Abbotsford may make it legal to park semis at big-box stores

Castle Fun Park and Costco could—hypothetically, at least—become part of the solution to Abbotsford’s truck parking crunch.

Today, Tyler writes about Abbotsford’s plans to try to solve its truck parking dilemma, and what could be on the horizon for the region as a whole.

Abbotsford and other communities in the Fraser Valley have a huge number of independent truckers and small trucking businesses but a shortage of inexpensive and legal places for those drivers to park their rigs. (Abbotsford staff have counted seven pay-parking lots, plus a short-term free parking area at the Whatcom interchange on provincial land.)

As a result, many driver-operators park their vehicles on farm properties in contravention of provincial land use rules that limit such sites to no more than two trucks.

The problem has been regularly discussed by local councils for going on two decades, with little progress made. Indeed, since Abbotsford created its first truck parking strategy a dozen years ago, the number of trucks being parked on farmland have swelled, according to the city’s staff.

Although many operators would like to see farmland parking rules relaxed, the Agricultural Land Commission and its administrators say doing so would turn farm properties into parking lots and push up the price of agricultural land across the region.

In recent years, cities, including Abbotsford, have begun to crack down on illegal truck parking on farmland, including prosecuting offences in the courts and, in some cases, applying for injunctions from judges. The stricter approach came amid pressure both from the ALC and business leaders, the latter of whom said the illegal use of farmland puts those who abide by land use rules at a competitive disadvantage.

As municipalities have ramped up enforcement, they have also begun to look at ways to expand the availability of legal truck parking spaces, which have been in short supply for years. The shortage is a function of both the astronomical price of industrial land in the Fraser Valley, and the ability for truckers to park their vehicles illegally, but without penalty, on farm properties.

In December, Abbotsford Coun. Les Barkman noted that he sat on a task force convened to deal with the matter 15 years ago.

“My frustration is we really haven’t gained much since 2009.”

In recent years, Langley Township and Surrey have both explored ways to increase the availability of parking. (The Township is creating a pilot program that will allow truck parking on some industrial roads.) And in December, Abbotsford council endorsed a new draft truck parking strategy containing a five-pronged approach to alleviating parking woes. The strategy includes a proposal to allow trucks to park overnight at big box stores and other commercial sites with a surplus of after-hours parking.

None of the five proposed actions look likely to be a silver bullet to the problem. But with the three large municipalities now all set to ease truck parking rules, there is hope that the valley’s truck parking crunch could finally recede into the rearview mirror—especially if the province can be convinced to take a role in planning where tomorrow’s rigs will end up overnighting.

Truck parking at big-box stores

Abbotsford has no shortage of empty parking spaces once the sun goes down, and city staff hope a few of the spaces might be well-suited for parking transport trucks and their trailers.

Right now, it’s illegal for stores with sprawling parking lots like Walmart to rent out their space to semitrucks after it closes its doors. The city looks set to change that, with planners saying that a small tweak to the city’s zoning bylaw would allow the owner of properties designated for “regional commercial” uses to allow overnight parking of commercial trucks.

Limiting the move to regional commercial designations rules out most of Central Abbotsford, but would permit truck parking at big box stores along the Highway 11 corridor (including Home Depot and Walmart), at the McCallum Junction/Bass Pro Shop plaza, and at a few select properties near the Mt. Lehman and Clearbrook highway junctions. Almost all the properties are operated by big multi-national companies, and whether any of the property owners would actually capitalize on their ability to allow truck parking is unclear. But the move would also apply to one prominent local business—Castle Fun Park.

The amusement park is located just north of the province’s modest short-term truck parking lot at the Whatcom interchange. Because its site has the proper OCP designation, overnight commercial truck parking seems likely to be permitted there.

Industrial truck parking

Abbotsford’s parking lot solution isn’t the only proposal included in the city’s draft truck parking strategy. Three of the five potential changes aim to increase the supply of parking in industrial areas. Like their counterparts in Surrey and Langley Township, Abbotsford staff have suggested allowing the parking of commercial trucks on streets in industrial areas. They have recommended the creation of a pilot program similar to that in the Township, where parking is permitted on certain roads and could be expanded later if the first move doesn’t create too many headaches.

The city may also consider reducing the amount of staff and customer parking industrial business must provide. Doing so, staff say, could then free up space for commercial truck parking space.

Finally, staff recommended the city allow truck parking on non-ALR properties along the Fraser Highway corridor. The move received considerable support during the strategy’s consultation phase, and many of the properties along the route are already used to park trucks—albeit often in contravention of ALR rules. (Those two facts may be related; many public submissions used identical wording and also asked the city to ask for the easing of the two-truck rule on ALR properties, suggesting that owners of illegal truck-parking lots may have been particularly well-represented during the consultation process.)

Because most of Abbotsford’s stretch of Fraser Highway is either developed or in the ALR, there are only a few potential properties the move might impact. Two properties on the south side of Fraser Highway in east Aldergrove could be redesignated, as could a handful of sites near the Bradner Road intersection. Staff suggest changes could be drafted during the city’s ongoing update to its Official Community Plan

The province

Staff also recommended the city continue lobbying the province to create its own plans for overnight commercial truck parking in the region. That piece of the strategy wouldn’t actually change much—the issue has been discussed by local cities for more than a decade, with regular pleas to the province to take the lead on the matter.

The province has taken some steps: last year, it opened a new overnight truck parking facility in Surrey. With truck operators increasingly asking for the ability to sleep overnight at rest areas, politicians and planners further east would like to see similar infrastructure elsewhere in the Fraser Valley.

One thing the city won’t be doing is advocating that the province relax rules related to truck parking on farm properties.

Abbotsford planner Mitch Coombs noted that whatever the city’s position, the ALC’s past statements suggest it likely won’t support the relaxation of any rules that would permit more parking on farmland.

Big rigs also won’t likely be coming to the large parking lots surrounding the University of the Fraser Valley. A city spokesperson wrote in an email to The Current that plans for the area as a walkable, mixed-use area aren’t “conducive” to the parking of commercial trucks.

Staff will return later this year with a final strategy for council to approve. That would likely set the stage for any actual rule changes suggested in the document.

You can view the draft strategy here.

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