Public notice

March 24, 2025 – The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority as part of its Project and Environmental Review process and Environment Climate Change Canada must determine whether the proposed Maintenance dredging – S&R Sawmills, located at 18887 98A Avenue, Surrey, BC is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. Written comments to be received by April 22, 2025.

To help inform this determination, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Environment Climate Change Canada are inviting comments from the public respecting that determination. All comments received will be considered public and may be posted online.  For more information, individuals should consult the Privacy Notice on the Registry website. In addition, your contact information may be shared with third parties, e.g., the tenant, other relevant agencies, to help respond to your questions and inform possible mitigations.

Written comments must be submitted by April 22, 2025 to:

Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
Project and Environmental Review
100 The Pointe, 999 Canada Place
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 3T4
per@portvancouver.com

The proposed project

S&R Sawmills Ltd. has requested a multi-year permit to conduct maintenance dredging on the south side of Parsons Channel of the Fraser River adjacent to 18887 98A Avenue, Surrey, BC. Dredging is required to remove natural river infill and wood wastes from log handling and to re-establish the required depths to ensure continued safe navigation and access for marine vessels. Maintenance dredging was most recently conducted in November 2024 under PER 22-083.

The Project would include:

• Dredging within an approximate footprint up to 98,000 square metres
• Dredging up to 50,000 cubic metres of material per year
• Dredging to approximate grades between -2.4 and -4.9 low local water and up to -6.0 low local water in select areas fronting two mill sites, consistent with previous dredging works.

Maintenance dredging would be conducted from a marine spud derrick with a clamshell bucket. Dredged materials would be loaded onto a barge for transport and disposal at the Point Grey Disposal Site (49.25666° N, 123.36500° W, NAD83), under a valid Environment and Climate Change Canada Disposal at Sea permit.

Dredging is typically carried out annually, over four weeks per dredging season, with periodic dredging events carried out as required.

Dredging may be conducted outside of regular work hours, e.g., on weekends during shutdown periods, to accommodate facility operations.