Recently I received a property assessment with a letter from the mayor of Delta attached to it explaining how fiscally responsible Delta is. The item that caught the most attention was “Beautification of Scott Road.” Several councils over the decade have visited and re-visited this project but have failed to address the issue.
Right now North Delta looks worse than its neighbour Newton. My advice to the council is not to spend any dollar amounts until we have figured out what exactly is wrong with the Scott Road corridor.
There are several major obstacles which must be addressed before good money is spent:
• The state of the Punjabi market. It is a total mess. Business signs are non-conforming, there are tents in parking lots and parking stalls are never maintained.
• The Sikh temple has outlived its usefulness in its present location. It has become more of a safety issue around the Scottsdale Mall area. It is a miracle there has not been a fatality in front of the temple, as there are thousands of people and cars that go in and out of the temple every day. It is in the interest of Surrey and Delta to relocate the temple. It has placed a lot of burden on both sides of Scott Road. Vaisakhi and Miri Piri parades put tremendous strain and inconveniences on other communities and the police.
• The rezoning of the nightclub on 70 Avenue and Scott Road should be put on hold until every North Delta citizen is on the same page. We need solid assurances that the developers are good corporate citizens. Highrises and shops will mean the area will be heavily populated with people and cars. Mix this with the temple population and this will become a bottleneck and potentially explosive situation.
There is no quick solution to improve the quality of neighbourhoods on Scott Road until these contentious issues are addressed. In the meantime, the only thing municipalities can do is to carry on with the day-to-day maintenance of the Scott Road corridor as far road conditions, traffic, and a safe environment are concerned.
S. Bhatia, Delta