Local photographer took STACY ASCAH took his drone to the air this past week to afford us a bird's eye view of homes in White Rock. Pictured above are incredible perspective photo of the Semiahmoo First Nations land.
Go ahead, have fun trying to locate y our home. Thank you to STACY and all the wonderful photographers who's work I liberate on a regular basis to post here in THE SUN. A gentle reminder we live in the greatest city in this country.
February 04, 2023
Semiahmoo First Nation oppose inclusion of farmland near Langley-Surrey border in ALR
There has been considerable support to protect hundreds of acres of farmland near the Langley-Surrey border by including it in the Agricultural Land Reserve, but three key stakeholders are strongly opposed
Three Langley-area First Nations have called on the Agricultural Land Commission to stop considering whether to include 300 acres of federal land into BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve. The proposal to protect the land from future development has otherwise received considerable support
On Jan. 6, ahead of a public hearing, lawyers representing Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations wrote the Agricultural Land Commission to urge them to “refrain from taking any further steps to advance the proposal.” Despite the letter, the public hearing was held last weekit was one of only two letters that were opposed to including the land in the ALR.
Roughly 220 of the 305 acres are leased to local producers. Supporters of the proposal sprung into action after it became known the landowner of the five adjoining properties determined them to be surplus and may consider selling them
KKS (as the three First Nations are referred to by their joint legal counsel) argue that including the lands in the ALR would have ”significant impact on the ability of KKS members to exercise their inherent and constitutionally protected rights in this area, particularly their right to benefit economically from their lands.”
They also noted that the First Nations weren’t consulted before the ALR scheduled the public hearing
“The Commission has not made a decision on whether or not the lands should be included in the ALR. Consideration of the proposal will be informed by the record before the commission,” Grout concluded in her letter
Lower Mainland First Nations have increasingly moved to negotiate the return of publicly owned lands that the provincial and federal governments have deemed surplus to their needs. Before selling any land, those governments must consult with First Nations. Over the last five years, First Nations in Mission and Abbotsford have successfully got the governments to return those lands, rather than sell them to the highest bidder.
February 03, 2023
Charges Laid In Five Corners Fire
Sunday May 20, 2016 is not a day White Rock residents will easily forget. The city was woken to the sounds of fire engines and emergency vehicles heading towards the Five Corners District of the city.
A very stubborn fire engulfed the condominiums and a number of the retail outlets in particular the very popular LAURA'S COFFEE SHOP.
Surrey and White Rock fire brigades took the better part of the day to bring the fire under control
At the time we here at the White Rock Sun put together a chronological order and time frame of the subsequent fires that occurred in sequence that morning.
Late yesterday afternoon White Rock RCMP issued a press release identifying JAMES ADRIAN DYER as the individual that has charged with 7 criminal charges as a result of the arson.
Mounties did not list the other six charges against Dyer in its most recent statement, but online court records show he was charged with the following charges:
Two cases of arson with property damage
A case of arson relating to occupied property
Two counts of theft
A charge of breaking and entering and committing a criminal offense
A charge of breaking and entering with intent to commit a crime
All of the alleged crimes occurred at White Rock.
Dyer is scheduled to appear in court for the first time on February 23,
The final fire that day if you follow the chronological order and timeline below occurred on the Semiahmoo First Nations land. At that time charges were laid against JAMES ADRIAN DYER.
As the matter is before the courts there will be no further information released by the city or the RCMP
Surrey RCMP had said at the time that no link had been identified between the two crimes, and that one man, identified at the time as James Adrian Dyer, had been charged in connection with the blaze on SFN land â in which “some guy lit fire to some pallets on a basketball court.”
May 20, 2016
RCMP Investigating Arsons
There has been no official word on the cause of the blaze that destroyed the two condo complexes at 5 Corners Sunday.
What we do know is there were no less than four fires set throughout the city of White Rock and close proximity Sunday morning.
#1.Â
A children's playground constructed from wood and plastic and located on the Cypress street road end @ Victoria avenue was set ablaze in the early hours Sunday morning, No injuries. Fire quickly extinguished
#2
Major condominium fire on Royal and Pacific Avenue. Time 4:30 a.m.
#3
Sandpiper Liquor store is broken into @ 5:10 a.m. Owner confirmed the CCTV cameras captures clear pictures of two suspects robbing the liquor out of the window.
#4.Â
10:30 a.m. a fire is started in an alleyway off of Pacific avenue near Stayte road. Fire quickly extinguished no major damage. No injuries
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#5
12 noon residents of the Semiahmoo First Nations witnessed an individual attempting to start a building on fire behind the band's office. The Surrey RCMP responded to the 911 call and took the suspect into custody
The suspect taken into custody Sunday appeared in Surrey Provincial court Tuesday morning where he was charged with arson damaging property.
The accused is 18 year old JAMES DYER of Surrey was released on his own recognizance.
The White Rock & Surrey RCMP continue their very active investigation today.
May 17, 2016
Eye In The Sky
White Rock resident and traffic reporter for WX1130 DARREN "Danger" GRIEVE sent along this picture taken yesterday afternoon. The fire started at the rear of the condo project under construction pictured in the top left hand corner of photo
No official announcement has been made yet on whether or not it will be possible to rebuild or if the whole structure will have to come down.
May 15, 2016
Five Corners Fire
Smoke could be seen for miles as the fire ripped through the condo structures. This shot was taken by a reader from the Inn @ Semiahmoo in Blaine.
The fire broke out early this morning around 5 a.m. in a wooden three storey condo under construction on Royal Avenue in the 15200 block. The fire quickly jumped to the condo located at 5 Corners. The fire at one point threatened the Star of the Sea hall located next to the condo. Firefighters fought the fire from the roof of the Star of the Sea in order to prevent the fire from spreading. Surrey and White Rock fire crews fought the stubborn blaze for hours before eventually bringing it under control at 8 a.m.
There have been no reports of any injuries.
The cause of the fire is unknown as the investigation is in the very early stage.
Photo courtesy Diana Arnold
Origin of fire in under construction condo on Royal Avenue
Photo courtesy Bill Brooks
February 02, 2023
White Rock Council Rewind
Here is your recap of some of the items White Rock council dealt with this past Monday evening.
Delegations and Presentations
Members from each of the following organizations provided information to Council:
Members of the White Rock Museum and Archives attended to provide information on the organization and their plans for the future View the presentation.
MLA Trevor Halford attended to discuss the partnership between the City and the MLA’s office View the presentation
Special Events 2023
Council received a report outlining special events that took place in 2022 and returning events for 2023.
Council directed that both the White Rock Sea Festival and Bright Walk in White Rock remain as “Class A” events and the City will continue to organize and produce these events.
Healthy Community Grant Application
Council endorsed the City’s application for a Healthy Community Grant through the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation. If awarded, the grant would be used to purchase new cardio equipment for the Horst & Emmy Warner Centre for Active Living.
UBCM Grant Application for Emergency Support Services Modernization
Council endorsed the City’s UBCM grant application for emergency support services modernization.Â
Emergency Support Services (ESS) provide short-term support for people in the community who have been impacted by disasters (apartment fires where people have been displaced, floods or earthquakes). If the grant application is successful, one of the ways the funds would be utilized would be to modernize the ESS system moving from a paper-based reception center to an online system provided by the province.
Land Use and Planning Committee
Council endorsed two (2) recommendations from the Land Use and Planning Committee requesting to have public meetings for two (2) Development Variance Permit applications:
Development Variance Permit No. 448 -1122 Vidal Street (DVP 22-007)Â
Galaxy Brewing, is proposing to install a free-standing canopy which currently does not meet the minimum setback requirements in the Zoning Bylaw.
The homeowner is seeking relief from the maximum permitted height requirement for an exterior architectural feature (decorative chimney and ironwork) on a new single-family home
January 30, 2023
Alex House Flood Fundraiser
Alex House recently suffered a devastating flood during the December 20th snowstorm. The impact was throughout our historic Beach House building, where we host our infant & toddler childcare program and offices upstairs for our team.
What last year would have been a submission to our insurance company and a $12,000 deductible this year is a $100,000 deductible. Emergency restoration is at approx. $40,000 currently, this is without the $50,000 projection for repairs to flooring, ceilings, walls, and equipment replacement.
Every dollar Alex earns through our rentals goes into our operations which supports our work in community. The impact of the flood will have a significant impact on our ability to meet the emergent needs of our community.
If you are able to consider a donation to our fundraiser, it is appreciated!
All funds will go to the repairs, and replacement of equipment, which includes developmentally appropriate toys and furniture, learning materials, computers, and other necessary office equipment.
Over the past 10 days DFO Department of Fisheries and Oceans have had patrols out in Semiahmoo and Boundary Bay collecting abandoned crab traps left in the water. The traps are picked up annually by officials as abandoned or illegal traps traps
“DFO fishery officers conduct dragging operations at various times in the year to retrieve illegally set gear, that are out of compliance for numerous reasons. These can include crab traps that have been set with no marked floats and actively fishing without proper escape mechanisms or rot cord as required by regulation. Traps that have been lost or abandoned will also be retrieved,” the DFO said.
The commercial crab fishery accounts for almost one-third of the wholesale value of the province’s wild shellfish products, the DFO said.
A large number of crabs were released from the seized and salvaged nets.
A smoldering overnight fire between Friday and Saturday has resulted in the deaths of dozens of exotic animals at the Urban Safari Rescue Society located in South Surrey on 176th street south of 16th avenue. The cause of the fire is believed to be a power surge which occurred when the power came back on after an outage.
The society has posted the following MSG and plea on their FACEBOOK page.
On January 28th in the early morning a fire was started at Urban Safari killing over 60 animals during the night. While we are heartbroken we are all working 24/7 to care for the animals who survived this devastating event. In the meantime we need help, a lot of it! Currently we are in need of any donations such as food, substrates, heat/uv lights, large and mid-size enclosures, temporary homes for some animals who need more intensive care. We have created a GoFundMe https://gofund.me/e4a20a6d where you can donate to us which will help us care for these animals. While we wait for further details we may need to relocate, if anyone can help us find another location temporary or otherwise please email president@urbansafari.ca
