Last fall, public open houses were held proposing changes to RF zoning that would allow an extra 1,000 square feet, secondary suites and a request that stop work orders that dealt with illegal building additions be set aside. Subsequent to all the negative media surrounding the original proposal, the 1,000 square feet addition has disappeared (for now) and the secondary suite issue has moved into the city’s Housing Action Plan. The promised “further consultation” consisted of a hand-picked group of individuals and the mayor. Second hand reports from that group indicate a high degree of concern regarding how this plan will be implemented given the city’s less than stellar record on enforcing existing by-laws. There are also concerns about neighbourhoods having to opt out the changes, similar to the reverse billing plans that cable companies used to use.

The proposal being brought to public hearing Monday will allow one suite in almost all houses in Surrey, regardless of previous zoning (unless that zoning specifically prohibited suites). St. Helen’s Park will be impacted by these changes.

Based on the results of the public surveys and on consultation with stakeholders and the Secondary Suites Focus Group, the following broad policy direction on secondary suites is recommended for Council’s consideration:

“Permit one secondary suite in all single family homes in the City, subject to a number of conditions and restrictions, including:

1. Prohibiting multiple suites in a house, along with a transition strategy for phasing out circumstances that currently exist where homes contain multiple suites and the development of “triplex” and other zones such as fee simple row housing with the goal of creating a wider range of housing options in Surrey;
2. Requiring the registered owner of a home with a secondary suite or a coach house to reside on the premises;
3. Prohibiting 1 additional secondary suites on properties where zoning already allows for a coach house or a secondary suite;
4. Requiring a home with a secondary suite to provide an additional off-street parking space;
5. Requiring a home with a secondary suite to pay appropriate utility fees to offset the added costs of City services; and ensuring existing secondary suites comply with life safety Building Code requirements, along with a transition strategy for bringing existing suites into compliance.

In addition, the policy direction is to include a mechanism for neighbourhood groups wanting to propose additional conditions to the basic suites policy that would apply only within a specific area.

The policy will be accompanied by an education and communication plan, and by a strategy to ensure effective compliance and enforcement of the policy.

The corporate report can be found here: CorporateReport R240 SecondarySuites

If you have concerns about this bylaw change either attend the public hearing at City hall, Monday, December 13, 2010 at 7pm or contact the councillors directly here: Mayor & Council.

It has been two weeks since the last of five Open Houses were conducted by the City of Surrey to get the public’s feedback on the proposed RF zoning change to increase the standard house size allowed from 3550 sqft to 4550 sqft. The proposed changes themselves and the way the city had dealt with the proposal to this point was controversial. How controversial, could be seen in the amount of media covering the Open Houses (see below) and the sheer number of people who attended. Preliminary numbers for all five open houses appear to be over 2300 people. (While that may not sound like much, people who have attended open houses on other topics have seen as many as two people in attendance.) The biggest crowds were in the neighbourhoods that would be most affected by the decision – Newton and Whalley.

During the Open House, the planners would give a formal presentation which was then followed by a question and answer period (Q&A was only during the final 3 open houses). What started as Q&A session quickly devolved into an open forum for opinion. Both sides were passionate and the crowd got very heated at times.
What was supposed to be an info session about an increase in size became a forum about the environment, illegal additions, illegal suites and their impact (more cars, more students, more resources without taxation) and the effect of “mega-houses” on the houses around them. People were genuinely angry at the city’s lack of enforcement and the city’s attitude of “people fill in their decks anyway so we should include it in the square footage instead of enforcing the existing bylaws” seemed to be the final slap in the face to the law-abiding public.

In the city’s corporate report regarding the planning of these open houses (Corporate Report R151 – Next Steps), the Surrey Ratepayers Association (SRA) was not completely in favour of the public consultation.

“While the SRA supports some public consultation, it is concerned about the length of time this process may take. The SRA is anxious to proceed with the proposed modifications to the RF Zone and voiced concerns on the public consultation process as being time-consuming and on the possible outcome being lack of community acceptance of any proposed changes to the RF Zone.”

Their prediction may have been correct. Monday, the city passed a resolution to not move forward on a city-wide RF-zone change. The wording from the minutes is as follows:

That Council:

1. Request that staff bring forward a report outlining the policy and procedures that will allow any well defined neighbourhood within the City to initiate a rezoning process for that neighbourhood.; and

2. In relation to the stop work orders issued: Direct staff to undertake the appropriate measures and to ensure life safety concern is addressed.

That Council request staff to arrange a shirtsleeve session to review all issues regarding the potential modification to the RF Zone.

When asked about this resolution, Grant Rice, president of the Southwestminster Ratepayers Association and St. Helen’s Park resident, stated “This resolution doesn’t mention anything about rescinding the original resolution of May 25th to increase house sizes by 1,000 square feet. Also, after staff repeatedly told citizens during the public consultation process that enforcement is a separate issue that they would not discuss, it is included in this resolution dealing with the staff report on RF zoning. The last sentence of the resolution shows that the issue is far from over.”

A small forum will be held next Thursday where the Surrey Association of Sustainable Communities (SASC), the SRA, city planners, the mayor and council have been invited to discuss the issues that have been brought to the forefront by this RF-zone change proposal.

This Issue in the Media

The proposed RF-Zone change, the issues it brought up and the Open Houses themselves were heavily covered by the media. Here is a small gathering of links.

Contentious ‘mega-homes’ return to Surrey agenda – The Province August 20, 2009

City may allow megahomes -Surrey Leader August 20, 2009

Two councillors have illegal secondary suites -Surrey Leader October 27, 2009

Seventy ‘monster homes’ built on the sly -The Province November 02, 2009

Where a man’s home is his 11-bedroom, 8-bathroom castle -The Vancouver Sun November 04, 2009

Going to the big house: A crime against nature -The Vancouver Sun November 05, 2009

Political pressure prompted house size probe: Councillor -The Surrey Leader November 10, 2009

COLUMN: Public left out of process -The Surrey Leader November 12, 2009

Letter to the Editor: Monster houses not about race, but culture -The Surrey Now November 10, 2009 I wouldn’t normally link a “letter to the editor”, but this one is very eloquently written and touches on the issues well.

City spikes larger home plan -The Surrey Leader November 17, 2009

City begins targeting illegally built homes -The Surrey Leader November 19, 2009 This says the city will be targeting homes that have “unsafe” additions. While that is a “no-brainer” (especially if the city could be liable), what about all the “safe” additions that blatantly violate the bylaw by being oversized?

Surrey’s mega-home controversy becoming culture war -The Province November 19, 2009
The Province again finds the incorrect “racial” view sells more papers – similar to what they did when the downzoning of St. Helen’s Park was allowed.