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.

Surrey is considering increasing the house size from 3550 sqft to 4550 sqft for all lots in the “Single Family Residential Zone (RF)”. While this doesn’t effect house sizes within the St. Helen’s Park neighbourhood as we are considered CD zoned, it will have a huge impact on the look and feel of most neighbourhoods in Surrey.

Why is it important to attend an open house on this issue?

This proposal was moved forward based on a petition with 4239 signatures representing 1507 households or 2.3% of the 64,500 households that will be affected. In comparison, the city required 85% of the 400+ households of St. Helen’s Park to sign a petition AND sign a certified city questionnaire agreeing to the downzoning. Whether you agree with the house size change or not, it’s clear that there has been inequitable treatment regarding house size change.

The best way to get your opinion about the process involved or your opinion about “mega-houses” heard will be to attend one or more of the following open houses. Please forward the link to this post to anyone in Surrey who may not already be aware of this proposed change.

Open House Information
* October 27, 2009 – South Surrey – Elgin Hall
* October 28, 2009 – Fleetwood / Guildford – Bonaccord Elementary School
* November 3, 2009 – Newton – Newton Community Hall (Recreation Centre Multi-Purpose Room #3)
* November 4, 2009 – Whalley – Surrey Arts Centre
* November 5, 2009 – Cloverdale – Clayton Heights Elementary School

All meetings are from 6:00pm to 8:30pm with a presentation at 7:00pm.
City Notice with Addresses – RF Zoning Open Houses

Links to this issue in the news:

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

City may allow megahomes -Surrey Leader August 20, 2009

Comments, including those with opposing views, are welcomed on this site but they are moderated. Please be mindful of your language when posting. Comments with slurs or foul language will not be published.

If you haven’t already noticed, Robson Park is undergoing a major transformation. Although not technically part of St. Helen’s Park, it is bordering our neighbourhood and many residents take advantage of it, so we thought we would post some information regarding the updates. According to the City of Surrey website:

“Salmon Habitat In The City!  In the summer and fall of 2009, the City of Surrey is undertaking the restoration of Robson Creek as it flows through Robson Park in Whalley.  The planned improvements include the re-grading of the stream channel, re-vegetation of the stream banks and creation of rearing ponds for salmon. The restoration will drastically improve downstream water quality and provide rearing habitat for salmon in the park.  Concurrently, the park active areas will be renovated including a new playground, walking loop, disc golf course, soccer fields and parking lot.  Improvements are intended to update the park facilities, increase use and improve safety in the park.  The park upgrades will occur through 2009 and 2010. The Robson Park Master Plan was presented at a Public Open House on March 16^th, 2009 and to the Parks and Community Services Committee in April 2009. For a copy of the plan please click here.

If you have any questions regarding the park improvements planned for Robson Park, please email parksrecculture@surrey.ca or call (604)501-5050.”

A newly formed “Surrey Ratepayers Association” has been in talks with city planners to have the house size limits of the single family residential zoning removed. They also want this to be applied retroactively to all properties that illegally built larger than the current by-law, negating any stop-work order or legal action taken by the city on those properties.  The city planners, in return, are recommending increasing house sizes by 1000 square feet.

The Surrey Association of Sustainable Communities (SASC) has since met with the city planners to raise concerns regarding this request and how it’s been handled by the city.

Their concerns include:

1. A lack of public consultation prior to proceeding to Council with recommendations;
2. Inaccurate, misleading and incomplete information within the Corporate Report;
3. A lack of analysis as to the impacts of the proposed modification on the City;
4. A disregard for the environment and the principles within the Sustainability Charter;
5. The creation of a culture where compliance is ignored and rule-breaking is encouraged;
6. Inequitable treatment of citizenry, specifically this case vs. downzoning of St. Helen’s;
7. Implications for an over-burdened infrastructure system, and inequitable taxation.

Please read the linked corporate report that was presented to Council by city planners and the minutes from the meeting between SASC and the city planners for more detailed information.

This topic will also be discussed at the next SASC meeting, Thursday July 16th at 7pm at Port Kells Community Hall.

Corporate Report C005 – Modification to RF Zoning

SASC Meeting Minutes – June 29, 2009

Tuesday morning the Board of Variance ruled against the application to relax the rules of the CD zoning in St. Helen’s Park. The applicants were unable to prove that if the board did not allow their application they would suffer undo hardship. They supplied a petition with 20 area neighbours in favour of their application. Members of the SWRA executive successfully argued that the rules of the CD zoning must be upheld and that a message be sent that St. Helen’s Park should remain a unique and protected area.

Several volunteers managed to obtain 227 signatures representing 146 households in less than a week. Many residents were conflicted in their decision to sign the petition as the applicants have been residents in the area since 2002 and are well liked by their neighbours. This unfortunate situation, pitting neighbours against each other, could have been avoided if city staff had not originally approved their plans. This is the second time this year that building plans that were first approved had to be sent back to the owners once it was discovered that they did not comply with the new zoning.

The Board of Variance was impressed with the resolve of our community and congratulated the group on their presentation. Special thanks go out to the folks who collected signatures and to all those residents that expressed their support for their community. It is especially gratifying to meet all the new families that have settled in this area because of its unique character and sense of community.

Here is how the house would look when following the CD zoning by-laws. Notice how the roofline over the garage now emulates the roofline of the neighbouring rancher. The actual square footage would not be changed from the original application, but now the house’s profile matches the surrounding houses and would conform to the CD zoning by-law for our area.

Welcome.