Clayton’s new community centre is one step closer to construction, after city council gave the go-ahead to city staff to draft a development permit for the project at a Monday meeting.
The proposed community centre — previously referred to as the Clayton Community Hub — is to be located in Clayton Heights, near 72nd Avenue and 188 Street, alongside Clayton Park and the Clayton Dog Off-Leash Park.
The $43.5-million, two-storey building will have a library, gymnasium, child care facility, art and music studios, several multi-purpose rooms, and a rehearsal hall on the main floor. The second level will contain additional library space, a fitness centre and more multi-purpose rooms.
According to the June 11 corporate report presented to council on Monday night, the community centre will meet high-level “Passivhaus” energy efficiency requirements.
Passivhaus, meaning “passive house,” is a rigorous, internationally recognized standard that creates ultra-low energy buildings. Constructing a building to that standard typically increases a project’s budget by 5 to 10 per cent, but can lead to 75 to 95 per cent less energy spent in heating and cooling, according to the Passivhaus Institute.
One of the features of a Passivhaus building is that it uses energy sources within it to heat the building, using solar heat or even the body heat from the building’s visitors. The Clayton centre will also have a green roof that has a “pop-up” portion, providing natural daylight and ventilation.
The City of Surrey believes that the Clayton Community Centre will be the largest Passivhaus building in the country when it is completed.
The 22.5-acre site will also have significant outdoor amenities. Outside of the building will be a large event plaza and a “great lawn,” barbecue areas, a “feast table,” a community garden, and active spaces such as sand volleyball courts and a running track.
Half of required parking to be provided
The parking for the community centre will include about half of the stalls that are required by zoning bylaws.
In order for the planned parking lot to comply with bylaw requirements, there would need to be more than 300 parking stalls. The proposed amount for the centre is 167 stalls.
According to the corporate report, a traffic study conducted by Bunt & Assoc. Engineering Ltd. determined that 167 stalls will be sufficient, based on the parking demand at Guildford, Fleetwood and Cloverdale community centres. The city’s transportation, engineering and park planning divisions support that number.
Trees to be planted, ponds created
During construction, 49 trees will be removed, 246 retained, and 153 trees planted.
One of the two watercourses running through the site will be affected by the project. An unnamed watercourse that flows towards the Serpentine River, one of Surrey’s major fish-bearing watercourses, is connected to a man-made, 40-metre ditch. The plan proposes to fill in 26 metres of that ditch as part of the development process. It is non-fish-bearing, and according to an environmental consultant, filling in that ditch will not negatively impact downstream fish habitat. It will, however, remove 4,575 square feet of riparian habitat.
The city proposes to create two naturalized detention ponds on site, to compensate for the loss of in-stream habitat. The two ponds will have a combined site area of about 12,560 sq. ft.
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