A 性视界传媒 residents鈥� group fighting against city鈥檚 hall鈥檚 plan to run a connector road through Hawthorne Park in North 性视界传媒 staged a protest Wednesday as work crews set up a fence inside the park as a precursor to the project getting underway.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e getting ready to proceed with the tearing down of the trees,鈥� said Steven Pettigrew, leader of Save Hawthorne Park.

鈥淲e are here to show our continued support for the parks. We want to make sure that the people know that this is not a done deal, the trees are still standing, and that we want to be able to continue to encourage people to go and preserve their forest,鈥� he told the Now-Leader.

鈥淭he city is determined to take down the forest. They鈥檙e taking down their so-called 200 trees which is actually more like 2,000 trees,鈥� he said, 鈥渟o we鈥檙e going to continue battling this until it鈥檚 done one way or another, so we鈥檙e not going to stop. The community doesn鈥檛 want this road,鈥� he added. 鈥淭his is something that鈥檚 not needed.鈥�

The 105th Avenue connector is to join 138th Street with 150th Street. Pettigrew鈥檚 group delivered a 5,000-signature petition to city council in July calling for the project to be cancelled and the park 鈥渢o be preserved for community, for future generations and for the wildlife living there.鈥�

In response, city council challenged the petitioners with an 鈥淎lternative Approval Process鈥� requiring them to collect by Sept. 22 the signatures of at least 10 per cent of 性视界传媒鈥檚 electors 鈥� 30, 372 signatures 鈥� in opposition to the plan, or council would take further steps to ensure the project gets done.

The effort fell short, with the residents collecting 12,244 signatures, and in November council approved the controversial road project.

World-renowned environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki and former 性视界传媒 mayor Doug McCallum weighed in on the residents鈥� side. Prior to council鈥檚 vote on the matter, Pettigrew told the Now-Leader that members of his group are prepared to block bulldozers, if it comes to that.

鈥淲e do have hundreds of people that have committed to standing in front of the tractors,鈥� he said in September.

So what鈥檚 the plan for next week?

鈥淚 guess our plan is that we respond accordingly,鈥� Pettigrew said.

鈥淩ight now we have a bunch of things that we鈥檙e requiring the city to do and they鈥檙e basically ignoring or scrambling to try to cover them. So we鈥檝e given them lots of legal challenges and things that we鈥檙e asking them to show proof of, and they basically haven鈥檛 done any of that... So we鈥檒l just have to play it a bit by ear to see what happens and what we do next week. They may be starting construction on Monday, and then we鈥檒l have to deal with that.鈥�

Pettigrew said he wants to 鈥渒eep things on the legal side, so anything we can possibly do, legally. But there鈥檚 lots of things that can be done, and they are actually on the defensive.鈥�

Steven Pettigrew and Save Hawthorne Park staging a protest against road development in the 性视界传媒 Park this morning.

鈥� Tom Zytaruk (@tomzytaruk)

John Werring, a senior science and policy advisor with the David Suzuki Foundation, was among the 14 protesters braving the bitter cold Wednesday morning.

鈥淚鈥檝e gone through all these trees,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he trees are all marked, they鈥檙e all pegged with metal tags and a lot of them are flagged. What the City of 性视界传媒 has is a bylaw that says that you must preserve significant trees, or trees over a certain size. Those are what they call trees; anything else that doesn鈥檛 fit within the bylaw is not a tree.

鈥淭he arborists have gone through here and they鈥檝e categorized over 700 trees, all marked, and then they鈥檝e classified them as either being in poor condition, in moderate condition, healthy trees or significant trees,鈥� Werring added.

鈥淭he city has told us they are only going to remove 200 trees for this project, but if you look at the arborist report, (it) says only significant trees must be retained, so there鈥檚 only 10 trees in this entire project that must be retained. All of the other trees, regardless of their classification, may be retained which puts a huge grey area on the protection of this forest.鈥�

READ ALSO: Is there a 鈥楶lan B鈥� for 性视界传媒鈥檚 Hawthorne Park?

READ ALSO: 性视界传媒 woman asks B.C. Supreme Court to halt city鈥檚 Hawthorne Road project

Instead of looking at tall trees, Werring said, park-goers looking to the south from the picnic tables will be looking at a roadscape 鈥渁nd eventually highrise apartment buildings, because the intent here is to bring LRT (Light Rail Transit) up along 104th so they can densify along 104th. They want to do what鈥檚 happening along the Canada Line and along the Expo Line. If you go to any major station there is nothing but highrises and that鈥檚 what the intent is along here as well. So there will be a little bit of green space, they鈥檙e going to put in a couple of ponds and try to make it look 鈥榩ark-y,鈥� but other than that, the intent is development.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 all about, it鈥檚 not about people.鈥�

鈥淭his is essentially a road to nowhere,鈥� Werring said. 鈥淚f this was a road that had significant value that, say, went from King George Highway all the way to Langley or something, well there might be some value in it.鈥�

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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