Hawthorne Park decision strong sign of Surrey council's arrogance

Hawthorne Park is popular with neighbourhood residents, as it is a quiet oasis in a very busy part of Surrey between Whalley and Guildford. Surrey council has voted to put 105 Avenue through the park, adding a great deal of traffic and cutting the park in two. While council has made its final decision, citizens who disagree can fill out a form to oppose the action through what is known as the alternative approval process. More than 30,000 forms need to be returned to city hall by mid-September in order to stop the council action.

Frank Bucholtz photo

In the past 10 years, Surrey council has become more and more remote from the huge number of people it governs.

The last time there was a competitive election was in 2005, when Dianne Watts challenged incumbent mayor Doug McCallum and his dominant Surrey Electors Team (SET) which she had been part of.

Watts went on to win and eventually corralled almost all the incumbent councillors, SET and otherwise, into the Surrey First slate. In the past two elections, Surrey First has won every seat on council.

With this kind of dominance comes arrogance. Current Mayor Linda Hepner won a landslide victory in 2014 and the eight Surrey First candidates won councillors’ seats by huge margins, even though two rival slates contested the election. A late blitz of advertising featuring Watts’ endorsement of the nine helped, as she remained popular with many residents.

The most recent example of the Surrey First style of arrogance is the complete snubbing of the residents of the Hawthorne Park area, who are trying to keep their park intact. Council, despite a 5,000-name petition, voted unanimously on July 24 to remove a portion of the park from park reserve so that 105 Avenue can be built between Whalley Boulevard and 150 Street. The net effect will be to cut the park in two and diminish a rare oasis of forested land in between the urban centres of Whalley and Guildford.

The new road will also cut very close to Hjorth Road Elementary, squeezing the school between 104 and 105 Avenues. This could have a significant effect on students going to and from school.

Among those supporting the move were Coun. Vera Lefranc, who lives in the area, and Coun. Bruce Hayne, chair of the parks, recreation and sport tourism committee.

This is happening shortly after council approved cutting of hundreds of trees along 100 Avenue between 140 and 148 Street and clearing of part of the northwest quadrant of Green Timbers – a part of the forest that was never included in the Green Timbers urban forest.

Most of these projects are related to the plan to build an LRT line between Newton and Guildford. In order to do so, 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard must be widened substantially and other services need to be placed away from those two streets.

These two photos are of Hawthorne Park. The top one is the existing aerial view via Google Earth. The bottom one has been adjusted by Hawthorne Park activist Richard Landale to show the proposed 105 Avenue cutting through the park. The street on the bottom of each photo is 144 Street, and the view is looking west.

Council actually does not have the last word on Hawthorne Park. The public does. Under a rarely-used process known as the alternative approval process, if 10 per cent of the voting population of Surrey sign the proper forms by Sept. 22, council will either have to put its decision to take a portion of Hawthorne Park out of park reserve to a Surrey-wide vote, or back down.

The city says that at least 30,372 signed forms are needed to obtain the 10 per cent threshold. This is a monumental task in a city this large, particularly in the summer months when many people pay little attention to such issues. The organizers of the petition to save Hawthorne Park are not daunted. They are mounting a campaign to get Surrey residents to sign the forms, and are shooting for at least 35,000 responses.

Details of how to fill out the “elector response forms” to oppose the council decision were included in the corporate report to council last week. It can be found at http://www.surrey.ca/bylawsandcouncillibrary/CR_2017-R161.pdf. Apparently, the form included in that corporate report is not accurate and city hall is working to prepare correct ones. They are not yet ready.

In a similar move two years ago which flew under the radar screen, council removed a portion of Bonnie Schrenk Park in Fleetwood from protection. Once again, it was done during the summer months, and the forms had to be signed and returned to the city between Aug. 6 and Sept. 14, 2015. At that time, forms were available at city hall and online.

That particular park removal was hugely ironic, given that the Schrenk park was named after a former councillor who passed away in the early 1990s. She was best-known for listening to the public and bringing up uncomfortable matters at the council table. If she were here today, it’s safe to say she would not support the removal of a portion of Hawthorne Park from park reserve.

If the city is inundated with elector response forms and has to either withdraw its decision or put the matter to referendum, it would be a mark that citizens are finally starting to take the city back from a council slate that moves in lock step.

Organizers have a big task ahead of them, but council's unwillingness to listen has motivated them. Residents in other parts of Surrey should pay attention to this issue, and if they feel strongly about this action, take the time to sign the alternate approval process forms.