Like all big cities, Surrey has parking problems. City hall is tackling two related bugbears – authorized truck parking in select parts of the city, and the challenge that residential parking presents in East Clayton.
Councillor Brenda Locke said that when she sat on Metro Vancouver’s industrial lands task force she raised Surrey’s long-standing truck parking issue whenever she got a chance. “The fact is, Surrey gets stuck with the problem,” she said.
“Everybody needs trucking, there’s no doubt, it’s the economy on wheels, and we need to have truckers, they’re vitally important to our economy but lots of areas, Vancouver especially, have no provisions for a truck park.”
Locke says provincial leadership is needed on this issue.
“I think this is really something the province, and the Port of Vancouver, have to step up a lot better at, helping us resolve the problem,” she said.
Surrey council passed third reading on three bylaws on Monday, July 13 and also set a public hearing for Monday, July 27 at 7 p.m., related to a pilot on-street truck parking permit program allowing permit holders to park their trucks at all hours in select industrial areas.
The bylaws would also allow for violation tickets to be written, waive the requirement for truck parking facilities to be paved with asphalt or concrete “or similar pavement, with exceptions,” and require truck park owners to submit annual environmental assessments.
The one-year on-street truck parking pilot program is aimed at Port Kells, South Westminster and the industrial area of Cloverdale. According to a city staff report, the criteria for spot selection requires that adjacent property must be industrial or commercial, that the shortest route from the closest truck route must not be adjacent to any residential uses, and that the pavement width be sufficient to accommodate on-street truck parking while also allowing for two clear travel lanes. It also requires adequate sight-lines from all intersections and driveways to be maintained, and that existing streetlights and access to power must be available for installing security equipment.
The report notes a “shortfall in adequate authorized truck parking in Surrey remains an ongoing concern.”
