The City of Surrey aims to create up to 1,700 new, authorized truck parking spaces in the city in coming years.
Six initiatives are included in a Surrey Truck Parking Strategy posted to the city’s website, in a final report from a task force created last December to study what’s been called a “chronic” issue in the city.
An on-street truck parking permit program in select industrial areas will start this spring, and the other initiatives will get rolling in 2020, including development of an app to help drivers find truck parking spaces.
Other initiatives include allowing trucks to park in low-density residential areas and reducing costs for truck parking development.
CLICK HERE to read the full Surrey Truck Parking Strategy.
More than 2,000 residents, truck owners and operators and industry stakeholders participated in the task force’s public engagement sessions, according to a news release from the city Tuesday.
“City council recognizes the importance and contributions of Surrey’s trucking industry,” said Councillor Mandeep Nagra, chair of the task force. “The parking challenges this industry has faced have persisted for far too long, that’s why I am pleased to present the Surrey Truck Parking Strategy.
“The initiatives that are a result of the Task Force’s work will support the needs of truckers by substantially increasing the number of convenient, accessible and affordable parking spaces for their vehicles in the coming year.”
In a statement, Mayor Doug McCallum said despite previous attempts to bring adequate truck parking in Surrey, “genuine, long-term solutions never came about.
“The work done by the Truck Parking Task Force in the past 12 months changes that,” McCallum stated. “Beginning next spring, the first of six initiatives recommended in the report will be carried out with the remaining initiatives rolled out by the end of 2020. I want to thank everyone who have participated in the work of the Task Force to help bring realistic and timely solutions to this long-standing issue in Surrey.”
Back in 2015, the City of Surrey was looking at a co-op solution where instead of one person buying up an acre of land to park their truck, a person would buy a spot on an acre.
RELATED: Surrey works on co-op solution to tackle truck parking, March 19, 2015
