Community Response Unit). He is at 10395-148 St. The best way to reach him is through his email address: mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. but voice messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396 if something of concern is taking place in the community that you want RCMP to deal with and is not urgent. If urgent, dial 911.

Mike will make sure residents’ complaints are responded to appropriately. Even if the complaint is about something that is bothersome, annoying or dangerous, it will be looked into as it could be part of some illegal activity and may be used as evidence in a case.
Mike has been with the RCMP over 20 years and has been in Surrey since 1997. He grew up in this area (moved here from Vancouver Island in 1986). His desire was serve in Surrey.
Most stats for crime around the City have been down lately
Recently, the RCMP shut down a house of unscrupulous people in FH. Investigators did excellent police work and because neighbours took time to make complaints over a period of time, trends were seen and evidence collected to allow RCMP to get a search warrant and arrest the lawbreakers. If complaints hadn’t been made, the search warrant wouldn’t have been issued as all complaints were used together to get good picture of the crime.
Please note – if the stolen property found by police has no ID numbers (such as driver’s licences) or has not been reported stolen, it cannot be proven as stolen so it gets returned to the criminals. This is a reminder to mark your valuables or take pictures of all the serial numbers and keep them in a safe place. REPORT missing items and give police serial numbers so they can get them back to you if found. It doesn’t matter how old or whether the item still works, it would be evidence if found in a criminal’s possession and show that the items they have are stolen. REMEMBER to record all serial numbers of Christmas presents. One item may be enough to put someone in jail.
Prevent your property from being stolen – keep your possessions and purchases out of sight and if they are in your car, lock them in trunk.
Thieves watch for people taking purchases to their cars then heading back to the stores to do more shopping. They target these cars. Best to stow your parcels in your trunk then move your car to a different location.

Gabe Pelletier coordinates Crime Prevention/Block Watch in Whalley, Newton and Guildford. Surrey.Crime.Prevention.District.2@rcmp-grc.ga.ca or phone 604-502-6509. He offered the following tips:

Pick up mail daily as some theft from mailboxes has been reported. Residents then must go to the nearest depot to retrieve mail (Cloverdale is one of the depots and is an inconvenience for residents where theft has occurred). In one case, an entire mailbox was lifted from the ground. Thieves are looking for mail being left in the boxes to use for identity fraud. These criminals keep your info for a long time so be wary if mail has been stolen.
Remove newspapers from your front porch – if on holidays, stop newspaper delivery or have someone pick the papers up.
Corporal Keay is still at the RCMP office but he is back to his original job and is not having to do 2 jobs. He remains concerned about the community.

MLA Constituency report by Deanna Fasciani (email Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca) – constituency assistant for Garry Begg who was not able to come (he was in Victoria for meetings):

Function of the Surrey Guildford constituency office is that it is a non-partisan community office. They will help residents of this area (which includes Fraser Heights) who may need assistance on Provincial issues or about any of the ministries. They also do Community outreach.
There is a Jingle and Mingle Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 13, 2017 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the constituency office – #201 – 15135 101 Ave Surrey. Please bring a non-perishable food item for the Surrey Food Bank and/or an unwrapped toy that will be donated to the Surrey Christmas Bureau.
The fall parliamentary session has ended and will resume middle of February. Garry will be in the community for Dec, Jan and ½ Feb. He’ll be working with the Food Bank which may be moving to the Guildford area.
Join him for ‘Coffee with Garry’ – he likes to go to small mom and pop cafes and meet with residents and discuss their concerns. In Fraser Heights, he has met at Little Cloud café (104 Ave./168 St.)
This office can hook residents up with resources such as Multiculturalism Grants (if interested, note the deadline is Jan 8^th).

Trans Mountain (TM) pipeline:

Information session was held at the FH Rec Centre in June 2017
FHCA directors were granted intervenor status with National Energy Board to represent residents of FH and 3 directors (Ed MacIntosh, Ed Moore and Lindsay Ryerson) were able to attend the meeting on Tuesday, Nov 28 evening in Burnaby.
National Energy Board (NEB) hired a mediator, who, along with an Energy Board staff member helped the discussion between TM and FHCA. The pipeline has been approved by the NEB and the Federal Gov’t but the detailed pipeline routing is still to be approved.
FHCA request was made to cluster SFPR, railway and pipeline together and follow the river.
Proposal of pipeline, currently, is on the slope closer to the homes than to the SFPR which means removing 25 to 28 metre width of forest behind the houses
Whether you live near the proposed pipeline or not, we need residents to act together to oppose the location of the pipeline.
TM can only put vegetation (grass) over the pipeline and small trees will be planted outside this area as they stated (in June) the Ecosystem needs to re-establish itself.
Construction is slated to begin 2018 – the pipeline has been approved but the location still may subject to change (especially if there is a lot of opposition).
Out of complete 10 Km pipeline routing through Surrey, 5 Km is going through Fraser Heights. 10% of this pipeline, from Golden Ears Way to Port Mann is not being twinned. It has been diverted away from the existing pipeline as it would have gone through a built up residential area and run by schools which they wanted to avoid that.
If you know anyone living in the area that will be affected by this pipeline, get them to contact the FHCA directors (directors@fhca.ca)
Dennis Wiemken, a FH resident and senior VP of Vesta Properties Ltd, owns 25 acres at the end of 114 Ave and 157A St up to the SFPR. They had approval for a development of approx. 38 large lots (11,000 to 12,000 sq. ft.) and they were giving 12.5 acres (1/2 the property), on the east side, to the City of Surrey for parkland.
TM’s current location of the pipeline is proposed to go through middle of that property and take 7 acres away from this development for right of way plus use the land to park their equipment. It was stated that there would be 45 days of geotech drilling to determine the land structure in this area.
Many residents will be affected by the construction of the pipeline. There are 14 aerial drawings of the pipeline. The purple colour is the full width of what they will need for working (and will remove all those trees in that area). Residents can check where there houses lie in relationship to this proposed pipeline route. If you want to find out more and see maps of the routing, check the website transmountain.com/surrey or you can contact them directly at info@transmountain.com. Residents of FH can ask questions and make comments or voice their opinions.
NEB Hearings are scheduled for end of Jan 2018 and they will deal with detailed pipeline routing, type and timing of construction. The designs won’t be done till end of March 2018.
A year ago, the pipeline was proposed to go north of SFPR but the environmental studies found Pacific shrew and a fish bearing stream so they had to move the pipeline routing away from Surrey Bend which left them heading south to the hillside below residents’ homes.
If interested in more detailed photos, email the directors and we’ll send you the pictures that have better resolution so can see streets and details

Development:

Highcrest – Retail potential – Economic Development Department

76,000 sq. ft. at the south end of this complex (on Barnston Drive) is zoned for retail. Instead, developer applied to replace the 76,000 sq. ft. retail space with 4,500 sq. ft. retail and an additional 105 condos and townhouses. Numerous residents showed up at Surrey City Hall council meeting and opposed this – this new development was rejected.
Dhaliwal, the developer, didn’t have any public meetings to inform public about his plans – he thought it would go to council and be approved and it wasn’t. He develops land and moves on.
Earlier today, Ed MacIntosh and Liane McMahon met with Steven Wu, the head of the Surrey Economic Development dept. A plan is wanted for developing retail space at that site as there are/will be 841 condos and townhouses that would use the services.
At the public hearing, a FH resident living at Highcrest said, by google earth, he had to walk 59 minutes each direction to a grocery store or 30 minutes each way to get to a coffee shop.
The FH mall is so busy now that often, there is little or no parking. A 32 stall parking lot will be created on the northwest corner of 160 street and 108A Ave. The stalls will be for the shops on both sides of 160^th. Two lots at the furthest west portion of this property will be used to build 2 houses.

Abbey Ridge – Preet Heer has taken over Don Lymes’ job and is willing to work with our community

East of 172 St, several developers are interested in the land. One of the developers, Canadian Horizons, has met with FHCA directors for initial discussions on their development proposal.
The development at 182A – there was consensus on what the development would look like
Ron Gill, head planner at City Hall for North Surrey, met with FHCA to set in place procedures where our association will be informed about developments before their approval. We will have the chance to agree or disagree with the proposal instead of hearing about it when it was going to council.

Traffic Issues – John Russell, a long-time resident of Barnston Island did a presentation on the intersection at 104 Ave and SFPR Golden Ears connector

Some of the problems included U-turns, intersection congestion, trains …
People traveling to and from Barnston Island have had the roadway blocked several times a day, sometimes as long as 1.5 or 2 hours while trains sat on the tracks and vehicles couldn’t get through. The sawmill has had to have 2 first aid attendants on site at all times due to railway issues as ambulances may not be able to get through when needed.
Since meeting with Ministry of Transportation and Railways, the waits have not been longer than 10 minutes and they are making sure there are no trains on the tracks when the sawmill shifts change.
Trucks going to intermodal yard were also blocking roads. Since the meeting, there have been no long lines of trucks as they have to make appointments to be loaded/unloaded.
This intersection, over the last 2 or 3 years, has had many changes. There have been a great number of accidents and trucks have jackknifed on the hill.
There were concerns if a truck’s brakes failed on the slope as it could end up taking out vehicles at stoplight below
There is an extra light comes on and says cannot make left turn to go to Barnston – some do it anyway and other people do go further down road and make U-turn or make illegal turn.
Residents want an overpass over railway.
The 2 sets of lights are confusing, especially since the crossing is not at a right angle. You see all the lights at that intersection (there are 17 traffic lights). Some people don’t know where they are going so end up making U turns or sudden lane changes
Lights are of a very short duration and people have misinterpreted which light is theirs.
When going east on 104, there used to be left turn arrow but now there is just a green light.
Those heading west sometimes try to turn in front of others proceeding through the intersection.
When going down the hill on 176 and want to turn left at 104, only 1 semitrailer can make it through the light which causes traffic backups. Due to this, people are doing crazy maneuvers. The area is an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
Number of places say no right turn on red. The signs are not prominent and are not with the traffic light. People often don’t see these signs and go around those stopped, waiting to turn.
Traffic lights need shields so drivers only see the lights that affect their direction.
Ed MacIntosh stated that when going east on 104, straight through green light, there are always people cutting in front in order to beat other drivers across the intersection
Surrey Bend Park is at the eastern end of 104 – visitors to the park (cyclists, motorists and pedestrians) risk their lives to get there. Many cyclists are afraid to cross. Originally, there was supposed to be separated lanes for cycle/pedestrian from the vehicle traffic.
It was not clear why the left turn light was taken away.
Originally, in 1999 or 2000, the Ministry of Transportation (MOTI) made a presentation at the Sheraton Guildford as to what SFPR was going to look like. The grade on 176 St. was too steep so an elevated lane had been proposed (7 meters above 104 Ave) that was to start at the top near Hwy 1 but plans got changed or lost. The original MOTI plans were well done and would have avoided problems that are currently being experienced.
The current plans for Trans Mountain pipeline routing is to go underground across that intersection which potentially could cause more chaos there.

Announcements

Art work at Rec Centre – The approved artwork cost $90,000 and will require $22,000 to install it. Residents wanted it to represent a feeling of community but people did not come forth to volunteer for the selection committee and attend the meetings. The choice was between 5 internationally acclaimed artists and the process was followed. Our community will have to live with it.
Last spring, the original proposal of an art piece in the 156 /108 roundabout hit the 6 p.m. news (our meeting was at 7 that night). We convinced the City Art Dept. to move the art to the FH Community Centre and they honoured the request.

Greenway pathway between Fraser Glen and High School
This Greenway pathway is being funded by Translink
The pathway, in FH, runs from the pedestrian/cyclist bridge over the #1 Hwy from Birdland, to 154 St to 108 Ave, and wends its way through the community to the #1 Hwy overpass at 168 St to Tynehead Park (see map at https://www.civicsurrey.com/2016/05/18/city-builds-safe-cycling-route-across-fraser-heights/)
A 24 inch culvert had been installed at Hjorth Creek then it was torn out. It was 4 feet above the ground and there is never more than a foot of water there.
When path was being built, there were no drawings about Hjorth creek. They ended up taking out what they had put in, closed the path and now a bridge is being designed with footing in middle to go over the creek.
The Greenway path crosses 104 Ave after 164 near Parkview Place with a signal crossing. The pathway follows pipeline.
The removal of some trees for the pathway was delayed almost a year as the City does not allow trees to be cut during bird nesting season.
A portion of the path that crosses over creek is under contract with BC Plant Care (they also did drainage around duck pond). The path, done by LaFarge, was well planned to minimize the number of trees that came down and allowed for removal of some diseased trees.
This Greenway goes through Bridgeview and eventually will go to Richmond
Residents were asking whose jurisdiction is this pathway as they’ve seen guys wearing hoodies and backpacks riding bikes coming over the bridge from Bridgeview (Birdland) into FH. They’ve committed crimes/stolen people’s personal property then fled.
RCMP said it is the Cities bylaws section – so, do we call RCMP or City or both?
The new pedestrian/cyclist crossway on 160 St near 107 Ave is now functional

The next two FHCA meetings for the 2017/2018 year will be:
February 21, 2018

May 9, 2018

Minutes, FHCA meeting September 20 2017

Posted on October 20, 2017 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

September 20, 2017

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA gathers four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

Treasurer’s report

Financial statement – total account balance is $2,024.38

RCMP update on safety and security – District Commander Cpl (A/Sgt) Bob Keay, acting sergeant was in attendance tonight. He can be reached at bob.keay@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. District #2 Community Response Unit 10395-148 St. phone # 778-593-3286 – you can leave a voicemail on Bob’s number if there is something taking place in community that you want brought to the attention of RCMP and is not urgent.

Break and enters in FH and Birdland – 2 different groups operating in these areas have been arrested, charges laid and the groups have been displaced (B&E #s have drastically been reduced since then).
Increase in fraud – this is a difficult crime to investigate. There were 2,492 incidents reported in Surrey from Jan to Aug 2017 in the form of house rentals, job offers, phone calls, emails, credit card fraud, stolen/lost property. Most of the identity papers are stolen from cars – thieves create fake credit cards based on this information.
Bank card fraud – 214% increase Feb and March 2017 – done through skimming machines which allow thieves to fraudulently access victims’ bank cards without victims knowing as the cards are not stolen, only the information is stolen.
Phone scam strategies –

Scammers say they are calling on behalf of an authority (CRA, IRS, RCMP, foreign police agencies, Chinese or other foreign gov’t) and want payment, often in the form of a large number of iTunes or Steam Gift cards. They may threaten deportation of individual if payment isn’t made. Note, they may spoof the phone system and look like they are actually phoning from one of those agencies so don’t assume the number is legitimate.
The caller says “You won a prize” or “you qualify for reduced credit card loan rates” but in order to get these, you must pay a processing fee (so they get your bank information).
“Yes” phone calls – the caller asks for victim by name “Is this Mr. X” and if you say “yes”, your recorded voice is used for okaying the thieves’ transactions as they already have all your information.
Gov’t phone scams – starting in June, there were multiple calls targeting Chinese victims for personal info and money. Some of these scams were claiming the person had sent a parcel to China and the government was requiring money to be sent.

Common email fraud – these require you to click on the email link, put in your information and then your computer freezes. They say you have to pay money to unlock computer. It’s a virus that has been introduced into your computer. Don’t pay them! Instead, unplug your internet.
House rental – scammers post fake rental ads on Craigslist, require a deposit and may even mail a key but there is no rental suite or someone lives there already.
Job offer scam – posted on Craigslist – They will send victim a cheque to deposit in account. Before the transaction has cleared the bank, they’ll call back and say they overpaid you so you have to remit the difference but you can keep the rest. Turns out the cheques are bogus and you’ll be out all the money you sent to them
Prevention – protect your ID – never give personal info over phone or internet. If too good to be true, it probably is.
If you are uncertain about a call or email, ask police for assistance before you send money or reply. Note; police never accept money or any form of payment (even if you want to pay a ticket, you must go to proper agency to pay).
Gabe Pelletier is taking over from Blair Berkner to oversee Crime Prevention/Block Watch in Whalley, Newton and Guildford.

Development:

Highcrest

The proposal of adding another 105 townhouses and reducing the retail space to 4,500 sq ft. was rejected by the City. There were 37 letters of opposition, 92 people who signed in at City Hall opposed and at least 7 or 8 spoke against it.
FHCA president, Ed MacIntosh, approached Ron Gill, head of Surrey City planning, to request our association be a part of the planning proposals earlier in the process and Ron Gill agreed to that. FHCA often did not hear about developments until late in the process and it could be difficult to convince council at the time of the town meeting.

Proposed high-density townhouse development at 100 Avenue and 176 Street

The 4.5 acre parcel of land for this proposed Townhouse complex is north of Hwy 1, west of 176 (Hwy 17) and on both sides of 100 Ave that used to enter onto 176^th. It sits 8 meters below the road level on the north. There is a statutory right of way through the middle of the acreage. This parcel is zoned for 15 units per acre but this development is currently at 16.8 units per acre. It is not zoned for commercial so no retail on property.
Doug Johnson is the architect on project and gave the following information:

The City wanted townhouses/higher density in this area and with the property configuration, this type of housing fits the area well.
The proposed 77 townhouses will face Barnston and they will be in small clusters (3 or 4 units) with horizontal siding, wall shingles and heavy timber for porch detailing
Existing trees on an adjacent 9,000 sq. ft. lot to the west will be retained (not developed) and the existing 100 Ave will be closed at entrance to complex
Units will have double car garages, peaked roofs and exteriors in a rich palate of colours
Townhouses will be 3 floors, 2,200 sq ft, 3 bdrm (garage included in sq area). No suites in bottom level – it is not a big area (bonus room on lower floor – 13 ft by width of unit. Strata controls suites and they won’t allow suites
Road frontages will be finished and sidewalks put in up to their frontage
City guidelines for visitor parking (# units X 0.2 = 15 visitor parking spaces)
Target price range would be, depending on type and size, over $650,000 but hard to predict at this point in time.

A concern was raised that the density of this development exceeded the guidelines in the Local Area Plan.
Question was asked about excess parking – where would those cars park? Since there is no transit nearby (168 St/104 Ave is closest), most units would have at least 2 cars. What would stop people from parking in residential areas around the complex or on Barnston (answer – City would be put up signs for no parking).
Residents had concerns about access in and out of this development as there are essentially only two streets that can be used (168 or 171A) to come and go.
Note; Developers have to go to the City to apply for each change they make to the plans.
Question asked about possibility of having 1 or 2 storey units for FH residents who want to stay in the area but downsize and have less or no stairs to climb. Suggestion was to have a lift installed.
Question – if a property is bought for investment, can it be rented out or will the strata allow that – depends on strata
Schools? Schools in FH are already quite full or closed – would there be a future school built nearby? – most likely no. School fees are paid to City by development but the City and Province decide when and where schools will be built
Question about noise mitigation in the units – complex is beside the truck route with about 30,000 vehicles driving by per day (Hwy 17/SFPR or old 176 Street). Answer – they will be required to do acoustic report and have an acoustic buffer
Question about the tree canopy being lost as every tree is usually taken down. Answer – each tree has to be replaced with 2 trees (but not necessarily in that location and often tiny trees are planted that take decades to grow)
If residents want to give feedback about this development, please send emails to fhca

Hawthorne Park

City of Surrey is planning on putting road(s) through Hawthorne Park (104/144) and residents had to have over 30,000 signatures on their petition by Sept 22nd in order to have council revisit or stop this construction.
105 Ave was designated to go through and utilities moved into the park because the LRT proposed for 104 Ave will cause 104 Ave to be very congested (it would go from 4 lanes to 2 lanes). There is a “right of way” in the park – suggestion was to put the utilities underground and not disturb the park.
If City doesn’t listen to residents, there is the possibility they could use parks around the City for other projects, even in FH.
Hawthorne Park has a historical remnant bog which is 4,000 to 5000 years old. Bonaccord Creek runs through the park and this roadway would be adjacent to the children’s water park.

Traffic Issues

Intersection at 104 and SFPR – issues with U-turns, intersection congestion

Coming down hill on SFPR there’s a left turn to turn up 104 Ave. People were going up and making a U turn – within a week, a no U-turn sign was put up.

Other issue in that area concerns pedestrians and cyclists, the intersection, CN yards, 2 sets of lights. A letter was sent to Jamie Boan at the City to get the lights and intersection fixed before someone gets seriously injured.

Announcements

Trans Mountain pipeline – FHCA is working with City to oppose route that had been proposed
Surrey Bend Regional Park – On Saturday October 14, there will be a Flashlight Mysteries evening in the park from 6 to 9 p.m. It is posted on our website. See metrovancouver.org,
Abbey Ridge Concept Use Plan – Don Luymes from Planning has moved on to another job at the City – now Preet Heer is temporarily taking over position – she will be meeting with some directors to do a review of the plan from 172 Street to Golden Ears Way. East side of SFPR. Neighbourhood input is valuable.
1 lot 166A and 102 Ave – in Parkview Place development – 1 lot on corner 311 sq meters – too small for house but house is proposed to go there.
1 resident caught 3 car thief incidents around Salisbury Dr on video surveillance – they filed police report.
168 bridge to Tynehead, 20 Aug – someone was camping there and has been seen more than once. Police won’t do anything if those people aren’t causing problems.
Earlier in September around 172 St – resident stated that there were guys slashing tires – Information like this must be reported to police, a file number will be issued and then police will be aware of the activity and send more patrols to this and surrounding areas. Everyone who had tires slashed needs to report. If not reported, police are not aware of problem and won’t be on the lookout for the criminals.
Nester’s – restricted access, illegal left turn into the mall, lots of people making U-turns to get back into the mall
Art piece that was to go at 156/108 traffic circle – will now go around the community Rec Centre. City will give an update near end of September.
Wine store at Fraser Heights Village Mall – They stated customers wanted beer and wine in the store (they had over 400 letters requesting the change). An application was made to permit the conversion to a private liquor store with a full product line. 100 meter letter will be sent out then green sign will go up. If residents are opposed to this change in the store, fine, let the directors/City know. Square footage will remain the same.
resident questioned whether they would expand the size of the store, perhaps taking over space next door to it but that is not part of the zoning application so size will remain the same.

The FHCA meetings for the 2017/2018 year will be:
December 6, 2017

February 21, 2018

May 9, 2018

Fraser Heights Community Association minutes, May 10 2017 meeting

Posted on May 24, 2017 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

May 10, 2017

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA gathers four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.
Our Community Association mailing address is PO Box 74042, Surrey, V4N 1N9.

Treasurer’s report

Financial statement – total account balance is $2638.85

RCMP update on safety and security – District Commander Cpl (A/Sgt) Bob Keay was in attendance tonight. He is replacing Laurie Clarkson who was transferred to Richmond. He can be reached at bob.keay@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. District #2 Community Response Unit 10395-148 St. phone # 778-593-3286 – you can leave a voicemail on Bob’s number if there is something taking place in community that you want brought to the attention of RCMP and is not urgent.

Bob Keay is still in charge of the operations side of the RCMP
Number of residential break and enters reported in FH from Dec 2016 to Apr 2017 was 79 (Dec – 16, Jan – 18, F – 27, Mar – 6, Apr – 12). Feb recorded the highest number
Many B&Es occurred early in the morning, after people have left for work (9 to 10 a.m.) but midday and evening (when becomes dark) were also targeted times.
FH is a wealthy environment targeted by thieves coming from outside the community. It was very concerning there was such a concentrated number so extra surveillance was done.
Large proportion of B&Es were attributed to several identified individuals – 2 key groups were arrested so March number dropped significantly.
Your home should be visible from the street – clear away bushes obstructing view to home (thieves can hide behind bushes and break in without been seen)
Lighting – thieves will go where they can’t be seen so light up your yard using permanently lit lights that come on at dusk and go off at dawn rather than motion detection lights. Make sure the lights are high enough so the bulbs cannot be removed.
There should be a minimum of 2 locking devices on doors. If possible, secure the frame with metal plates under the locks which help make it much harder for the door to be kicked in.
Sliding doors and windows can be secured with a deadbolt lock at bottom of slider – pin that goes through (or an expandable pole to jam the slider)
Window – a wooden dowel or dead bolt are good but bars are the best. Problem is, in emergency, it can be difficult to get out. Best idea is to put bars on inside so they can be opened in an emergency
Put timers on your inside lights and have blinds/drapes open during day
Install alarm system on your home
Install a safe that is bolted down for your jewelry/important items
Join or start a Block Watch
Have a FREE Home Security Assessment completed through Blair Berkner, Community Programs Coordinator. He can be reached at: Surrey_Crime_Prevention_District_2@rcmp-grc.gc.ca or phone 604-502-6509.
Stay informed – COSMOS crime mapping http://cosmos.surrey.ca (shows crime trends in throughout Surrey)
Install the RCMP app on your phone
Subscribe to eNews
If you’re going away on holidays, have someone stay at / check in on your house, put timers on lights, have video surveillance. Thieves scoot fast if alarm goes off.
Leave your phone number with neighbour. If they see something, get them to call police
Sometimes the crooks have someone ring your bell. If no one answers, they go away and send someone else to break in or they come back
Make reports to police and to Block Watch so patrols and surveillance can be done
Violent crimes are decreasing but property and economic crimes are increasing (they steal your ID to buy stuff)
Pamphlets on home security and Block Watch can be requested through Blair Berkner (see above for contact information)

Surrey Parks, Doug Merry, Parks Planner (djmerry@surrey.ca or phone 604-598-5778) – Presentation on Off-Leash Dog Park at Fraser View Park situated at north-east corner of 160 Street and 112 Ave in Fraser Heights

The off-leash park in Tynehead is a Metro Vancouver property and is not run by the City of Surrey
Local neighbourhood parks are good off-leash dog sites as residents with dogs can walk to them. Often, they are a gathering place for the community – benches and possibly a kiosk will be installed
Fraser View Park was selected as the best option as there’s an open grass area and good sight lines into the park
To avoid environmental impacts, the area will be fenced – it could be one open area or separated for large/small dogs
Currently, there is no parking along 112^th Ave on the north side of the street but signs will be removed if dog park goes ahead
All parks in Surrey are closed dusk to dawn and are not lighted. The dog park will not be lit but fencing should protect dogs from wildlife.
There will be a Public Open House May 30^th at Dogwood Elementary from 6 to 8 p.m. (will also be on City Website – webpage for Fraser View Park)
If residents are in agreement, construction will start in fall of 2017

Development – Conceptual Development at 15950 & 15960 108a Ave – by Mr Pomy Grewal

Ron Gill suggested Mr. Grewal should talk to our association – he owns 2 full size lots on the south side of 108A Ave and to the west of the mall with Red Shiso/Esso.
The combined size of these two lots is 40 metres wide along 108A, 38 metres deep
He was proposing putting in a 2 storey building that would blend with the surrounding buildings/houses. It would contain a preschool, daycare and family doctor’s office that may have up to 2 or 4 doctors and a walk-in clinic on the main level. It would also have 24 parking spaces
Maximum 50 children would be able to attend the preschool/daycare.
He will contact neighbours in that area, if this project proceeds to planning before the formal process will start
Property has to be rezoned to accommodate this project so he values the input of our community
Trees will be lost but he ensured the property will have trees planted once it is built.
Members concern: Traffic flow could be congested at school times.
Grewal stated that the hours of the daycare would be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. so children arriving would be staggered. The preschool hours may be adjusted so they do not affect school traffic.

Fraser Heights Wine Cellar – Rebecca Hardin Presentation (Rising Tide Consultants – rebecca@risingtideconsultants.ca or phone 604-669-2928, cell 604-314-0176

Breanna Paulson is the general manager of this boutique-style store in the corner unit next to Nesters in the Fraser Heights Mall (mall at north east side of 108 Ave/160 St)
They want to amend the current business zoning (they do have the licence) which restricts the sale of beer, wine spirits and coolers at this location. Residents have requested these items.
The store size will remain the same but would be rearranged to accommodate extra products
Locational guidelines by City – no liquor store can be within a radius of 400 metres of a school or playground (this law has been relaxed in areas depending on a community’s wants)
Customers are asked for ID (19 is legal drinking age). As of Jan 23^rd, if in violation of age limit, customer is given a hefty fine. Business owner must make sure they don’t make sales to minors or the store is also fined. If this happens 3 times, the business licence will be revoked
Gov’t liquor stores, which contain all types of liquor, cannot be within 1 Km of a local licenced retail store (the one at Guildford is more than 1 Km away from FH)
The Overwaitea development at the north east corner of 104 Ave/156 St has zoning for a liquor store but there was no information about it at this time.

Transmountain Pipeline – update comments

Modification to proposal – originally, it ran north of the SFPR but now is south of SFPR and the train tracks. This will have a big impact on homes in the area as trees, acting as a sound buffer from the Highways, will be taken down. Currently, there are 29,000 to 30,000 trucks driving on SFPR and many of them use their noisy engine brakes, even though signage states no engine brakes. The only noise abatement residents in that area have are those trees as noise abatement fencing cannot be installed there
KM – submitted proposal to National Energy Board. In early part of this summer, they will arrange a presentation to the community to show impact on FH
FHCA will send out email in the early part of July to let you know where presentation will be
The Golden Ears Connector is now open with street lights every block

Directors’ Report

Amended Proposal – 182a St in East FH / East Abbey Ridge

The developer got together with directors/residents and negotiated a compromised plan

There is a proposal for property near Pacific Academy for nine homes with large lots up by freeway
Highcrest Development on 9989 Barnston Drive East – information on this development could come in late May or June – FHCA will send emails. The planner is proposing to decrease the 130,000 sq. feet retail that was originally planned down to 10,000 sq. ft. and add another 40 condos and 50 townhomes. When this comes up for Public Hearing, make your voice heard by going to City Hall and signing in prior to the meeting so we can show how many are in opposition to proposal. You need to make sure City Clerk is there so when you sign, it is registered and will be delivered to mayor. Note – this register is a City-wide document and anyone in the City of Surrey can come in and sign. Once you register, you can leave or stay for the meeting.
Tree Replacement – Urban manager of forests has provided a chart (on our website) with a list of the tree plantings going on in FH. Let the FHCA directors know places you’d like to see trees planted in FH. Currently, developers taking down trees for development must put money into the tree fund which covers all of Surrey so trees being replanted may not be in FH.

Cedar trees planted along an area of the noise abatement wall have died. These will be removed and replaced with other trees and the City said they would be maintained.

Other information

FH Greenway from 110 Ave to 108 Ave/156 St – contracts have been granted and plantings will happen soon
Terry Fox run – the foundation is looking for volunteers in FH to help with the Terry Fox run in September
Landlords and Tenants – the Newton Community Centre will be doing a presentation by a representative of the Residential Tenancy Board on Wed 24^th at their centre.

The FHCA meetings for the 2017/2018 year will be announced by July or August 2017

FHCA meeting minutes, February 22, 2017

Posted on March 19, 2017 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

February 22, 2017

President’s report

Web site – fhca.ca
Ed MacIntosh, president
FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
The FHCA gathers four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.
Our Community Association mailing address is PO Box 74042, Surrey, V4N 1N9.

Treasurer’s report

Financial statement – total account balance is $2602.24

RCMP update on safety and security – District Commander Sergeant Laurie Clarkson was in attendance tonight. She can be reached at Laurie.Clarkson@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. District #2 Community Response Unit 10395-148 St. phone # 604-502-6500 – you can leave a voicemail on Laurie’s number if there is something taking place in community that you want brought to the attention of RCMP and is not urgent.

Crime stats have gone up with average of 33% across all areas in Surrey
Crime types – main ones reported are:

Suspicious persons (all hours day/night) – call these in. Some coming to your door say they are from the gas company and want to see your bills, they come into your house. DON’T let them in – if you don’t recognize them, they shouldn’t be there. Don’t hesitate to call RCMP. The more calls they get and descriptions of individuals, they can form crime patterns of where events are happening and who is responsible.
Unspecified (barking dog etc.),
B&E residential (Jan went down) – last week a couple of individuals were picked up that were believed to have done a number of FH B&Es,
Theft from vehicles – had gone up across the Lower Mainland – don’t leave things in the vehicle. Some thieves look into vehicles and if see stuff, take it.

Security systems are a deterrent – alert company something is going on
Surveillance cameras an asset as have picked up information
Jewelry – videotape what is in your home so you have a record of it
If going away, have someone stay in your house or get someone look in daily
Empty residences in your area – you can call City or RCMP and let them know

Blair Berkner is the Community Programs Coordinator. He can be reached at: Surrey.Crime.Prevention.District.2@remp-grc.ga.ca or phone 604-502-6509.

Mail and Identity theft prevention – biggest increase in this crime type Surrey-wide between Sept 2016 and Jan 2017 – 60% from townhouse or condo complexes, 3 community mailboxes, 2 individual mailboxes and one mailbox completely stolen

Video shown to those attending this meeting – a fellow broke into a condo complex and cleaned out 108 mailboxes in less than 4 minutes. Make sure to remove your mail daily
Mailbox theft increases around Christmas and tax season (now) – CRA information sent to you and has SIN number on it. Thieves are looking for mail with your identification numbers such as bills, statements, cheques (both ones you’ve ordered or those made out to you)
Thieves watch for parcels left at doors. Make arrangements for delivery, if you won’t be home
Damaging effects – many people won’t know the negative effects from these thefts until 8 or 9 months later at which time, thieves may open a cellular account in your name
Pick up your mail on a daily basis and have invoices or statements sent to you online
If you move, change your address with Canada Post
If you are going traveling or will be away from home, rent a mail box at a store or depot or have your mail held at the Post Office.
Individual mailboxes on houses – If you want to have mail delivered to a community mailbox, you can ask Canada Post (number on mailbox). Nesters has a waitlist for boxes in the store
Shred your personal information when no longer needed (Shredathons put on by RCMP – bring donation for Surrey Food Bank)
If see suspicious activity around mailbox, vehicles or people, call it in to RCMP
Emergency – if see crime in progress, call 911
Contact number for Canada Post is on all mailboxes
Contact Canadian Fraud is you are a victim of stolen identity 1-888-495-8501, Equifax Canada at 1-800-465-7166 or Trans Union Canada 1-877-525-3823
Surrey RCMP site – they release stats quarterly by regions (e.g. Guildford)
Cosmos (City of Surrey) – click on the public safety tab and you will see crime types and where they were committed – site is updated 1^st week of every month
Thieves were accessing homes mainly through sliding doors/windows. The RCMP will come to show you how to secure your home (contact Blair)

Developments:

RCG Group development at 160 Street & 108A Ave; Presentation by Michael Burton-Brown, Architect at Abbarch – email mbb@abbarch.com
A parking deficit for the mall on the northwest corner of 160 St/108 Ave was identified by tenants and an independent group. The property north of this part of the mall was purchased to provide 37 more parking spaces. The application is in to the city to develop 2 city lots on the remaining part of this land. The City wants the laneway landscaped
There will be a gates on the 108A access (open during mall hours and closed before and after hours) and greenery in and surrounding the lot.
The lot will be illuminated in such a way that there will not be light spill-over to residences
Developer will keep some trees on the site and on the lots to be developed
Currently, people have been parking on 108A but once developed, no parking here
Size of lot approx. 122 by 200 ft
Resident asked if there will be a crosswalk between lot and A&W. No, so the safest place to cross would be at 108/160 corner where there is a crosswalk.
This lot will be monitored by Mobile Security and Diamond Parking. They will ticket if using this lot for student or long term parking
Gordon Walker, Senior VP Real Estate Development, gdw@rcggroup.com

Highcrest Development on 9989 Barnston Drive East – New Proposal

Joe Dhaliwal, the developer of Highcrest, wants to reduce commercial / retail space from 142,000 sq. ft. (which was zoned commercial) to 10,000 sq. ft. Original proposal was to have a drugstore, gas station and shopping centre comparable to Nester’s market area (Nesters, in itself, is 12,700 sq ft). The whole plan got approved by the City on the basis it would contain this commercial space.
If commercial /retail space is lost here, the mall containing Nesters will be very crowded once the full Highcrest project is completely finished.
The Parkcrest development will be adding another 90 to 95 homes (108 south to #1 and Parkview Place to 167) which will also tax the current FH mall.
172 to 175 Streets – there will be another group of 40 homes going in there
There is no transportation in that area and the families that bought into this complex were informed commercial space would be coming. Retail is needed to service the number of total residences that this site will eventually contain. There is a social benefit of a commercial centre containing a food store and a coffee shop in that it acts as community centre for residents.
Currently, at Highcrest, there is a townhome building under construction (4 storey of condos – 115 units)
Liane McMahon has been keeping track of this development since 2008 and has made a comprehensive list of each stage of the project since 2003 – (from bylaws, corporate reports etc. on City website)
Residents, please write to councillors and mayor in opposition to this reduction of commercial area proposal when this application goes to public hearing
If residential is passed and commercial reduced so significantly, our community will never get a chance to have the commercial area set aside for residents
As a community, we expect development to take place in Hubs and City Centres but not the high density proposed for this small area.
Most of Fraser Heights is an RF community and the hope was that Abbey Ridge would be developed similar to west part FH
Emails will be applied for 1^st and 2^nd hearing but residents must write again when goes up for last hearing/development
FHCA will post on website pertinent facts about this project and if you are on the email list, you will receive an email as to when 3^rd hearing is set.
Arrive at City Hall between 6:30 and 6:55, write your name/address on the list kept at the reception desk whether you are for/against the proposal and then you can stay or leave. You can also indicate whether you want to speak to it – use sound reasons e.g., social cost, benefit, how it will affect neighbourhood, families in area. Please note that anyone, anywhere in Surrey, can sign these sheets to agree or oppose the proposals even if they have no vested interest in the projects so please, make sure you do show up and bring your neighbours as well.
These sheets are delivered to mayor when the hearing starts. Please make sure your signature has been witnessed by the City Clerk as at the last hearing, there were 15 in favour and 89 opposed but the mayor wouldn’t count them as some people had signed without the Clerk witnessing the signatures.
The new City hall has a parking lot under the building that can be entered off 104 Ave – it is well lit and on council meeting nights, parking is free for about 8 hours. Remember to enter your licence plate # at the parking kiosk on the main floor and that is where signing of sheets takes place. Security guards can help you if in doubt.
The council meeting is streamed live or it can be watched the next day
When writing letters or emails, one could add a piece about the elementary and high schools (Bothwell and Fraser Heights) as Bothwell has space for about 100 more students and Fraser Heights is over capacity. Some FH students have had to go to North Surrey for high school as there has been no room in their own catchment

Abbey Ridge proposal 7916-0032-00 – follow up from Public Hearing of Feb 20 at City Hall

Came up a couple of votes short to get this proposal referred back (previously, Parkview Place had been referred back and the outcome was more favourable).
RF13 – 41 lots on north side of development of Lyncean Drive with 2 car garages was passed. More proposals will be coming so watch for green signs to go up.
There was no opposition to proposal of RF and RG (big lots)
One more coming up by same applicant, Canadian Horizons at 182A – 40 RF13 lots
An alternate to RF 13 are the RFG lots which are smaller than RF but 500 to 600 sq ft larger than RF13 and the developer puts up part of the land for parkland (part of the Parkview development was RFG)

Public Art in Fraser Heights:

The project will be relocated to the Community Center and will not be in the traffic circle at 156 St/108 Ave
Volunteers are needed to help select what structure/art would best suit our community
Instead of art, the 156/108 traffic circle will have plantings done in spring

The last FHCA meeting for the 2016/2017 year (before end of school year) will be:
Wednesday May 10, 2017

FHCA Meeting minutes, November 30, 2016

Posted on December 16, 2016 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES
November 30, 2016

President’s report
• Web site – www.fhca.ca
• Ed MacIntosh, president
• FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
• The FHCA gathers four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
• FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
• If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
• Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.
• Our Community Association mailing address is PO Box 74042, Surrey, V4N 1N9.

Treasurer’s report
• Financial statement – total account balance is $2,727.97

RCMP update on safety and security – District Commander Sergeant Laurie Clarkson was in attendance tonight. She can be reached at Laurie.Clarkson@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. District #2 Community Response Unit 10395-148 St. phone # 604-502-6500 – you can leave a voicemail on Laurie’s number if there is something taking place in community that you want brought to the attention of RCMP and is not urgent.
• Crime stats (suspicious persons, B&E, theft from motor vehicles) were up from 2015 to 2016 (Sept – Nov). The lowest amount of crime was in Nov 2016 of the past 3 months.
• If you see something suspicious, call 911 or non-emergency # 604-599-0502 to report it or call your block watch captain who will contact RCMP (Blair and Laurie) You can now also use the new Surrey RCMP app to report incidences.
• Surrey RCMP have just released an app that can be downloaded for free. It contains “Call Us, Police Station Locations, News, Events, Help Identify, Missing Persons, Most Wanted, Emergency Alerts and Crime Stoppers”. It is worth downloading onto your mobile device.
• There was a request made by a resident, who lived in the vicinity of the two recent homicides, for more police patrols and asked if the city was going to put cameras in the streets (as Abbotsford has). Laurie said there were more patrols now but did not know if Surrey was going to install cameras.
• If you notice any suspicious cars, take plate numbers, contact RCMP and the police will run them immediately – you can do this anonymously but it is better to leave a contact name/number in case they need to follow up later on.

• Blair Berkner is the new Community Programs Coordinator. He took over from Heather Paradis, who is on maternity leave. He can be reached at: Surrey.Crime.Prevention.District.2@remp-grc.ga.ca or phone 604-502-6509.
• Blair brought a handout on outdoor lighting for safety and security (put out by bchydro.com). Motion sensor lighting helps deter crime and prevents concealment of thieves (especially in these dark winter months when it is easier to hide in the dark). If you call Blair, the RCMP will come out and do a home security assessment to let you how to make your home safer. If you put lights on timers, use multiple on/off times and vary those times for the days you are absent. More information can be obtained by calling Hydro at 604-431-9463
• Project Iris is a registry for anyone with a video surveillance camera system so if something happens in your neighbourhood, those people on the registry can be asked for footage (they can choose whether to provide police with footage or not). RCMP/City of Surrey want to put together a collective data base for residential and businesses who have cameras that record live footage. See information at City of Surrey website under www.surrey.ca/publicsafety or http://www.surrey.ca/community/20957.aspx
• Contact Blair if your neighbourhood wants to start a Block Watch
• Don’t leave your car warming up outside unless you sit in it.
• Alarm your house – windows and doors can be wired
• Jewelry/cash – put in secure place such as a safe bolted to the floor

Development – Update on Oct 18 Public Open House for Abbey Ridge (east of 172):
• Originally this area was called East Fraser Heights/Abbey Ridge but FH was dropped from this name. Anything north of #1/ south of SFPR is normally considered part of FH
• A year ago, the FH REC centre was packed for an open house about this area.
• At the meeting on Oct 16, 2016, Don Luymes stated that the density of Abbey Ridge was scaled back slightly from what had originally been planned.
• Since then, some FH directors and residents had a meeting with Canadian Horizons who have made 3 proposals for that area
• The area from 182A/98 Ave has a 40 lot subdivision that has all RF 13 lots proposed (these are 8 to 10 units per acre). These are small lots with big 3 storey homes, most containing suites and have an extra parking spot along the front of the house.
• The 49 lot subdivision has 8 RF or slightly bigger and 41 lots are RF13.
• The community wants to stop this. We need to get as many people to go to City hall/write emails as possible so these proposals don’t get passed. See Surrey.ca for list of councillors and their contact information (http://www.surrey.ca/city-government/2999.aspx). This is just the start of developing that area so if this is allowed, it will set a precedence of small lots/big houses for future developments in that area.
• The map showed townhouses on a site by the gorge
• This developer, Canadian Horizons, has spent the last few years assembling land in FH – they were proud of the RF12 in Morgan Creek they have completed (very small lots with large houses and suites).
• Stage 2 hasn’t passed but will be going before council before Christmas. Please write the mayor and each council member before Christmas
• The City is only required to send letters to residents that live within 100 meters of a proposed development. One block is 200 meters so 100 meters is a ½ block in any direction from the site. Those selling their lots won’t protest and often, they’d be the only ones getting the letters. Let your neighbours and our FH Community Association know if you see green signs going up.
• Ed MacIntosh created a page of the information you should include in your email which you can get by emailing him or at www.fhca.ca.
• State you are opposed to the proposal. Note the proposal # on your email. Say you are not opposed to development but not at the density proposed. If you have ideas as to what you’d like put in that area, suggest it (e.g., RF housing instead of RF13).
• These small lots could devalue the property values of existing homes in the area.
• The townhomes at High Crest are still being constructed – these will have a heavy impact on our community as well.
• Abbey Ridge children would be in the Bothwell catchment area. Bothwell does have some space for new elementary students but not at the density proposed by all the developments going into this area. Fraser Heights Secondary School is 40% over capacity and has multiple portables on site (and this is after an extension to the school). The school population figures were as of Nov 2016 – the total capacity may not be correct as class sizes will be reduced as per the Supreme Court of Canada ruling which will come into effect in 2017 Sept.

SCHOOL / CAPACITY / ENROLMENT / (UNDER) OVER
Bothwell / 315 / 210 /(105)
Dogwood / 490 / 367 / (123)
Erma Stephenson / 415 / 463 / 48
Fraser Wood / 528 / 528 / 0
Fraser Hts Secondary / 1000 / 1405 / 405

List of Developments:
• 5 new developments have passed 3rd reading at City Hall this year
• All were RF subdivisions – total of 43 homes
• Council meeting on Monday Dec 5th (advertised in Now paper this past Thursday) – the revised Parkview Place proposal is up for final reading and will most likely pass. It originally was full of RF12s a year ago but residents sent letters and showed up at public hearings to get the density decreased. There are now 58 lots – density 5.14 units per acre.
• 11 RF homes had already been passed
• Note, with all the development in the Parkview Place area, there will be around 99 homes which will make it fairly densely populated with limited access.

Trans Mountain pipeline:
• Meeting at Holiday Inn at Guildford on December 1, 6 to 8 p.m. to show proposed routes.
• They are staying to the Perimeter Road side, will jump up one of the hills and then back down

Traffic Circle (108 Ave/156 St) Public Art presentation by Liane Davidson (Visual and Community Art Manager):
• Surrey Public Art was established in 1998 (see website www.surrey.ca/publicart or http://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/1653.aspx) and is put on City land, usually in a high traffic area so will be seen by many. There is a map online of all public art in Surrey and a page on Guildford/FH on the site. Public art is at 152 St/Lincoln Dr (north end of Aquatic Centre) to welcome those coming off the Port Mann Bridge into Surrey.
• It is funded by taking 1.25% of hard construction costs when building new civic facilities, not from public taxes.
• Public art is guided/selected by residents
• In 2006, there was a recommendation for art in the traffic circle at 108 Ave/158 St but no money was available at that time. Instead, a tree was planted in that circle.
• $90,000 was budgeted for public art at 108 Ave/156 St a year ago and an infrastructure was installed in the traffic circle to support the art. The project is on hold to allow the community time to think about it. Planting a big tree is not an option for this roundabout as there are too many services running under the circle that could be compromised by a tree.
• Artwork that sits high above a traffic circle helps identify a roundabout is ahead. It is lit at night with soft light.
• Although the Public Art was recommended for the roundabout, it is possible to suggest other sites as long as they are on City land. There is a structure already inside the FH Rec Centre.
• 104 Ave/160 St is also a FH Gateway but it is provincial land so the City cannot place art there.
• If you have ideas on other locations in FH for public art, contact Liane
• Art Themes our community might like to explore could be about transportation past and present, nature, Circle of Connection etc., (as we are like an island between two Hwys (#1 and #17 or SFPR).
• Multipurpose Room 5 is reserved at Rec centre for Tues Jan 10th, at 7 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss sites and locations and what type of art for the Public Art in FH

Fraser Heights Pond Planting presentation by Tamsin Baker:
• Tamsin Baker is the Stewardship Coordinator of the South Coast Conservation Program which facilitates the conservation of species and ecological communities that are at risk. They can be contacted at www.sccp.ca, on Facebook or contact them directly at info@sccp.ca
• BC Conservation Data Centre – their guide shows how various species are doing – red is for endangered or threatened, blue is to keep an eye on, yellow – the species is OK
• Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)
• Development and changes in landscape are the biggest threats to animals/plants
• Rare Critters of FH:
a) Fraser Glen Pond at Fraser Glen Dr and 104 Ave has the Pacific Water Shrew (an insectivore). These little pointed-nose rodents are federally endangered. They exist in only 25 locations in Canada. They like to hunt for insects in the water. Hairs on their feet allow them to run across the water really quickly (also called Jesus Shrew). To capture prey, they blow bubbles
b) Pacific Great Blue Heron is a species of special concern. They may stand along pond feeding or may nesting there. Their nests are protected by law. Give them a lot of space and do not disturb.
c) Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly – It is found from July to Nov
d) Anderson’s Water Boatman – swims in the water. Its hind legs look like oars and it eats plants by injecting a straw-like structure into the plant, injecting digestive enzymes then sucking up the juices formed.
• City of Surrey is onboard with the various projects of planting native species and removing invasive species (such as blackberry). In 2015, part of the southern side of Fraser Glen Pond was planted along with BCIT student volunteers. A March 2016 planting had the help of high school student volunteers. At last month’s planting, it poured with rain but many volunteers helped and 400 plants were put into ground that day. The City supplies the tools, plants and food for the volunteers.
• There will be more work parties for this pond – the dates are to be determined.
• There is a Nature Stewards program that can help residents to improve their own property using native plants (may even get some free plants). For information on this, contact Tamsin at tamsin@sccp.ca, 604-202-2381, or www.sccp.ca
• Beavers still exits at the pond – new plantings have been fenced so beavers don’t eat them

The upcoming FHCA meetings for the 2016/2017 year will be:
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Wednesday May 10, 2017

Minutes, Fraser Heights Community Association, May 4 2016

Posted on May 15, 2016 by lryerson

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES
May 4, 2016

President’s report
• Web site – www.fhca.ca
• Marcie Kroeker, president
• FHCA is a volunteer organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
• The FHCA gathers four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
• FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
• If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
• If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page). You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year. There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.
• Our Community Association mailing address is PO Box 74042, Surrey, V4N 1N9.

We were treated to a delightful musical performance by Soundscape A Cappella Chorus prior to the start of our FHCA meeting. Soundscape will be presenting “The Perfect Song”, a musical extravaganza, on Saturday, June 4, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Fraser Heights Secondary School Theatre (16060 108 Ave, Surrey). More information can be obtained at www.soundscapesings.ca and tickets can be obtained at www.brownpapertickets.com – they are $20 for adults, $12 for students and children under 5 are free. The theatre will be transformed into a 1950’s coal mine during one of the songs. Bring a flashlight if you’re afraid of the dark. There are overlying stories that go with the songs to provide a very entertaining performance.

Treasurer’s report
• Financial statement – total account balance is $3480.12

RCMP update on safety and security – District Commander Sergeant Laurie Clarkson was unable to attend tonight. She can be reached at Laurie.Clarkson@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
• Cst. Cynthia Sciortino, cynthia.sciortino@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, has been in Guildford for one year. Her job is to bridge the gap between the community and RCMP by doing investigations for drug offenses, firearms, property crimes, etc. and to attend community meetings.
• S/Cst. Dennis Bell dennis.w.bell@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, has been with the RCMP for 8 years and completed some extra training in Regina from October until March of this year. If you have any concerns or issues, please email Dennis as email is the best way to contact him. Dennis had some sayings he calls “Dennisisms”. One of these was “You don’t know what you don’t know until you know … then you know.” If you don’t report crimes in Fraser Heights, there will be no record of them so police can’t track the criminals/hot spots of activity. Call the Non-Emergency RCMP number 604-599-0502 about any incidents, no matter how small they seem. You can also make reports at http://www.surrey.ca/city-services/667.aspx or by using the Surrey Request app.
• Heather Paradis heather.paradis@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, Cst Cynthia and S/Cst. Dennis attended tonight’s meeting to present the police report.
• District 2 – there were 198 criminal events Jan to Apr 2015 and 48 events Jan to Apr 2016. The Surrey RCMP website posts crime sites for last 6 months (http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=103). You can also email Sgt Dennis Bell or Sgt Lori Clarkson for more information.
• Mail theft – there were 738 mailbox thefts in 2015 (Jan to Apr) but only 286 in same time frame in 2016. A significant decrease. Remember to remove your mail daily so it can’t be stolen. If you see anything suspicious, call the non-emergency # (604-599-0502) for the RCMP. No problem is too small. 1+ 1 theory – if one thing is not right, probably something else is not right.
• Mailbox break-ins – thieves take personal information from cheques and mail for identity theft, especially during tax season when refund cheques are mailed out. Gov’t will be doing income tax refunds in 2017 by direct deposit only – they will no longer be issuing cheques.
• Mailbox thefts occur 24/7, even in broad daylight. The old mailboxes could be broken into in 10 seconds. New boxes are a lot more secure. Mailboxes in high rises or apartment buildings can be broken into easily but thieves must first gain entry to the buildings. Don’t let strangers in and remember to remove mail daily.
• A Canada Post worker in FH had the mailbox master keys stolen so please watch out for your postal carrier as well keeping your eyes on the mailboxes!
• If you are having parcels delivered to your front door, alert a neighbour that you are expecting a delivery as thieves have stolen parcels off porches. You can request to have your signature collected or sometimes you can arrange for a specific date and time to have the parcel delivered. When Canada Post delivers parcels, they will take them back to the local depot if no answer or they won’t fit in the community mailboxes. If you will be going away, ask Canada Post to put a hold on your mail until you return.
• Thieves often take the insurance documents and garage openers from cars they break into. They’ll then scope out your house and try to break in when no one is home. Take a photocopy of your insurance documents with a post it note over your name and address and keep this in the glove compartment. Keep your originals in your trunk or a safe place in your car. Bring your garage opener out of your vehicle when leaving your vehicle. If go away for extended period of time, unplug the opener from the electrical outlet in your garage as thieves will use “frequency clickers” and go around trying to open garages. The outlet is usually in the ceiling of garage. Some of the newer garage door openers have a button that says lock – press and hold this button for 3 seconds – it will lock garage and remote will no longer open the garage. Some newer cars will allow you to program the garage opener into the car itself. If you don’t want to unplug the power cord, put a dowel or screwdriver in track of opener and garage will only open a few inches. This won’t break the spring.
• For residents renting suites/houses, it was advised to do a criminal record’s check and credit bureau check on potential renters.
• There was a code-red lock-down at North Surrey last week for a weapons call. Although this did not take place at the school, this procedure is used if the incident is within a certain radius of a school. The house involved was identified and there was no need for public concern.
• There have been several complaints and ongoing concern about young men loitering, smoking pot and racing cars behind Erma Stephenson school in the vicinity of 109 Ave 159 Street. RCMP will look into this. Starting in May, Thurs to Sun, the parks will be patrolled. If you see suspicious activity, phone RCMP nonemergency line (604-502-6500)
• On Saturday, May 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Surrey RCMP will be hosting a SHRED-A-THON at 10355 King George Blvd. This is a free service to have your personal documents safely shredded. Donations of cash or non-perishable foods for the Surrey Food bank would be greatly appreciated. There will be another SHRED-A-THON in Fraser Heights in September (date unknown at time of this meeting).

RCMP School Liaison officer-
• The school liaison officer for the Fraser Heights schools is Cst. Christina Martin who was unable to attend this meeting. She can be reached at christina.martin@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
• RCMP Youth Unit – Sgt Cyrus Nava attended tonight’s meeting – he has been with the RCMP for 19 years but just started with schools last year.
• Outreach and engagement to youth – every youth unit officer is passionate about their work as they personally chose to work in this field.
• Enforcement, intervention, education, safety – at-risk youth and young offenders in Surrey School district are targeted for this program.
• The officers’ service and policing is offered to all Surrey Schools Monday to Friday, 8 to 4.
• If arrests are to be made, it is usually done by the Liaison officer at the youth’s home where statements, photographs, ID and follow up with parents take place. Arrested youth are usually released to their guardians.
• YCJS – provides counseling, deals with mental health issues and helps regulate social media (Bill C-13 – to protect Canadians from Online Crime and making it illegal to distribute intimate images of a person without their consent).
• The liaison offers give presentations at schools, put on the Surrey kids’ conference, practice lock downs and lock outs at the schools and attend the schools to provide a visible presence to the staff and students.
• WRAP program – this preventative program identifies youths at risk and provides an initiative to steer them away from criminality. They work with kids from 12 to 17.
• Code Blue – This is a new fitness/police related training program for youth to build positive relationships between youth and police. It runs for 1 hour a week after school – the students get involved in activities such as playing basketball.
• Fraser Heights Secondary School has a girls’ group consisting of 10 to 15 girls that meet with Cst. Christina Martin. They discuss mental health, sexual health, internet etc. and go on some outings.
• Big Brothers program – officers meet with a child once a week for an hour at the child’s school (elementary school-aged children) and play sports or whatever child would like to do
• High fives – the officers try to visit an elementary school once a week and will play tag, basketball or other activities in the school yard during lunch or recess.
• Think of me – ICBC and Surrey School Board educate parents and students about crossing streets, jay walking, using sidewalks, obeying posted speed limit (30 Km zone) and watching out for children.
• RCMP officers involved in the youth program are:
a) Sgt Neil Kennedy, 778-593-3129 neil.kennedy@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
b) Cpl Mike Dougherty 778-593-3377 mike.dougherty@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
c) Cpl David Fouche 604-502-6282 david.fouche@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Proposed Crosswalks on 160 St and 108 Ave
• A presentation was made by Philip Bellefontaine on new crosswalks that are in the planning stages for 108 Ave and 160 St.
• Concerns had been raised about safety around schools so comprehensive plans are under design to deal with these concerns. The City is proposing to introduce 2 new crosswalks near the high school. They have been planned by the Road Safety Advisory Committee in conjunction with Fraser Heights Secondary School. There will be a pedestrian/cyclist crossing with overhead flashing lights on 160 Street at 107 Ave to allow those using the new multiuse pathway to safely cross 160th at that point.
• There will be another crosswalk installed along 108 Ave from the FH high school driveway to the mall across the street. It will be a 2 stage crossing with a protected “wait area” within the new raised median which will be fenced. The left turn into the high school will be maintained but cars heading east on 108 Ave will not be able to turn left into the mall by Tim Horton’s. Instead, they will have to enter where the A&W is. When this mall was developed, there was a covenant put in about restricting access if heading east on 108 Ave. The crosswalk proposal is in the design phase. Details will be shared as the plans are firmed up.
• The process for installing these crosswalks will take a year to design and implement curbs, sidewalks, timing of signal etc. These midblock crosswalks are planned for construction in 2017. Vehicles must stop when lights are flashing.
• Residents suggested ticketing students jaywalking to and from the high school but in order to do this, officers would be needed to enforce the law.

New Pedestrian and Cycle Path in Fraser Heights (a visual presentation):
• Presentation shown at the meeting can be found at: http://www.surrey.ca/files/FHCA_Presentation_Feb_19_2014_FINAL.pdf
• Ehab Taha (ETaha@surrey.ca) gave a presentation on the Fraser Heights Greenway which is a multiuse pathway for people of all ages and abilities whether walking, cycling, rollerblading, using a scooter or skateboard etc. It runs from the #1 Hwy/Port Mann Bridge and when finished, will connect FH with Tynehead Regional Park via the Tynehead overpass and continue on to Golden Ears Way to the Golden Ears Bridge.
• 2011 – The Tynehead overpass was constructed. It is one of longest cycling/pedestrian bridges in Lower Mainland. This bridge has reduced traffic in FH as parents of Pacific Academy (PA) students can park on the Tynehead side of the bridge and walk across to the school. The Tynehead overpass is illuminated at night and allows FH residents access to Tynehead Park for recreation purposes.
• Destinations along the new portion of the multiuse pathways are FH Secondary School, Dogwood, PA and Bothwell schools.
• In 2014, a portion of Barnston Drive was completed (along the south side of Pacific Academy) from 168 to 170A Streets. In 2015/2016, a portion of the FH Greenway has been under construction on the old 154 Street from 108 to 110 Avenues. The project is open but not completely finished. Lighting was installed in the median but planting has not been completed. Trees line the outside perimeter. It is quite welcoming to walk/cycle along this roadway! Lines have been painted for cyclists to use the side west of the median and pedestrians use the east side.
• Funding has been confirmed to finish remaining portions of this multiuse pathway (#1 through to Golden Ears)
• Parts of this pathway will run along the Kinder Morgan right-of-way. These sections of the trail will be paved with asphalt and accessible for all. No lighting will be installed along the this right of way as Kinder Morgan does not allow energized infrastructure on the right-of-way for safety concerns.
• Culverts will be installed for the creek crossing southeast of the FH Rec Centre
• The FH Greenway route has been completed along 108 Ave from 154 to 156 Streets. It continues down the east side of 156 Street to 107 Ave, heads east along 107 to 157 St, turns south along 157 that becomes 106A then 107 Ave and will come out on 160 Street where there will be an activated push button side-mounted flashing signal for crossing 160th Ave. It then continues south along the east side of 160 St past the Rec Centre to the Kinder Morgan right of way where it will head east, following the right of way until it crosses 104 Ave at Parkview Place where a crosswalk with flashing lights will be installed. It will follow the local roadways in the Parkview Place area and come out on 102 Ave, joining up with the pedestrian overpass at 168 St and with the section of the pathway that was completed on Barnston Ave. There will be signage and pavement markings on this route. The route will include a number of improvements, including curb bulges, marked crosswalks, lighting, ditches closed in and activated flashing crossing lights where needed.

Development:
• Parkview Place Development Update (this development is in the area approx. from 104 Ave to #1 Hwy and between 165 to 167 Streets). Qualico and CitiWest are putting on an Open House Monday May 9, 2016 from 6 to 9 p.m. at FH Rec Centre (an email will be sent out and it will be posted on the fhca.ca website). They have changed the design of the development and are looking for feedback. The RF12 housing has been removed from the proposed development, RFG lots have been added to the design and more parkland has been added. Make sure you fill out the feedback forms to have your voice heard. The developers have to go back to the City to obtain approval so it has paid off for the residents who voiced their concerns previously. There are fewer houses proposed to be built.
• There has been no new information on the piece of property up for development along 108 Ave from 154 (Fraser Heights Greenway) to 155 Streets.
• There will be a road upgrade on the west side of 156 Street between Northview Park and 112 Ave. The ditch will be covered over and a sidewalk will be added. Note – upgrades to 156 from 108 to 112 have been requested for years but the City does not have plans for this in the near future.

Surrey Bend Park – the Grand Opening was held on April 16th. This new park is well worth taking a trip to see what the City has created! There are trails, picnic areas and places for kids to play. It is off 104 Ave. on the left as you go to the Barnston Island ferry dock (east of 176/Hwy 17 along 104 Ave).

Fraser Heights Country Fair – this is an annual event and will be held on Friday, June 10th from 5 to 9 p.m. It is put on by Swordfern, the managers of the two malls that contain Nesters and the Esso station (on the northeast and northwest sides of 160th St and 108 Ave.) and Erma Stephenson Elementary School. Events will be held at all 3 locations. Proceeds from this fair will benefit the community and Erma Stephenson School.

Wine Store – this will be opening soon (next to Nesters). They are in the final stages of getting permits for both Provincial and City licensing.

Members Concerns/Announcements:
• A resident made a request for an activated crossing in the vicinity of 105 Ave across 160 Street. It was pointed out that this was not a safe place to cross as it was too close to the Hwy #1 onramp and the traffic speed is often higher at that point along 160 Street.

The next FHCA meeting will be in September 2016 – date to be announced