Metro board rejects Surrey development plan
Metro Vancouver’s board has sent a City of Surrey development proposal back to the drawing board, with some directors saying the proposal sends the wrong signal to developers and speculators.
“If we adopt this, we are setting an extremely dangerous precedent, simple as that,” said director Harold Steves, a Richmond councillor, at Friday’s board meeting.
As part of its efforts to develop South Campbell Heights — a process that has been going on for four years — Surrey had to ask Metro to amend the land-use designations in its regional growth strategy for a part of the area.
The amendments would extend the urban containment boundary, (UCB), which restricts urban development to certain areas, and redesignate 235 hectares of land from rural to mixed employment, conservation, recreation and general urban to allow for potential industrial and residential land uses.
They would also change some areas in the urban containment boundary from mixed employment to conservation and recreation and general urban. Twelve hectares would be added to the Agricultural Land Reserve.
Director and Surrey Coun. Tom Gill said the city spent four years consulting extensively with the public and stakeholders about the proposed plan.
“There’s no question city staff approached this with kid gloves,” he said. “These properties that we speak of today, it’s really about addressing the last pocket of these lands and making sure that we actually have a local area plan that really addresses the issues.”
Metro staff found the redesignation of rural lands to general urban for urban residential development south of 16th Avenue would be inconsistent with the regional plan.
“A large expansion of the UCB into the rural and proximate to agricultural areas would signal that the expansion of urban development into rural areas of the Hazelmere Valley is feasible, and would encourage speculation and establish a precedent for similar future amendment requests not only in the Hazelmere Valley, but throughout the region,” the staff report states.
Staff recommended sending the proposed amendments back to Surrey for reconsideration, and members of the regional planning committee agreed unanimously at a meeting earlier this month.
A majority of board directors agreed with Metro staff members’ assessment.
“It’s not just a bad precedent in Surrey, but more importantly to all of the other municipalities in Metro Vancouver, where we need to be showing that we take the urban containment boundary and the regional growth strategy very seriously. They’re there for a reason,” said director John Becker, mayor of Pitt Meadows.
“I am tired of hearing from the development community that the regional growth strategy and urban containment boundary are like an Etch A Sketch, and you simply turn it upside down and give it a shake and redraft it at will.”
Director Derek Corrigan, Burnaby’s mayor, said he was taken aback to find that another option was being considered by the board Friday after the committee voted unanimously to refer the issue back to the city.
Representatives from the Semiahmoo Fish and Game Club and the Friends of Hazelmere/Campbell Valley were among the speakers who came out against the proposed redevelopment Friday.