The City of Surrey is looking to add hundreds of new truck parking spaces, as residents of one neighbourhood complain illegal parking is running rampant.
Joe Lemasurier has lived in North Surrey’s Bridgeview neighbourhood for 35 years, but said the trucks rolling down his residential street have gotten so bad he’s throwing in the towel.
“Frustrated enough that I have to sell my house, that’s how frustrated I am. It’s been a nightmare,” he said.
“It’s like you are driving on a waterbed … when they come down here, they hit a bump in the road, you feel it, and your house feels it — I’ve got cracks all through my ceiling upstairs in my house.”
Tryg Wenn, who also lives in the area, said some trucks park on the road while others are in private lots, which he alleged have caused drainage issues and resulted in the foundation of his home sinking several inches.
He said he also worries that some of the vehicles are carrying chemicals or other potentially unsafe materials.
“It’s just disrespectful, period. They’re putting their issues first and not thinking of the people involved, the safety of our children, the safety of the elderly,” he said.
“People don’t have the ability to navigate around this stuff, they’re blocking off major arteries.”
Surrey city councillor Harry Bains said city staff have been urged to identify city-owned land and come up with a plan to add new, legal parking spaces as soon as possible.
But he said the issue is affecting both truck drivers and residents.
Surrey is home to between 5,000 and 6,000 truckers, he said, and has a shortage of about 2,000 spaces for their vehicles.
“They’re parking everywhere; it’s unfortunate, it’s not their fault. I don’t think we can blame the truckers, there’s just no space,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to truckers who say we park on the side of highways, in our driveways, we park in illegal lots, we park on farmland, and unfortunately they have nowhere to go.”
Bains said the goal is to see several new legal lots representing “hundreds of truck parking spots in very short order.”
However he said that solution may not satisfy everyone in the Bridgeview neighbourhood, where much of the land is zoned as industrial, and as such private truck lots may be legal.
“I understand. I get it. This has been a problem that’s been there for decades, it’s been neglected for far too long and we have to do something about it,” Bains said.
“That’s what we are trying to do.”