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 8th).

 

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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 160th.  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

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