Parking tickets charge Gill about $3,000 a month.
The owner of Redstar Transport has come to regard this as a liability in the Lower Mainland, where there is a severe shortage of truck parking.
“We have a really hard time,” he said this week. “Nobody wants to park where they know they’ll get a ticket, but there’s nowhere else.”
The City of Surrey hopes to replace that. After more than a decade of discussions about the worsening crisis, the city has learned of four sites it owns that could only house truck parking lots.
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In a request for statements of interest issued Dec. 18, the city says the “long-standing” truck parking issue has led to numerous bylaw infractions, noise complaints, safety issues, road damage and concerns about diesel fumes and oil leaks in residential neighbourhoods.
Potential truck parking lots come with several adjacent masses near the South Fraser Perimeter Highway at the corner of 115B Avenue and 132nd Street, some other lot near King George Boulevard at the corner of 112B Avenue and Bridgeview Drive, some other near Golden Ears Way at 96th Avenue and some others along the Canadian Highway. Pacific Rail Line on the 52nd Avenue. La diversity of sizes ranges from 4,600 square meters to 7,700 square meters.
In an October news release announcing that the city plans to identify a truck parking lot, Surrey Coun Harry Bains said there had been a “systemic failure” for truckers.
“This is an amazing first step that will create hundreds of new parking spots sooner rather than later,” he said.
Mayor Brenda Locke said many lorry drivers live in Surrey, while the trucking industry is “vital to the origin chain and provides significant economic benefits”.
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In the Request for Expressions of Interest, the City states that the parking operators would lease the land to the City and pay all operating expenses, adding the asset tax. It does not recommend which operators qualify truckers to hire a parking spot.
Potential contractors will have to offer a rental fee as part of their bid, which expires at the end of January. The city notes that market rent for the sites ranges from about $166,000 to $313,000 per year, with two of the homes being held for an initial term of three years with a three-year renewal option, and the other two for a five-year term. Initial term with no option for renewal. Everything will be subject to board approval and other qualifications.
The city says it would improve the sites to make them ready for a truck parking facility, including tree clearing, importing and compaction of gravel fill and the construction of driveway access, while the operator would be responsible for fencing and maintaining the gravel surface.
Gill, who runs 47 haul trucks from his job site on 264th Street in Aldergrove, said he would gladly pay several hundred dollars a month to the city in lieu of parking tickets if Langley or Abbotsford presented parking to the trucks.
When the Redstar yard near Fraser Highway is full, drivers sometimes find street parking a short distance away. But if that’s also full, they must park illegally.
Gill said the scenario is very complicated for drivers returning from several days on the road to Edmonton, Boise or Spokane. They need to get out of the truck and go back to their families, while parking is “a waste of time. “.
The truck parking shortage has become more acute as the trucking industry in British Columbia continues to grow.
ICBC reported that the number of authorized Class 1 drivers on the Lower Mainland increased from 36,435 in 2018 to 40,749 in 2022.
The trucking industry has doubled in size in the last 22 years, according to Statistics Canada. The trucking industry generated $2. 3 billion of GDP in British Columbia in 2022, up from $1. 2 billion in 2000 after adjusting for inflation.
In 2022, British Columbia Truckers Association President and CEO Dave Earle told CityNews that there are more than 20,000 heavy vehicles registered in Surrey.
“We’re at a fleet expansion of about 1% every year,” he said. “So we’re seeing six to seven hundred more heavy vehicles coming into the fleet in one and both years and 1,500 to 2,000 medium vehicles to 2,000 more. heavy cars. “
Like many municipalities, Surrey prohibits the parking of heavy advertising vehicles, including trucks, tow trucks, tow trucks, buses or tractors with or trailers, between 7 p. m. and 8 p. m. and 7 a. m. m.
Land that allows overnight truck parking, such as a facility on Highway 91 near Nordel Way, is filling up fast, while some of the provincial land along Highway 1 in Abbotsford that was once used as truck parking has been taken over by homeless encampments.
According to a City of Abbotsford report, there are several truck parking lots on industrial land in the city, but the scarcity of industrial land and growth of the trucking industry has led to an increase in illegal parking and fines. In the past, there has been discussion about allowing more truck parking on farmland, which goes against provincial Agriculture Land Reserve regulations.
The city has been reading the issue since 2009 and expects to begin work on a draft truck parking strategy in the new year.
The situation leaves truckers and truckers with few options, apart from illegal parking on the road, which, in addition to the risk of a fine, has one main drawback.
Gill said diesel fuel theft is an ongoing issue. Drivers drain their tanks before parking, leaving only enough fuel to get to a gas pump in an effort to reduce losses. He has also had tarps and chains stolen from the back of his flatbed trailers.
gluymes@postmedia. com
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