The Rock Report - September 2007

While the temperature never got that warm, the politics surrounding Crescent Rock Beach really started heating up in September.
 
The Sept. 10th Surrey Council meeting was jam-packed with South Surrey residents concerned about YVR-bound jets buzzing the beaches.  Nav Canada officials attended but only answered questions from the Mayor and Council.  While they floated the idea their flight path change would reduce greenhouse gases, the new vector actually results in longer flight distances, thus increasing engine exhaust.  Nav Canada even admitted that with assets of $3.2 billion and $1.1 billion per year in revenue, they couldn't afford even one decibel meter to measure the noise pollution their vector change has caused.  SUN would like to congratulate Surrey Council for the flak they gave Nav Canada, with an extra thanks to Judy Villeneuve for her passionate speech about how this flight path change had adversely affected her life.  Council passed a motion formally requesting that this flight path be relocated away from the peninsula and that they be given monthly updates on the status of this project until the current review by Nav Canada is completed.
 
On the same theme, the Ocean Park Community Association held a town hall meeting for south Surrey residents, which Nav Canada declined to attend.  Their reasoning was, "There is nothing more to be learned'!  Actions speak more loudly than words and this should tell you everything you need to know about this autocratic monopoly.  The over-flow crowd took the opportunity to shoot down Nav Canada and to call for the federal government to ammend CANSCA (Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act), so that public consultation and environmental consideration become key provisions of this legislation.
 

  Standing-room-only crowd at the Ocean Park community centre.
Nav Canada meeting on September 25, 2007

  Mayor Dianne Watts announced this month something SUN has known about since the spring.  The City of Surrey purchased the 5.6 ha. Camp Kwomais lands for $20 million from the United Church of Canada, retaining the jewel of the Ocean Park bluffs for parkland.  SUN would like to thank the Council and Church for having the vision to preserve the prime view property on the peninsula.  We believe that this is an important first step in turning the entire bluff ecosystem into a park.
 
Only weeks after that announcement, White Rock came forward to suddenly express an interest in expanding the promenade from the front of their city to the Peace Arch and Crescent Beach with help from Surrey and Metro Vancouver (formerly GVRD).  Unfortunately this would be extremely dangerous along the Ocean Park bluffs as it would put pedestrians into the confined space next to the passing freight trains.  In order to access the shoreline, people would have to cross the tracks in an area with blind corners and a history of collisions.  SUN hopes the city can be persuaded to expand their vision further to stretch the promenade into a walking trail encircling the entire shore of Boundary Bay.  Of course, the relocation of the BNSF railway to a safer inland location away from the landslide prone bluffs is key to this concept.
 
SUN has lobbied politicians of all stripes over the last year for the purchase of Camp Kwomais and the creation of a nature trail across the peninsula.  It would seem that these efforts are already paying dividends.  We hope that the cities of White Rock, Surrey, and Delta, Metro Vancouver, and the BNSF Railway can all work together to make the Boundary Bay Nature Trail and Kwomais Point Park become a reality.  While SUN may champion Crescent Rock Beach, there is much more to our agenda than simply protecting the naturist shorefront.  Saving the environment, preserving parkland, and improving the waterfront across the peninsula and Boundary Bay are as important to us as securing the official recognition of Crescent Rock Beach for nude recreation.