Eric Friesen thought he’d found a peaceful haven on the water when he bought a house on north Delta’s River Road two decades ago. There was hardly any traffic on the road back then — the cars came later, after Delta developed the Tilbury Industrial Park. Now, Friesen faces a different traffic nightmare: the new South Fraser Perimeter Road runs 20 metres below his house and he and his neighbours fear they will be beset by noise and pollution. “I understand progress but the reason I moved here was because of the river and it was a nice community,” Friesen said. “I’m the first house here (on River Road) and I’m kind of trapped here.” The $1.3-billion South Fraser Perimeter Road — a 40-kilometre truck route that runs along the south side of the Fraser River from Highway 1, around Port Kells in Surrey, to Deltaport Way in south Delta — isn’t a surprise to Friesen or his wife Lynn Watson. But they’re concerned that neither the province nor the Corporation of Delta will take the necessary steps to protect residents, and their quality of life, along the busy corridor. Similar frustrations are being vented across Delta, where lobbying efforts are increasing in a bid to protect the municipality from massive change at the hands of private developers, the local council, provincial government, the Tsawwassen First Nation and Port Metro Vancouver. Even Metro Vancouver has taken a stand, with regional district officials last year pushing back at the potential loss of 243 hectares of prime south Delta farmland for port expansion. Metro, which is trying to maintain its agricultural land for future farming, noted an inventory conducted on Delta’s farmland found there were 1,161 hectares in the corporation that are agricultural, but aren’t being actively farmed. “There is no doubt that in the last three years the quality of life in Delta has taken a significant hit,” Independent Delta MLA Vicki Huntington said. “We’re all very worried about it … the whole concept of environment and quality of life in Delta is undergoing very rapid change, far faster than I thought it would.” At issue are major projects such as the expanding Deltaport, development of a 36-hectare parcel of land next to Burns Bog by MK Delta Lands Inc., the Marina Gardens project and waterfront revitalization in Ladner, plans by Tsawwassen First Nation to develop 724 hectares and two mega-malls on the north side of Highway 17 between the Deltaport Terminal and 52nd Street, and the contentious 950-unit Southlands development slated for agricultural land in Tsawwassen. The Southlands proposal, which received first and second hearing in July and will go to public hearing this fall, has particularly rankled residents. The Century Group project, which involves seven properties with a combined area of 217 hectares, calls for 950 residential homes, including single-family and townhouses, along with commercial space. It also proposes transferring 80 per cent of the land to Delta to be used for large- and small-scale farming and greenways.

The future of Southlands has long been in contention, leading to the longest public hearing in history and a resident-run plebiscite in 1989, which prevented a 2,000-unit development from being built. The land was pulled out of the Agricultural Land Reserve in 1984. Delta council two years ago started the process to make an application to put it back in the ALR, but the community was split. Longtime Tsawwassen resident Jean Wightman argues Southlands should remain agricultural, noting it is one of Metro Vancouver’s last vestiges of available agricultural land. Southlands the Facts also argues a recent report from Ministry of Agriculture staff that criticized the community-based farming plan proposed for the non-developed land, citing substantial inaccuracies in costs and no net increase in farming activities. “It seems to be all about development out here lately,” said Wightman, arguing further density will create more traffic in her already congested community. “Southlands is still in Metro Vancouver’s green zone and designated agricultural. It should be used for that purpose, and nature as well, and not be developed. “We’re a car-dominated community and it’s getting worse and worse. I can’t see the one main street in the community handling all this traffic. It’ll be mass congestion out here.” Delta Mayor Lois Jackson insists it’s too early to tell whether Southlands will get the green light. She maintains residents should be more concerned about Port Metro Vancouver expropriating farmland for port uses than council’s vision for its town centres. While there has been an increase in in-fill housing across the corporation, she noted, Delta believes it can keep the distinct character of all three communities (north Delta, Ladner and Tsawwassen) — particularly Ladner’s historic village feel. “We have all of these changes confined to their specific locations,” Jackson said. “What we’re experiencing today are people’s concerns about change. Unfortunately, change is happening in every community and particularly in British Columbia where we have precious little land. I think we’ve done a very good job so far. “There are a lot of people who don’t want change but that’s the reality.” Friedman and Watson maintain they know change is inevitable: they’re just not convinced the new South Fraser Perimeter Road is good for their health. The couple, whose property is one of 12 parcels not included in provincial expropriation packages, has been pressuring B.C.’s transportation ministry and Delta council to conduct air monitoring tests before and after the South Fraser Perimeter Road opens to determine the level of pollution that will come from the trucks barrelling past their homes. If their health is affected, Watson said, they will push for some sort of compensation. “We’re getting nowhere; they say there’s no need to monitor it,” she said. “The concern is the diesel fumes are coming right at us … we’ve had a reasonable quality of life there and it’s going to change. You get home and you want to enjoy it; it’s just so hard. If you can’t go outside and breathe the air, there’s no point.”