Some tall trees, city-owned houses and a community garden would have to make way for a $310.6-million Newton Community Centre, now planned on a different site in the neighbourhood.
The original location was on King George Boulevard, south of 70A Avenue, where a “groundbreaking” event was held in September 2022 on the former Rona store site.
But plans changed with the current Surrey council, and now all eyes are on city-owned land south of Newton Arena off 136B Street, to 70 Avenue, west of Newton Seniors Centre.
It’s where the community centre “represents a significant milestone” for Surrey as “the largest capital project ever undertaken in terms of both funding and scope,” Mayor Brenda Locke stated after the 2024 Operating and Capital Budget was approved Monday, April 22.
• RELATED: A year after ‘groundbreaking,’ still no sign of life on Newton Community Centre site.
Video shows new future site of Newton Community Centre where houses and community garden would have to go.
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) April 24, 2024
The original site was on King George, and not everyone is happy about the move.
STORY: https://t.co/46SuaEc8vG@SurreyNowLeader @delford @Newton_BIA @PhilipAguirreBC pic.twitter.com/nzAQvu9oyQ
By 2028, the facility in Newton would include a 50-metre swimming pool, gymnasium, fitness centre, child care services and an “expansive” library.
But not everyone is convinced the new site is a good one, including Safe Surrey Coalition councillors who back the King George location first envisioned for the project.
“It’s shovel-ready, ready to go right now,” said Coun. Doug Elford. “That road (70B Avenue) was built and the fence is up, the design has been done, and we’ve invested in that. We were going to build it in stages initially, a proposal to ease the pain of the budget. But Locke’s group got in and it seems like anything done by the previous council, she just opposes.”
Questions remain about the new site, Elford charged.
“How long is that going to take? I doubt they get this going next year like they plan, and they’ll have to evict all those people in the houses. They want to build a library, but there’s already a library there, what are they going to do with that? We haven’t seen the design. To me that’s a perfect site for affordable housing. We could have an excavator in there today on the old Rona site.”
The new site fits well with existing civic facilities in Newton, noted Jeff Arason, Surrey’s director of strategic initiatives and investments, on the board of Surrey City Development Corporation.
“I think council saw the merits of establishing a campus of civic amenities,” Arason told the Now-Leader.
“It’s all status quo (for the existing facilities). All the services that are being provided in the area at those facilities will continue to be available during construction and post-construction.
“I think questions will come up about the future of the wave pool and such, but no decision has been made on that. I think once the new community centre is opened, that will open discussions about what’s the best future for that facility.”
Arason said the community centre will look different than the one proposed for the site on King George Boulevard, where development plans are now up in the air.
“Exactly what it will look like will be known in the next couple of months,” Arason said. “We’ll be going to obtain a construction and design team to help deliver that facility. Our goal is to get the design and building team in the coming months, and the goal is to break ground in 2025 and have that facility completed in 2028. I think if we went with the existing land, or the originally proposed land on the west side (of King George), we’d be looking at a similar completion period. I wouldn’t say there”s much of a delay, if any, with changing sites.”
The new site is home to eight city-owned houses, Arason said.
“There’s a handful of homes on the property that the city owns and has been in month-to-month leases with the tenants for years,” he explained. “These were month-to-month leases recognizing that one day the city would have development plans for the parcels. So we’ve now reached that, and now we’ll be working with those tenants to bring about the end of their tenancy pursuant to the lease agreements that we’ve had.”
South of Newton Arena stands The PLOT community garden, where Mike Lewis dug in with a shovel on Tuesday (April 23). He’s been gardening and attending events there for close to nine years, and would be sad to see it go.
“There’s a real good amount of community engagement that has made this place happen, volunteer work,” said Lewis, who lives in a nearby co-op.
“This place has always been an invitation to community, and the idea behind it fit with my values which is, yeah, people can grow food that they can take themselves, but it’s available for anybody who wants to take it, too. That’s worked quite well, I think.”
The PLOT includes a medicine wheel, where ceremonies celebrate the changing of seasons. Currently grown are vegetables including kale, different lettuces, spinach, beans and more.
Kelleigh Wright said she works the soil almost daily right now, after getting involved less than a year ago. The garden “has amazing soil,” she said, where “you could plant a rubber boot and it’d grow.”
Wright said she’d also be sad to see the garden go, but remains philosophical.
“City spaces change, and everything has a cycle,” she said. “It may end here but maybe it picks up somewhere else. If people and the city are willing to be creative together, who knows what could come. My understanding is that the city has been very open and welcoming of this being here in this space, and has helped nurture this along, so I can’t see those relationships changing. I’d be surprised.”