Cactus Clubs vs. Container Ports

As Metro Vancouver runs out of industrial land, the City of Surrey looks to sell theirs down the river.

It was easy to miss in all the Breaking News alerts on your phone this week, but the City of Surrey, Vancouver’s Leduc, has launched a feasibility study into creating a new “memorable gateway” and entertainment district on the shores of the Fraser River. 

A new neighbourhood of restaurants, bars, public plazas, and generally more exciting vibes than what is currently on offer in Surrey is a laudable goal. The temptation is obvious, with the area being well-connected via Skytrain and a new Pattullo Bridge to an ever-growing and densifying New Westminster, a stone’s throw across the river. Unfortunately, this neighbourhood is currently occupied by some of the most sought-after and accessible industrial land in the Lower Mainland, which is facing an ever shrinking supply of lots for the less sexy activities that keep the provincial (and national) economy humming. 

The local Port Authority has indicated its desire to maintain the area as industrial-only zoning, and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade has been increasingly vocal about the region’s limited options for new industrial land, which generates a full third of regional GDP and one-in-four jobs. Many of the shiny new warehouses popping up like crocuses in Calgary and Edmonton are a direct result of this shortage, as firms relocate across the Rockies and take jobs, wages, and local property taxes with them, often shipping goods back to the port city they just came from. 

There is no doubt that Metro Vancouver cities will continue to attract people from all over the world, and very few of them will choose an Amazon warehouse over a ferris wheel and Cactus Club next door. Lower Mainland cities (and their Metro partners) however, have a duty to also consider local economic resilience, and a responsibility to protect scarce remaining industrial and agricultural land in the country’s Pacific gateway.

-Written by GAPSS Member Robbie Brooks (Photo credits- DailyHive)