Safe Surrey Coalition will protect 220 acres of farmland as Mayor McCallum initiates action

SURREY Mayor Doug McCallum on said on Wednesday that 220 acres of farmland at 192nd Street and 36th Avenue must be preserved.

He pointed out that protecting high yield agricultural land is fundamental to ensuring future food security in the region and the Province, and added: “These lands are currently zoned Agricultural (A-1) and I’m determined to see this land designated as ‘agricultural’ as part of the Official Community Plan (OCP) review process taking place next year.”

Councillor Laurie Guerra said: “On July 11, Mayor Doug McCallum and Safe Surrey Coalition will bring forward a motion to protect 220 acres of farmland from industrial development.”

“Safe Surrey Coalition made a promise to voters to ‘pause development’ and to only proceed with ‘smart development’ as such our motion will remove these lands from the Campbell Heights Official Community Plan and designate the lands as ‘agricultural.’ Furthermore, we will advocate to the Province to include these lands inside the Agricultural Land Reserve,” added Councilor Allison Patton.

Councillor Mandeep Nagra noted: “Located at 192 Street and 36 Avenue, this 220-acre parcel of lands is critical to supplying over 50 million servings of locally grown fresh vegetables to BC grocery stores.”

“We must ensure we take concrete actions now to protect our food security and local jobs for Surrey farmers,” said Councilor Doug Elford.

McCallum pointed out: “Protecting these farmlands from development is an important step towards climate change mitigation and to ensure that our future generations have a reliable source of locally grown produce for generations to come.”