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YYour our Wee Weekly e k l y CClover l o ver Valley Newspaper July 24, 2014 Y www.CloverdaleReporter.com Y 604-575-2405
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‘Neglectful. Insulting. A mess.’ Frustration mounts over delays in mall development promise
By Jennifer Lang The sign says Coming Soon: Cloverdale West Village, but business leaders in the historic town centre are bracing for a very long wait until the project breaks ground, and patience is running out. There’s growing frustration that the long-promised redevelopment project – bounded by the Cloverdale bypass and 57 and 58 Avenues – won’t get underway any time soon. Last week, fears of a 10-year timeline or longer to develop the old Cloverdale mall site prompted the president of the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce to speak out to members, calling the City of Surrey and the Surrey City Development Corporation “neglectful and downright insulting to our community.” The Cloverdale Chamber is actively lobbying for improvements on the site in the short-term, Young said, adding a private developer would be expected to clean up the mess but the SCDC is “wholly owned” by the city. Its mandate is to develop city-owned properties such as the former “Safeway” mall site. “It’s not on the [City of Surrey’s] 10year capital plan,” Young told the Reporter Monday, speaking at the Destination Cloverdale offices the chamber shares with the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association. “So what is it, is it 10 years or is it 20 years? Young said, adding Cloverdale busi-
nesses and residents will be living with “a vacant mess” on the largest frontage the town centre has – Highway 15, or the Cloverdale bypass. The old Cloverdale mall was demolished in 2011 as part of a city-backed, multi-phase plan to redevelop the site with a mix of residential and commercial buildings, helping revitalize Cloverdale. The overall project developer is the Surrey City Development Corporation, along with Townline Housing Solutions. The project’s first phase was shelved at the start of 2012 due to market conditions. It was to have included a new home for Cloverdale Legion Branch 6. Site servicing concluded six months ago. Since then, there’s been virtually no activity – except for more remediation work related to contamination from a former dry cleaning operation. The site – in particular the lack of a sidewalk on the north side of 57 Avenue – is the also a top priority for the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association. Months after crews laid down roads, sidewalks and site servicing required to redevelop the site, pedestrians wishing to cross from downtown to West Cloverdale must navigate over rough gravel along a bumpy pathway bordered by pristine cement curbs. “This is part of a project that the City See ‘EXCUSES’ / Page 2
JENNIFER LANG PHOTO
Turning ‘sod’ on a long-delayed revitalization project are representatives from the Cloverdale BIA and the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce: Ben Wevers, left, Paul Orazietti, Rob Paterson and Brian Young. They’re standing on a pile of rubble on what they call Cloverdale’s ‘front door’ – the former Cloverdale Mall site, where it could take another 10 years for redevelopment to get underway.
Mayoral hopefuls have wards in their sights By Kevin Diakiw Surrey will either be getting a ward system or will be going to the polls to let citizens decide if they want one, according a straw poll of current mayoral candidates. Civic ward systems can take many forms, but generally, it means one or two councillors would be elected in each community to represent that area of the city. The mayor would be elected at-large by voters across the city. Surrey had a ward system in place from the first elected council in 1880 until 1957, when it was abolished by the
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province. That was the year that Ward 7 seceded, creating its own municipality called White Rock. Opponents have argued wards can lead to corruption, as one area representative horse trades with another to win projects for their districts. However, in the last 20 years, there has been increasing pressure from the public to bring wards to Surrey. Mayoral candidate Doug McCallum has vowed to implement a ward system here the day he’s elected. His version would have four wards, with two councillors
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each. The mayor would be elected at-large. Surrey First Coun. Linda Hepner told Black Press she isn’t a big fan of wards, but said she will hold a referendum in 2018 allowing the public to decide. Coun. Barinder Rasode is supportive of bringing wards into the city. She said she’s hearing “loud and clear” from Surrey residents that’s what they want. She sees no reason to bring it to referendum but favours an extensive public consultation process before the system is implemented.
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