2009 February Final Minutes

Crescent Beach Property Owner’s Association
February, 2009 General Monthly Meeting

Date: February 4, 2009
Time and Location: 7:30 PM Beecher Place, Crescent Beach
Directors in Attendance:
Mark Nelson – President
Malcolm Stewart – Secretary
Karen MacPherson - Past President
Directors Absent:
Bruce Friesen – Membership Chair
Don Sinclair – Acting Treasurer

Mark Nelson as chair, called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. It was established that a quorum was present. The normal order of business was altered to allow an update on Blackie Spit Park to be presented first.

09.02.01 Blackie Spit Park
Mark introduced Tiina Mack, Parks Planning, Research and Design Manager with the City of Surrey, to provide an update on the plans for Blackie Spit Park.

Tiina offered the following update along with a handout:
o The City purchased the last remaining parcels of the Wickson property in 2007, completing the land acquisition for the park.
o Through meetings and consultations, a vision for the property was developed and 2 concept plans were prepared and presented at an open house in November 2008. Close to 50 people attended the open house and about 80 comment forms were collected.
o Design Concept 2 (grass and gardens) was favoured over Design Concept 1 (Open-air picnic shelter/event gathering place or interpretive centre).
o The design concept includes plans for parking in the area adjacent to the swim club and north along the shore line with a grassed area north of the sailing club for parking or for alternate use when not needed for parking.
o A beach shower is proposed near where the Wickson house once stood along with fencing and/or bollards (pillars) to prevent access to areas not intended for vehicles.
o Money for the complete project has not yet been allocated, however, the first phase which includes filling in of the cul-de-sac, irrigation of the lawn area, establishing the beach flower gardens and building of pathways on the point is expected to begin in the spring.
o The concept plan will go to the City’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Committee, Chaired by chaired by Councilor Mary Martin, for approval on February 25, 2008.

Discussion
o There was vocal concern over the parking design offered in the concept plan, from the perspectives of access, safety, adequacy (more spots needed rather than less) and traffic flow.
o Tiina emphasized the parking design was early in the concept phase and that engineering design work would be done to address safety issues and traffic flow. She expected it would be some time before funds for the parking plan would be allocated.
o There was some discussion on other aspects of the park design including issues relating to drainage in areas planned for pavement. Tiina indicated this would be addressed in the construction and that permeable pavement material would be considered.
o Tiina was thanked for her work and the consultation process.

Errors/Omissions to the December 3, 2008 Minutes
No errors or omissions noted.

Adoption of the December 3, 2008 Minutes
Motion to adopt the minutes: Dick Nelson
Second: Karen MacPherson
Motion carried

Treasurer’s Report – Mark Nelson

Activity in November 2008:
Credits: $840.86
Debits: $2,000.00
As of November 30, 2008:
Term Deposits: $23,579.09
Cash: $12,267.19

Activity in December 2008:
Credits: $0.51
Debits: *$705.90
As of October 31, 2008:
Term Deposits: $23,579.09
Cash: $11,561.00
* The debit is associated with legal costs tied to tax filings and other matters of the CBPOA .

Adoption of the Treasurer’s Report
Motion to adopt the Treasurer’s Report: Carol Abernethy
Second: Ron Sorensen
Motion carried

New Business

09.02.02 Community Emergency Planning
o Mark Nelson provided an update on a recent meeting with the RCMP, Surrey Fire Department, Ambulance Service, Transport Canada and BNSF to discuss emergency access to Crescent Beach. The meeting fell out an earlier meeting that he and Karen MacPherson had with Mayor Watts to discuss a wide range of Crescent Beach Property Owners’ Association issues.
o A summary of the meeting is included at the end of the minutes
o The Fire Chief will be following-up and Mark committed to keep the issue front and centre with the City.

Discussion
o Options for access, including a culvert under the railway track (similar to the one under HWY 99 joining HWY 10 and the dump) when trains are blocking the level crossings.
o A need for a general evacuation plan.
o An emergency contact number and the crossing identifier are located on the silver buildings adjacent to the crossings. The numbers will be posted on our blog.
o Risks associated with the transportation of dangerous cargo and the need to quantify liability of the BNSF in writing.
o Train lengths and frequency. There was general surprise that train lengths and the time a level crossing could be blocked by a moving train were not defined other than for switching. Given the economics of rail transport, we might expect increasing train lengths blocking access for up to 30 minutes

09.02.03 Artesian Wells
o Bruce Wood asked about the Community’s access the 2 artesian wells that once served the community. His interest was related to the access to water should an earthquake or other unexpected event damage the GVRD supply.
o The current status of the wells are unknown and Bruce committed to follow-up and report back to the membership.

Meeting Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn at 8:35 PM: Karen MacPherson
Second: Lorne Clare
Motion carried

Next Meeting
Date: March 4, 2009
Time: 7:30 PM
Place: Beecher Place
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President: Mark Nelson @ 604.531.4999
Vice President: Vacant
Acting Treasurer: Don Sinclair @ 604.541.3931
Membership: Bruce Friesen @ 778.292.1954
Secretary: Malcolm Stewart @ 604.541.9004
Past President: Karen MacPherson @ 604.535.5938
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Meeting to Discuss Emergency Access to Crescent Beach
Mark Nelson’s notes of the January 15, 2009 meeting

Attendees:
Lesli Roseberry, Staff Sergeant RCMP
Bud Livesley, Deputy Fire Chief
Tim Philley, District Superintendent Ambulance Service
John Mills Regional Director Transport Canada
Tony Schuurmans, Trainmaster BNSF
Daniel Fortt, Trainmaster BNSF
Gus Melonas, Regional Director Public Affairs BNSF

Bud Livesley was the person that Mayor Watts tasked with looking into the issue and he coordinated the attendees. I started off by giving an overview of the residents concerns which was emergency access in and out of the beach as well as safe transportation of dangerous goods and signal arms being down when there is no train. I brought up an emergency only access under the trestle bridge.

John Mills gave an overview of the Railway Safety Act which gives the government the ability to create rules and regulations. The Canadian Rail Operating Rules (CROR) governs the operation of trains however there are no regulations on the length of trains which are getting longer due to economics. Rule 103 stipulates that a crossing cannot be blocked for more than 5 minutes when switching. He said that rail companies need to be responsive to community and emergency issues. He said that they take regulatory action against railways for infractions but they require evidence to interviene. They also regulate the transportation of dangerous goods. They obviously look for safety and part of that is reduced speed. He said if the signal arms are down then we need to call the railway and document the incident however documentation is tough for a community.

Tony Schuurmans indicated that the signal arms have a fail safe system built into them and are designed to come down if there is a problem. He did say that we need to call the BNSF number and they will send someone out to fix as it requires manual intervention. This obviously involves travel time so it could take 1/2 hour up depending on the time of day and if they have to call someone out. The number is on the little house by the tracks and they require the crossing number which Karen kindly obtained so we can get on our blog. He talked about the incident they had a year ago that blocked the track for a couple of hours. the problem was a break problem with the train. The breaking system lost pressure and all breaks on all cars went on so the train could not be decoupled and the system had to be re-pressurized which takes 20 to 30 minutes to do. He talked about the number of trains that go through. There are currently 6 cargo trains a day (about 8000 feet in length), two coal trains a day (about 7000 feet in length) and two AMTRACK trains per day. He said that AMTRACK wants to run an additional two more a day and that the the coal trains may double in 09 up to 4 trains per day. He said that due to it being a single track they rarely have more than two trains in a one hour period. Due to the trestle bridge the speed of the train is between 10 and 15 miles per hour so they reduce ware on the bridge however they would like to go faster through the area but can not so the average length the crossings can be blocked is about 10 to 17 minutes. He said that as far as rail standards they meet the higher of the Canadian or American standards.

Lesi Rosbury talked about the number of calls they responded to in 08 which was 265 in the Crescent Beach area alone. She canvassed her staff and they said that there have been times when they have been held up by 5 to 10 minutes but no incidents in the past three years on an emergency situation. She said that there have been times that they have not been able to get out of Crescent Beach on an emergency call which is a concern to them however there are other cars they can call on. They do not have a standard response time goal, at least one that she was willing to say.

Tim Philley said that they don't have a standard response time either, they try to get there ASAP. He did not have the number of times attended in Crescent Beach at hand but did say that 75% of the time people don't need life support requirements. He did say that they can call on helicopters or the hovercraft if necessary but can be weather restricted.

Bud Liveslay said that there were 128 incidents in total over the last three years for the fire department, 72 of which were on medical calls so it was felt safe to assume that the ambulance had to attend 72 times over the last three years as well. I asked him about Surrey's emergency response plan. There is one for Surrey alone and it is not site specific. They follow the BC Emergency Response Model (BCERM) but he did say that he felt that we could develop contingency plans for our area. He commented on having a siren warning system which he is not in favor of as he said it can attract people vs. have them get out of the area and with the amount of people here in the summer they would not know what to do.

There was some general discussion on the trestle bridge. Even if it could be accommodated for vehicles it was felt that fire trucks could not get though. Also any would require the dept. that handles oceans and fisheries to be involved. Gus Melonas asked if we have ever thought of a pedestrian over or under pass which could be used to get people in and out in emergency situations. Karen and I felt that a pedestrian underpass might be something that could work for the community. I asked Gus if BNSF would typically pay for something like this and he said no but he might be able to find some funds for this but did not commit. He also indicated that BNSF is replacing the rail in our area with continuous rail which will make it quieter and more safe. I also asked him about right of way and he said it is a minimum of 50 feet but can be more in places.

John Mills said if there is an incident that the railways are to call a national emergency number through CANUTEC and they dispatch appropriate emergency response groups out.

Another solution that was discussed was to have local emergency groups call BNSF when called out and if there are trains in the area to ask them to stop however to stop it requires about 1/2 to 1 1/2 miles so may not be a good solution.

Lesli Roseberry felt that she should be in the forefront to drive concerns forward but Bud Liveslay is going to take discussion back to Mayor Watts on next steps as she assigned it to him. He is going to get back to me on what the next steps from the city's perspective is. Lesli did indicate from her perspective that she does have concerns about emergency access in and out.