Friday
Nov. 27, 2015 (Vol. 40 No. o. 95 95) 5)
V O I C E
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W H I T E
R O C K
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S O U T H
Christmas spirit: Uptown White Rock is celebrating the season early, continuing an annual tradition of festive fun this weekend. i see page A12
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Property owners potentially on hook for $16,000 if majority vote is backed by White Rock council
Underground-wire poll sparks rift Melissa Smalley Staff Reporter
Residents of a White Rock neighbourhood are expressing concern about an informal petition they’ve received for the ‘undergrounding’ of utility poles and wires that would leave them on the hook for thousands of dollars. The petition, dated Nov. 4, asks residents to identify their support or opposition to the project – spearheaded by local residents – at an estimated cost of $16,200 per property,
excluding “GST and any conversion kits, driveway and boulevard restorations on private property and any administrative costs.” Michael Brennan told Peace Arch News he received the petition two weeks ago and has spoken to several neighbours in the 900-block of Lee Street who agree it is “kind of weird.” “It’s sort of pitting the top of the street against the bottom of the street, that’s very much how it’s being perceived, and people are a little ticked,” Brennan said Tuesday.
“The top of the street has the views and they’re going to make a fortune on this change, and those who are on the bottom, they’re picking up the tab getting nothing in return.” White Rock’s director of engineering and municipal operations Greg St. Louis described the work as a “community-driven initiative,” noting such a project falls under the ‘local area service’ provision in the Community Charter. i see page A4
Melissa Smalley photo
Michael Brennan balks at cost to residents.
In-camera discussions
Metro water costs still not public Melissa Smalley Staff Reporter
Dan Ferguson photo
Brian Coote (far left), David Riley and Langley Township Couns. Kim Richter, Petrina Arnason and David Davis tour Surrey land eyed for a truck park.
Opponents of proposed parking lot say location more than a gravel pit
Langley leaders tour Surrey truck site Dan Ferguson Black Press
Critics of a proposed 77-acre commercial truck park on the Surrey-Langley border say the site is more than just a former gravel pit. They made their case Wednesday afternoon to a group of Langley Township councillors who took a tour of the location at 16 Avenue and 194 Street near the Little Campbell River. The visit by Langley Couns. Kim Richter, Petrina Arnason and David Davis was
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arranged by Brian Coote of the Friends of Hazelmere/Campbell Valley group, along with David Riley from the Little Campbell Watershed Society and Kirk Stevenson, who lives beside the proposed facility on 16 Avenue, near the Langley-Surrey border. Langley senior long-range planner Russell Nelson also attended. Coote said the organizers did not invite Surrey councillors to the tour, because they doubted they would attend.
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They might issue an invitation another time, he added. Coote told the Township council members that it was wrong to describe the site as a “discarded gravel-extraction pit.” Roughly half of the site is actually farm land, the result of landscape restoration work on the gravel pit once the digging was finished. “It’s agricultural land, productive land,” Coote said. i see page A4
Residents seeking answers about White Rock’s recent water-utility purchase are calling on the city to release a 2013 report outlining the projected costs of joining Metro Vancouver’s water system instead. Dennis Lypka first made the request to the city in March 2014 – a year after the city commissioned a report from Metro for projected costs of joining the region’s water – noting, in an email to council and senior staff, that it is a “very public matter with serious ramifications to the community.” At the time, Mayor Wayne Baldwin responded to Lypka’s request noting the city was in talks with Epcor to purchase the utility and that the report “forms part of the city’s negotiating position.” Following another request from Lypka this month – to which city manager Dan Bottrill replied “the city does not want to compromise our negotiating position,” as the city took possession of its utility Oct. 30 without a price agreement – Baldwin told Peace Arch News the report’s confidentiality “was at the request of the GVWD (Greater Vancouver Water District).” “We’re not members of the water district, and it was discussed ini see page A5