On peak travel days, vehicles crossing into the United States from Canada at the Peace Arch border crossing can back up in long queues along the southernmost end of Highway 99 while waiting to go through US customs.
Immediately to the east of that queuing area is a 150-acre golf course named The Hills at Portal Golf Club. The course is concealed from the highway by a line of tall trees on the property’s perimeter.
This South Surrey property last changed hands in 2021 when it was acquired by former national rugby team player Joe Haley and Bucci Lighting co-owner Randy Bishop, who at the time had indicated their intention to make investments that retain and improve the golf course and its supporting amenities.
But they now intend to redevelop much of the golf course into residential uses.
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On behalf of the owners, engineering firm WSP Canada has submitted an application to the City of Surrey to begin the process of removing the protected Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) designation for 51 acres (or about 33%) of the golf course property.
The planning and development department for the City of Surrey told Daily Hive Urbanized the intention by the applicant is to enable residential development on the property, within the 51 acres that would be excluded from the ALR.
The Hills at Portal Golf Club, next to the Peace Arch border crossing. (Google Maps)
The Hills at Portal Golf Club as seen from the Peace Arch border crossing. (Google Maps)
Preliminary plans call for the subdivision from 14 lots into a to-be-determined number of single-family residential lots.
Two separate areas for residential development would be carved out from the fairways and greens — one large area located at the property’s centre, which includes the footprint of the clubhouse and surface vehicle parking lot, and the second smaller area at the southwest corner of the golf course, which is located immediately adjacent to Canada Border Services Agency’s Douglas Port of Entry facilities for the Peace Arch crossing.
The property’s remaining 100 acres or 66% of the golf course area would be dedicated as public parkland for the City of Surrey, which includes the areas where Campbell River and Fergus Creek meander through the golf course.
Proposal to remove the protected Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) designation from the yellow areas of The Hills at Portal Golf Course to enable residential uses, with the remaining areas designated as parklands for the City of Surrey. (WSP Canada)
A number of hurdles would have to be overcome for such a redevelopment to proceed.
The application to remove 51 acres of the golf course from the ALR would have to be endorsed by Surrey City Council, at which point the application would be sent to the provincial government’s independent Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) for detailed deliberation and decision. The ALC, not the municipal government, would either approve or deny the exclusion request.
If the request to remove the parcels from protected farmland uses is approved by the ALC, it is expected the proponents would return to the City with an application to pursue Official Community Plan amendments, rezoning, and subdivision.
Bishop has other real estate interests in the area. In 2018, through a bankruptcy sale, he acquired a 125-acre waterfront property — an undeveloped forested peninsula, located just south of Bellingham in Washington state, called “Governors Point.” In October 2024, sales began for the development of the property into 16 luxury homes.
Just to the north next to the Highway 99 corridor, still within South Surrey, the City of Surrey is also considering an application to redevelop most of a 33-acre property — currently heavily treed and bushed — into a major Costco Warehouse retail location. It would also feature a gas station.
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