Protest leader says fight not over after failed attempt to block road through park

VANCOUVER — The organizer of a campaign to block road construction through a Surrey park says his battle isn’t over after his group failed to gather enough signatures for a petition that could have killed the project.

The 105th Avenue Connector would cut through the south end of Hawthorne Park, a two-lane road to link Whalley Boulevard and 150th Street, according to city draft plans for the project.

The City of Surrey said it will increase park space by an acre, bring in 200 more trees and provide new amenities. Opponents said it will destroy precious green space used by families in a city where density and population are on the rise.

In order to begin construction of the project, the city needed to remove a reservation bylaw on a portion of the park. The city launched an “alternative-approval process” to do so in August, and in order to stop it, opponents had to gather signatures from 10 per cent of Surrey’s electorate — 30,372 voters — by Sept. 22.

Last week, the city filed a corporate report confirming the campaign to stop the process had failed, after the city accepted just 11,161 signatures by deadline.

“In accordance with Section 86 of the Community Charter, the approval of the electors was obtained,” wrote city clerk Jane Sullivan.

Steven Pettigrew of Save Surrey Parks helped lead a signaturegathering campaign against the 105th Avenue Connector. He slammed the city’s use of an alternative-approval process for what he considers a contentious issue worthy of a referendum.

He said council ignored provincial guidelines for the special process, such as the recommendation it not be used during the summer when it “could result in an artificially low response rate,” according to documents.

“Obviously, we didn’t get the numbers that we wanted, which is exactly what they wanted,” Pettigrew said. “This whole process, it’s been an inappropriate use of government power.”

But Pettigrew, who has lived across the street from Hawthorne for 17 years, said he was not discouraged by the outcome. His group will attend Monday’s council meeting to see how the city plans to proceed.

“We fully intend to keep this in the public,” he said. “They’ve just forgotten that they work for us.”

A second public consultation meeting is planned this fall and construction is expected to begin in January 2018.