At Monday’s (Feb. 10) meeting, council will be receiving a report on the updated Fleetwood plan area and voting on the proposed plan area boundary for the community
Council will also be voting on a communications and engagement strategy and an interim Surrey-Langley SkyTrain “development contribution expectations policy for land use planning areas along the Fraser Highway SkyTrain corridor.”
This follows the TransLink mayor’s council approving the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain business case on Jan. 30, which will now be going to senior government for approval. The plan is to begin construction in 2022.
READ ALSO: TransLink mayor’s council approves Surrey-Langley SkyTrain business case, Jan. 30, 2020
READ ALSO: First look at Surrey SkyTrain renderings along Fraser Highway, Feb. 5, 2019
If approved, the Fleetwood plan area would be the “largest secondary plan area” in the city, about 1.5 times larger than the City Centre Plan area. For a total of 2,118 hectares, it would include the Fleetwood Town Centre and the West Fleetwood neighbourhoods.
Staff says the plan covers the initial phase of the SkyTrain extension, which will only go to 166th Street with four stops.
A corporate report states that as the planning process evolves, and there is additional community input, “staff may consider splitting the plan area into two unique subplans,” but for the time being, staff is proceeding with a single Fleetwood plan.
The proposed expansion of the Fleetwood plan. (Image: surrey.ca)
The city hosted an open house on Nov. 13, 2019, along with an online survey, for the Fleetwood plan process. According to the report, more than 750 people attended and more than 450 surveys were completed. It is now “being used by staff to develop a vision for the future of Fleetwood.”
The communications and engagement strategy “explores ways to hear from a range of people and groups, ensuring residents and businesses have a mixture of ways to provide input.”
The next steps include a “comprehensive engagement phase” starting in April that will include a second open house, online surveys, workshops, walking tours and a series of pop-up engagement events. There will also be the first of three speaker series events that will “focus on educating residents and business owners on principles related to transit-oriented planning and placemaking.”
As for rezoning applications during the plan process, the staff report states that “generally rezoning applications will not be brought forward” to council until the secondary land use plan is adopted.
The interim development contribution police, according to staff, is to provide clarity for landowners, buyers and sellers of land next to the corridor.
READ ALSO: Surrey council votes against ‘hold’ on development along future SkyTrain route, April 15, 2020
Community amenity contribution rates in secondary land-use plan area are “typically established a the end of the planning process,” but since the land-use planning to support the SkyTrain project will be ongoing until the end of 2023, “these interim policies are intended to limit land value speculation in areas undergoing community planning.”
During the Feb. 10 meeting, council will also be receiving a report on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain and business case, as well as the supportive policies agreement to go with the extension.
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