President’s report/Opening remarks
- Web site – fhca.ca
- Ed MacIntosh, president
- FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time (no payment is received by any volunteers) to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development.
- The FHCA will meet 3 times this school year (Sept 18, 2019; Jan 29, May 6, 2020).
- 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 but donations are very welcome as they help pay for rental of meeting facilities, AV equipment, insurance etc. 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 the current financial status.
RCMP update on safety and security by District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer (Community Response Unit). You can contact Sgt. Mike Spencer 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.
- A large scale arrest was made about 3 weeks ago in District 2, not too far from Fraser Heights (FH). Most of what was found was stolen mail, IDs, old driver’s licences, fake IDs. The offender was using the stolen mail to make fake IDs and cards. None of the seized materials appeared to be related to FH residents. The accused was charged with multiple offences.
- B&Es – Sept 10-16, Oct 8-14 – only one break in – to a garage
- B&Es Oct 15-21- two in the same area as above
- Nov 5-18 and Dec 10-16 – one B&E in each week
- Dec 31-Jan 13 – zero in FH but dense crime stats to the west of FH
- Don’t be complacent – make sure you remove belongings and lock your vehicles
- Neighbourhood Threshold Analysis – stats show an expected 7 day range – a low and high # over the years – we are below the lowest expected # at present.
- TFAs (Theft From Autos) – thieves break into cars but don’t steal them:
- There were 4 in Sept, 5 in Nov, 7 in Dec, and 5 in Jan
- Catching someone committing a TFA and enforcing it is very difficult as they are in and out of cars very quickly
- Thieves continue to drive/cycle through FH, going driveway to driveway looking for quick theft – they pull on the door handles and if locked, leave the vehicles
- Map showed areas where they got into car (reported by residents), not how many door handles were tried. With chip-key technology, hot wiring cannot start vehicles.
- Lockers at FH Rec Centre – people have broken into lockers, stolen keys, and taken cars.
- At gas stations, thieves watch people walk into the store to prepay then they jump into and take those cars. Lock your car and take the keys if you go into the store.
- Key drops – thieves target these. The mechanic has no idea you’ve dropped off your car previously as both the key and car are taken by the thief.
- The stats on cars broken into don’t show whether the cars were left unlocked or were broken into but about 95% were unlocked and 5% smashed open. A key reader is an electronic device that uses Blue Tooth to read code off keys but it is very expensive and a thief would need to be very close to the car to operate it. Cameras are not a deterrent. If you own older vehicle, get 2ndary security for your vehicle.
- Online reporting system – PLEASE report all crimes, no matter how trivial. Each reported crime puts a dot on the map and it allows the police to allocate resources to the areas hit by crime. If you don’t report a crime, it’s as if it didn’t happen. Sometimes, the dots show the activity of a gang which the police can follow with the hope of nabbing the perpetrator. Even if the police cannot solve your crime, they enter the data on the City maps.
- The Surrey RCMP app can be used to report crimes, read about events and news, help identify people, look at crime stats etc. The app has a square dark blue background with a saluting Mountie in the square.
MLA Constituency report for Garry Begg by Deanna Fasciani, Constituency Assistant:
- You can email Garry at begg.mla@leg.bc.ca or call his office at 604-586-3747. Constituency office is at #201 15135 101 Ave (in lot with Wendy’s) and office hours are 9:30 to 4:30 M – F.
- Office – advocacy for constituents and outreach, plus can help connect you to provincial services
- Garry was in Victoria this week
- There is a public engagement on plans for housing affordability. This is open until April 3rd and it will help inform policy to affordability
- This past Dec, a 2nd hospital was proposed in Cloverdale across from KPU Tech. Currently, they are in the process of finalizing budget/planning then put it out for bids before construction starts
- The House is sitting Feb 10/11 2020
MP Constituency report for Ken Hardie by Kamron Bajwa
- Kamron, Constituency Assistant, is new to FH, having moved in a few weeks prior to this meeting
- This was the first week back for House of Commons to be in session in 2020
- Ken Hardie’s office, located at #301, 16088 84th Ave, Surrey, is open M-F – 10 to 4 and appointments can be made.
- 90% of casework Ken’s office handles deals with immigration, CRA, federal matters
- Koffee with Ken – he tries to do this monthly – Feb 15th will be at Quattro Coffee at 152/Fraser Hwy and March 14 will be at Flying cup in FH at 168 St/104 Ave
- Coffee sessions have discussed topics such as autism, medical assistance in dying (town hall in Apr or May). Give voice in policy issues.
- Noted that the current Federal government is a minority government
- Budget is coming up – can submit ideas
Gypsy Moth Spraying in Fraser Heights
- This has been done in the past years and will be done again this year. There was an open house at Erma Stephenson School was on January 21, 2020 to discuss the spraying. The caterpillar form of these moths defoliate forests as well as plants and trees in residents’ yards thereby killing the trees and plants. The spray is made from a naturally occurring biological insecticide found in the soil and is commonly used in organic agriculture (Btk). Livestock, pets, birds, fish, spiders, bees, ladybugs and amphibians are not impacted by Btk
- You can read more about this at gov.bc.ca/gypsymoth or www.healthcanada.gc.ca/pmra, phone 1-800-267-6315 or email pmra.infoserv@hc-sc.gc.ca
Private Liquor Store motion proposed to City Council (that private liquor stores be part of every commercial development)
- Proposal was voted down by a large # of people – it won’t be part of commercial developments.
Traffic:
- Intersection at 104 Ave/Hwy 17 connector – work is practically done. There is a new intersection and there are 2 separated sets of lights. CN has done a huge expansion to get trucks off the street and into their yard.
- Upgrades have been made to the railway, there are new signals with folding arms at 179 St.
- White Rock successfully got the cessation of train whistles so there is hope for FH
Development – residential:
- 10245 & 10267 176 St – 12 single family lot.
- The development has smaller lots, with 15% given back to make a park
- When developers come to FH, they come to our association first, before going to council.
Members Concerns
- Chafer beetle damage – the City does not cover repairing the damage which is caused by raccoons rolling up the grass or crows flicking pieces of grass to eat the grubs (they do a good job ridding lawns of the larvae). Residents who cover their lawns with mesh allow the grubs to destroy the roots of their grass and other plants, mature into adults and then swarm in June/July (they look similar to bees), laying thousands of eggs on their and neighbours’ lawns thus perpetuating the problem year after year. Some residents have had to replace their lawns several times. Keep larvae out of your yard by:
a) planting ground covers such as micro-clover, tall fescue grass or chafer beetle resistant grass
- use hardscape such as garden beds or gravel
- lay artificial turf instead of a lawn
- Apply nematodes, a microscopic round worm that kills the chafer beetle larvae, to the lawn in mid to late July when the larvae are hatching – a watering permit is needed from the City as lawn needs to be watered for many days. Timing is very important or this isn’t very effective.
Rogers Communication Towers – 2 towers were proposed for the corner of 157 St & 110 Ave
- Application was withdrawn (proposals for 104/168 and one by Guildford were also withdrawn)
- There was lots of action in community against these towers and over 100 residents wrote letters/emails opposing this.
- Jack Hundial – cell towers are important for communications but health and visibility concerns are also important.
- Council deals with applications as to where Cell towers will be located. If put on farmland, the adjacent land can’t be used for farming.
- Keep messaging the City if there is a concern about Cell towers proposed for nearby
- Location of towers is proprietary – if Bell sets up a tower then Roger wants to as well. City doesn’t look at putting multiple cell towers on one pole
- Email Jack with your questions and concerns – jack.hundial@surrey.ca
- Cell towers are federally regulated – health concerns. Some of them have been placed on top of standard light posts, 8 feet above.
Last Meeting for the 2019/2020 year will be:
May 6, 2020