‘I don’t feel it’s safe’: City council approves controversial South Surrey Costco plan
The development is located in the Grandview Heights neighbourhood
The new Costco site will include a wholesale grocery store, gas station, and 975-space parking lot. (Sukhmani Sandhu)
Bulk toilet paper and $1.50 hotdog combos are on their way to Surrey’s Grandview Heights neighbourhood.
Surrey city council voted in favour of a controversial Costco Wholesale development at 1891 and 1947 164 St., during a meeting on Nov. 17. The 165,000-square-foot site will include the wholesale grocery store, a gas station, and a 975-space parking lot.
Costco is expanding across the region. A Costco Business Centre opened in New Westminster on Nov. 14, and motorists faced heavy traffic over the weekend.
This will be the second Costco in Surrey. The first location is in Newton on King George Boulevard and 74 Avenue.
The existing Surrey location has 477 employees and about 56 per cent are full time, said John Ellingsen, director of international and real estate development for Costco Wholesale.
“We would expect the same for a new building in South Surrey, including over 400 new jobs and direct involvement in the surrounding community,” he said.
A representative from the Costco development team, Gordon Easton, said when Costco stores open, they typically receive more than 9,000 job applications.
“There are approximately 31,000 Costco members in South Surrey, representing about 25 per cent of the entire population and about 70 per cent of all households in South Surrey,” he said.
Easton added some Surrey residents even choose to shop at Costco’s Bellingham, Wash. location to avoid congestion in the Lower Mainland.
While Canadians are shopping less often in the U.S. because of tense relations in the past few months, some shoppers still cross the border to buy groceries.
One Grandview Heights resident said it’s easier for him to go to Bellingham than the Surrey and Langley Costco locations, and a Costco in South Surrey would allow him to shop at home.
Many residents opposed the Costco development because of the location. They highlighted the three entrance and exit points to the site, traffic congestion, and safety.
Alexis Wardle lives in the Berkeley Village townhome complex across from the site. She said the development disregards how the neighbourhood has actually evolved.
“This is an industrial business in a residential community filled with families and schools. It is not for a large-scale retail warehouse,” Wardle said.
Hue Ly’s two children attend Ta’talu Elementary and walk home from school every day.
Ta’talu Elementary, which opened last September, is located at the corner of 166 Street and 20 Avenue — one block from the Costco site.
“The safety of our children and community must be a priority,” Ly said, who also lives in the Berkeley Village complex. “Many students walk or bike to school, and [this development] significantly increases risks for our young pedestrians and cyclists.”
WATCH | Costco store incoming to Grandview Heights neighbourhood
Wardle launched a petition to stop the Costco development, which has garnered 1,226 signatures by publication date. However, another petition in support of the site, presented at the Nov. 17 meeting, received 2,288 signatures as of Nov. 10.
Ellingsen said another 4,655 signatures in support of the site were collected in the last week.
To address increased traffic from the development, Costco and the city will complete road improvements in the area, said Scott Neuman, the city’s general manager of engineering.
The transportation impact analysis, submitted by Costco Wholesale Canada, estimates about 13 vehicle trips per minute during weekday peak hours.
Costco will upgrade 164 Street from 18 to 24 Avenue, as well as add a roundabout at the access point to the site on 19 Avenue, and traffic signals at 20 Avenue on 164 and 168 Street. The City of Surrey will add another traffic signal on 20 Avenue and build an overpass on 20 Avenue from Highway 99.
While no completion date is set for the development, Neuman said the city will widen 16 Avenue from Highway 99 to 168 Street in the next year.
“It will provide immediate access and immediate improvements to transportation in this area,” he said.
Despite the planned road improvements, Ly said they are not enough.
“I don’t feel it’s safe for any elementary students or even parents or grandparents walking around with their families anymore.”
