General Meeting Minutes
March 4, 2020
Beecher Place
37 people in
attendance including Councilor Annis
1. Mark Lepik, City of Surrey Parks
Operation Coordinator
- The pier needs extensive repairs to 6 pilings and the surface deck. This will be carried out fall 2020 for a cost of between $200,000 and $300,000.
- The
playground structure at
- The beach pathway will be continued from the boat launching area to the entrance to the spit.
2. The meeting was called to order by the President.
3. A motion to adopt the November 2019 and January 2020
minutes was moved by Eileen Davidson and Seconded by Ron Sorensen, followed
with a show of hands in favour.
4. Directors Report –
- Treasurers Report: CBPOA has north of $56,000 in bank account and term deposits. Its acceptance was moved by Michael Eyre, seconded by Art Van Wart followed with a show of hands in favour.
- Membership – A reminder that the annual drive always requires new volunteers and that the Membership Secretary position needs to be filled in September 2020. Please and support your Association by volunteering for these duties
5. The President called for the membership to support their
Association by putting their names forward for the following positions which
will need to be filled at the September Annual meeting. They are two year terms
- President
- Vice President
- Membership Secretary
Henri Wendel was welcomed as a Director at Large. Henri is a
long time Crescent Beach
resident.
6. Working Group Reports
- Church Property Working Group – Sources tell us that property remains unsold with only one proposal still under consideration although more proposals are being solicited by the Church.
- Transport
and Traffic Calming Group - Laura Thibeault and Leanne Mason held responsive
meetings with Jaime Boan and Ken Karunaratne, and Councilor Annis. An
interesting development was the City’s undertaking to fund
- Blackie Spit Working Group is making good progress on its agenda. See attached report.
7. New Business –
- Whistle Cessation – Councilor Annis indicated that there was Agreement in principle between the City and BNSF giving much hope that it will become a certainty in the near future.
- Emergency Preparedness – A Working Group was established to put structure and form to our preparedness. Jane Jamieson will head up the group along with Dave Grant. Please call Jane at 604-535-2408 to assist with this important project.
- The need for more washroom facilities and better tops for garbage containers was brought up. Councilor Annis will do some follow-up.
- CBPOA Communication System. The present email system has become unworkable and needs to be renewed. Suggestions from the floor included contacting the Swim Club as to how they set up their system, calling for a member to volunteer to analyze our needs and for IT types to assist with its development.
8. A motion to adjourn was moved by Ron Sorensen and
seconded by Michael Eyre and agreed to by the group.
Next meeting: Wednesday May 6 at 7:30 PM
March 5, 2020
Leanne and I met recently with Jaime Boan, Transportation Manager, and Ken Karunaratne, Traffic
Engineering Manager, at Surrey City Hall to discuss two traffic issues - congestion and gridlock. These have occurred during times when there is a high influx of visitors to Crescent Beach. Most recently this occurred on January 1st. We hoped to bring these issues to their attention and explore strategies for dealing with emergency situations that require emergency vehicles to have access in and out of the beach. Both Jaime and Ken were open to considering a number of ideas. However budgets are very tight for planning and road improvements.
Prior to the CBPOA General Meeting, we met with Councillor Linda Annis, to share the results of our meeting at City Hall and the suggestions we received. She offered assistance in many the areas as noted.
1) Status of the Neighbourhood Plan: Jaime replied that no further actions or changes are planned for the Crescent Beach Land Use Plan as the community did not support land use nor transportation changes that would dictate changes to the Plan.
2) Addition of either Lights or Traffic Circle at 128 th St & Crescent Rd Intersection sooner than currently planned:
We offered to provide stats, photos and videos of unsafe and crowded traffic to the City as proof that this is needed. We also asked if a counter cord could be used to prove the point of high traffic numbers. Jaime reported that they are working with their contractor to provide a new mobile pole to place cameras at this location which will provide traffic counts, video footage and average speed between the railway crossing and 128 th Street. They hope to have it in place within the next 4 weeks.
3) Installing a turning lane to move right onto 128 th Street at the Chevron Station: Many of us sidle up beside a car going straight ahead into the intersection already; why not make it official to move people out of the beach more quickly. It may be considered. Councillor Annis said she would talk to the appropriate department.
4) Provision of Safety Devices such as AEDs at Crescent Beach: It occurred to us seeing as many solutions we were discussing were far off in the future, it might be appropriate to ask the City of they would help provide AEDs in the interim in case of situations where it was difficult to get emergency services through to the public. They were given the brochure that Karen had brought to our last meeting. Jaime has asked if we would be willing to consider two locations including outside Beecher Place and the lifeguard tower at the end of Sullivan. He mentioned the units that cost $6,000 come with a 2 year maintenance guarantee that the City’s Recreational Services budget could cover. This would be a pilot project. Councillor Annis noted that she would to check to make sure the units they were talking about were the preferable ones and make a special motion to Council to move that forward if that’s what CBPOA wanted to do.
5) Community Auxiliary Police Directing Traffic: Councillor Annis suggested she could talk to the Chief of Police to see if Community Auxiliary Policing could be used to direct traffic when gridlock and traffic jams occur.
6) Installation of pay parking and/or parking lot counters: These were touched on briefly but the expense of additional equipment and the problem of people then parking in front of residences made the measures less attractive at this point.
Respectfully submitted
Laura Thibeault and Leanne Mason
March 5, 2020
Leanne and I met recently with Jaime Boan, Transportation Manager, and Ken Karunaratne, Traffic
Engineering Manager, at Surrey City Hall to discuss two traffic issues - congestion and gridlock. These have occurred during times when there is a high influx of visitors to Crescent Beach. Most recently this occurred on January 1st. We hoped to bring these issues to their attention and explore strategies for dealing with emergency situations that require emergency vehicles to have access in and out of the beach. Both Jaime and Ken were open to considering a number of ideas. However budgets are very tight for planning and road improvements.
Prior to the CBPOA General Meeting, we met with Councillor Linda Annis, to share the results of our meeting at City Hall and the suggestions we received. She offered assistance in many the areas as noted.
1) Status of the Neighbourhood Plan: Jaime replied that no further actions or changes are planned for the Crescent Beach Land Use Plan as the community did not support land use nor transportation changes that would dictate changes to the Plan.
2) Addition of either Lights or Traffic Circle at 128 th St & Crescent Rd Intersection sooner than currently planned:
We offered to provide stats, photos and videos of unsafe and crowded traffic to the City as proof that this is needed. We also asked if a counter cord could be used to prove the point of high traffic numbers. Jaime reported that they are working with their contractor to provide a new mobile pole to place cameras at this location which will provide traffic counts, video footage and average speed between the railway crossing and 128 th Street. They hope to have it in place within the next 4 weeks.
3) Installing a turning lane to move right onto 128 th Street at the Chevron Station: Many of us sidle up beside a car going straight ahead into the intersection already; why not make it official to move people out of the beach more quickly. It may be considered. Councillor Annis said she would talk to the appropriate department.
4) Provision of Safety Devices such as AEDs at Crescent Beach: It occurred to us seeing as many solutions we were discussing were far off in the future, it might be appropriate to ask the City of they would help provide AEDs in the interim in case of situations where it was difficult to get emergency services through to the public. They were given the brochure that Karen had brought to our last meeting. Jaime has asked if we would be willing to consider two locations including outside Beecher Place and the lifeguard tower at the end of Sullivan. He mentioned the units that cost $6,000 come with a 2 year maintenance guarantee that the City’s Recreational Services budget could cover. This would be a pilot project. Councillor Annis noted that she would to check to make sure the units they were talking about were the preferable ones and make a special motion to Council to move that forward if that’s what CBPOA wanted to do.
5) Community Auxiliary Police Directing Traffic: Councillor Annis suggested she could talk to the Chief of Police to see if Community Auxiliary Policing could be used to direct traffic when gridlock and traffic jams occur.
6) Installation of pay parking and/or parking lot counters: These were touched on briefly but the expense of additional equipment and the problem of people then parking in front of residences made the measures less attractive at this point.
Respectfully submitted
Laura Thibeault and Leanne Mason
Blackie Spit Working Group Report - 2020-3-4
Action Items
2019.01 The beachfront path should be extended to the end of the parking lot in order to provide safe pedestrian access to the Spit as suggested in the Blackie Spit Master Plan 1999.
Status: ONGOING
- 2020-1-29 We met with Sukhi Bahia - Business Operations Section - Surrey Parks Division at Blackie Spit and walked the suggested location of the beachfront path extension.
- 2020-02-20 Mark Lepik - City of Surrey Park Operations Coordinator advised the path should not be a big issue to provide
- Funding is available and they would strive to accomplish prior to summer 2020. however first they must;
- Design path location above high tide line
- Determine if 1st Nations involvement required
2019.02 We support the day and event use of the park managed through the use of City permits.
Status: ONGOING NO UPDATE TO REPORT
2019.03 Develop a staged plan to increase parking capacity on the Spit. Consider extending the parking lot eastwards to the small creek.
Status: ONGOING NO UPDATE TO REPORT
2019.04 Remove the current paddle board shack at the end of the contract between the operator and the City.
Status: COMPLETED
- The paddle board shack was removed Nov 18 2019 (late) after reminders sent from the committee to Surrey Parks
2019.05 Future operations should be limited to day use roll in/roll out trailers managed using City permits.
Status: ONGOING:
- The Working Group sent additional communications to Sukhi
Bahia reiterating CBPOA’s position re further contracts to be roll in/roll out operation. - Surrey Parks are preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit Vendors to bid on supplying services.
2019.06 Support for the annual RCMP summer weekend initiative as part of overall beach and park security.
Status: ONGOING NO UPDATE TO REPORT
2019.07 Continue to rely on City regulation and park hours to limit the use of possible future temporary day use concession facilities.
Status: ONGOING NO UPDATE TO REPORT
Additional Action Items
2019.08 Advise Surrey of our Committee now taking charge of Blackie Spit related issues.
Status: COMPLETED
2019.09 Ensure the Appropriate people in Surrey Parks have received a copy of the Working Groups Presentation and Summary Letter
Status: COMPLETED
2019.10 Have Surrey re post the Blackie Spit Master Plan on their website
Status: COMPLETED
No comments:
Post a Comment