The Hook

A biologist from the David Suzuki Foundation gave Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts a thumbs up for her “progressive” leadership on the city’s controversial Campbell Heights development.

“At this point, the way she is approaching things, it’s very progressive,” said salmon conservation biologist John Werring.

Campbell Heights is an environmentally fragile area in South Surrey that was approved for large-scale industrial development under former mayor Doug McCallum in 2003.

At the time, the area had evolved from an aging gravel pit into an important wildlife refuge and rich breeding ground for trout and salmon.

But work on Phase One of the development – which encompassed sensitive wetlands, water channels and forests – proved environmentally disastrous, Werring said.

“It was one of the worst examples of fish habitat destruction that I have ever witnessed,” he said.

In addition to decimating fish stocks and driving out wildlife, the project resulted in the drainage of Latimer Lake, a popular local fishing spot. Citizen outrage, coupled with a scathing Suzuki Foundation report, put heavy pressure on Surrey’s municipal government to reconsider plans to develop Phase Two of the Campbell Heights business park.

Werring said the city should have collected more ecological information before it signed off on Phase One. But he said he thinks Watts has learned from past mistakes and now seems to be moving in the right direction.

Under her leadership, the city recently purchased 123 hectares of provincial land near Campbell Heights for $104.5 million. According to the city’s plan, revenues collected from development there will finance the cost over five years and defray pressure to build on Phase Two lands.

In the meantime, a team of biologists has free reign to study the Campbell Heights area and will report back to an experts review panel that includes Werring himself. The panel will then provide advice to Surrey council.

Asked if Watts’ plan was sound, Werring said, “Yes, absolutely it was a good decision.”

Veteran councillor Bob Bose – a long time critic of Watts and a council hopeful under the Surrey Civic Coalition mantle – said the best solution for Campbell Heights is to leave it alone.

If the SCC wins a majority, Bose said he will push legislation to protect the Phase Two lands and move industrial development to a more central location.

“In the long term that offers the greatest opportunity to protect the area,” Bose said.

The South Surrey region -- which includes Campbell Heights and the former provincial land -- sits on a high plateau inaccessible to rail lines, making the SCC plan is economically sound, he said. Surrey should be redeveloping central industrial areas in Newton and Port Kells instead of putting money into the city’s outskirts, he added.

“It makes no sense to develop a truck dependent industrial area, miles away from everything,” Bose said.

Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for the Hook.