Surrey mayoral candidate proposes waterfront district and stadium for major events
Mike Starchuk's Imagine Surrey party wants to build a Fraser River waterfront district and a cricket and rugby stadium.
SURREY — Surrey mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk is proposing a new Fraser River waterfront destination and a cricket and rugby stadium as part of a push to bring major international sporting events to the city.
Starchuk’s Imagine Surrey party outlined the major proposals in two announcements last week, ahead of the civic election on Oct. 17, 2026.
The plans connect new public spaces and sports facilities with ambitions to host the World Police and Fire Games, followed by the Commonwealth Games.
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The proposed “Surrey Waterfront District” would be located along the Fraser River in Brownsville and South Westminster, near the new stal̕əw̓asəm/Riverview Bridge and SkyTrain’s Scott Road Station.
Imagine Surrey is pitching this waterfront neighbourhood as a destination to rival Downtown New Westminster’s Quay and North Vancouver’s Shipyards.
Plans include a public quay and riverside walking route, a market hall, an outdoor amphitheatre, housing, community amenities, and a centre for technology and employment.
The party proposes building this district in stages, beginning with the quay and riverwalk, followed by the market and amphitheatre.
“I live in Surrey Centre, 10 minutes from a river most of my neighbours have never stood beside,” said Narima Dela Cruz, a Surrey City Council candidate under Imagine Surrey, in a statement.
“A quay, a market, and somewhere to bring your family on a Sunday. That is what a city centre with a waterfront does.”
In 2025, Surrey City Council also approved a feasibility study for a mixed-use entertainment district in the same waterfront area.
The party’s waterfront district proposal also includes a future “Commonwealth Village,” linked to Imagine Surrey’s ambition to help initiate a bid for either the 2034 or 2038 Commonwealth Games.
The first step in the party’s sporting-event ambitions would be a bid for the 2031 World Police and Fire Games, which were previously held twice in Vancouver in 1989 and 2009.
Fleetwood stadium proposal
In the Fleetwood area, Imagine Surrey is promising to build a new outdoor stadium for cricket and rugby, possibly also serving as the main stadium for a Commonwealth Games, on land the City of Surrey already owns.
The party says the site would be within walking distance of a new station on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension of the Expo Line, which will reach completion in 2029.
They did not identify a specific site or a potential seating capacity.
A stadium capable of hosting not only the Commonwealth Games’ opening and closing ceremonies but also international cricket would require considerable land in Fleetwood, given the enormous size of the playing field alone for cricket.
Similar to the Summer Olympics, a large main stadium is required for the Commonwealth Games, with recent precedents being venues of 40,000 seats or more.
The municipal government-led project of building a 10,000-seat indoor arena in Surrey City Centre would also add to Metro Vancouver’s sports-hosting capabilities.
Preliminary construction and site preparation work on the arena project began earlier this month, and it is set to reach completion in 2030, at which point it will become the new home of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.
Canada last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1994, when Victoria staged the event under a smaller format.
With files from Daily Hive