Surrey will soon be B.C.'s largest city. Does it need its own airport?

Scott Wheatley, executive-director of the Cloverdale district chamber of commerce, said some Surrey businesses are asking for an airport. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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When Scott Wheatley raised the idea of an airport for Surrey at a recent business lunch where Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s transportation minister, was guest speaker, it wasn’t some airy notion.

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The head of the Cloverdale district chamber of commerce had been hearing from business owners about the need for better air access to Campbell Heights, the Lower Mainland’s largest industrial area.

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But Wheatley wasn’t prepared for the response his “simple question,” asked during a public Q&A session after Farnworth’s speech, would receive.

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“I never really expected any kind of response,” he said.

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The idea took off, particularly online, where some people said Surrey needed its own airport to keep up with the rapid growth, with its population predicted to surpass Vancouver as B.C.’s largest in a little over a decade. Others pointed out that the city was already well-served by airports in Langley and Boundary Bay, not to mention Abbotsford and Vancouver.

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Wheatley said he plans to talk to Surrey City Hall and South Surrey MP Ernie Klassen, before possibly making a more formal pitch to Farnworth, although what he has in mind is quite modest and would primarily serve local business.

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Although Surrey once had an small private airport, it, like Vancouver, now does not have an airport within city limits. As the city grows, it will likely become more difficult to find a large enough piece of land to accommodate an airport.

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Farmer Tyler Heppell posted a video to TikTok to share his thoughts on using farmland for an airport, in particular a 1.2 square kilometre field in Campbell Heights that was once a federal government radar site.

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Heppell, whose family leases the field to grow potatoes and other vegetables, has spent the last four years advocating to keep the field in agricultural production.

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“We’re talking about developing our farmland that feeds all of Vancouver for two to three weeks a year at a time when basically no other fields are producing food,” he said in the video. “Protecting farmland shouldn’t be this difficult.”

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A file photo shows early potatoes grown on a field in Campbell Heights in Surrey. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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At the business event, Farnworth appeared to take Wheatley’s question seriously.

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As reported in the Surrey Now-Leader, he said airports are federal jurisdiction, so it would need to be a “case of the province working with the federal government to say ‘Hey, we think there’s an opportunity here for an airport.’”

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Farnworth said that in order to advance a proposal, he would need a better understanding of the location, size and “things like that,” and invited Wheatley to send his ideas.

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Wheatley said that as the City of Surrey continues to grow, it makes sense to be thinking about an airport.

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“I don’t know if an airport should be the top priority, but I think it’s something we could see in the next 20 years,” he said.