Could a City of Surrey pilot program also help in the delivery of multi-family housing projects faster in Delta?
Surrey council recently gave the go-ahead for a pilot program to facilitate quicker construction of new housing by enabling larger multi-family development projects to commence excavation in advance of receiving final adoption of the rezoning and an issued development permit.
A Surrey report explains that development projects currently follow a sequential process, meaning that prior to a new development project commencing excavation, it is required to have the final adoption of the rezoning as well as development permit issuance.
For a project to move from conditional approval in principle from council, at third reading, to final adoption and issuance of the development permit, it can take multiple weeks to months to achieve.
The excavation work for large multi-family projects can take multiple months to complete, prior to the installation of services, the foundation and construction of the new building itself, the report notes, adding that providing the issuance of an “excavation only” building permit could reduce the overall delivery time of new housing, as it enables the excavation work to occur concurrently while the proponent completes the work to finalize the rezoning and obtain the development permit.
The report also notes the objective of the pilot program is to enable larger projects to commence excavation, where the excavation will take multiple months to complete, once their application has reached a point in time where there is a satisfactory level of certainty. Several conditions must be met to get the permit.
The City of Delta has already undertaken a number of streamlining measures to speed up development, including a new Development Application Procedures Bylaw with further delegations of authority to staff, such as delegation of minor development variance permits.
Council this year also approved other changes to support the city’s goal of increasing the number of development applications being processed every month with an updated Subdivision and Development Standards Bylaw.
It is aimed at further increasing review efficiency and decreasing processing times, substantive changes that the engineering department notes will address concerns from the development community and support the secondary suites program.
This September, the City of Surrey announced that its council had directed staff will explore further streamlining of the city’s rezoning and development processes by conducting a comprehensive review and present recommendations that would significantly reduce timelines.
