White Rock Coun. Grant Meyer has given a red flag to a suggestion the city look into having U.S. passenger rail service Amtrak stop in the city.
The suggestion was one of 15 recommendations for economic stimuli to be included in White Rock’s new official community plan forwarded from the city economic investment committee’s March 29 meeting.
But when the list came before White Rock council Monday, Meyer pointed out that it is out-of-step with the city’s current philosophy on rail traffic.
“As far as having the Amtrak train stop in White Rock, that’s counter to our goal of relocating the railway off the Peninsula,” he said, noting joint relocation efforts by the city and Surrey with the support of the provincial government and Surrey MPs.
In terms of establishing a local stop, Meyer added, both Surrey and White Rock have sent letters of support to the City of Blaine for its campaign to have an Amtrak stop there.
Meyer, who is among those who had previously fought – unsuccessfully – for an Amtrak stop in White Rock, threw his support in 2012 behind a re-opened Blaine Station. He said at the time that it would be a logical substitute for a White Rock stop which wasn’t feasible “due to customs issues and parking issues.”
On Monday, Meyer told council he approved of other recommendations on the committee’s list, including provisions to build more office and commercial space beyond the second- and third-floor level in the town centre.
Mayor Wayne Baldwin pointed out that some other recommendations from the group –comprising city business people and professionals – included things the city is already working on, including maintaining a flow of height transition from town centre to lower town centre and providing the ‘trolley’ bus service, which is returning this summer and will likely be back again next year.
Coun. Lynne Sinclair wondered whether council should be referring the committee’s recommendations to staff.
“They (the committee) seem to have done a lot of work, but they don’t seem to know a lot of what we’re doing,” she said.
City manager Dan Bottrill said it was appropriate for council to receive the recommendations, which will be included in a larger report from staff on the OCP, scheduled to come to council on April 24.
“We applaud all of the committees that have given feedback to us as we move toward the (new) OCP,” Bottrill said.
Coun. Helen Fathers and Baldwin both offered thanks for the committee’s contributions.
“(The March 29 meeting) was a very valuable meeting to attend,” Fathers said.
“We didn’t give them any framework of what we wanted.”