The applicant behind another proposed high-rise development on the Scott Road corridor in North Delta is currently reviewing feedback from city staff and the public.
That’s according to the City of Delta regarding the application, which is still to come to council for consideration, for the redevelopment of the site at 9321 120 St. and 11958 93A Ave. into a 32-storey mixed-use building with 336 market strata units, 59 rental units and commercial space.
The development proposal is consistent with the Scott Road Corridor (SRC) land use designation in the city’s new Official Community Plan (OCP), which means a public hearing can’t be held, the planning department notes.
Meanwhile, across the street in the City of Surrey, council recently got an update on how their city is doing to fulfill its housing target mandated by the province.
Surrey, which is currently working on a master plan for its side of the Scott Road corridor, effective from July 1, 2024 until June 30, 2029 has a housing target order of 27,256 net new units to be constructed.
Like Delta and other cities that have been given housing targets, Surrey also must provide progress reporting to the Ministry of Housing.
The progress report, for the reporting July 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2024, provides a detailed summary of the housing units that have been completed in the city during that period, noting Surrey granted occupancy to a total of 2,567 net new units.
That represents 60 per cent of the first-year target of 4,233 units, considering demolitions of existing housing units.
“This is a significant achievement, reflecting ongoing efforts to meet Surrey's housing goals,” a staff report states.
The report notes low-rise and high-rise apartments account for most of the units achieving occupancy during the reporting period, with 1,619 units, while ownership units form the largest category of completed units, totalling 2,213 units.
The report goes on to note that, currently, there are over 44,300 units with rezoning conditional approval awaiting construction and over 13,700 units with issued building permits that are at various stages of construction.
Focusing on the reporting period, the data indicates that Surrey has advanced 10,096 units, primarily from rezoning conditional approvals, but also from issued building permits and houseplex development permits in the approval process, the report adds.
“Moving these in-stream units into construction and subsequent occupancy is critical for the city’s ability to meet its annual targets; however, the timing of their completion largely depends on the developers to submit compliant building permits and finalize construction. While the city plays an important role in ensuring that permits are processed efficiently, the final construction timeline, after permit issuance, is largely outside of the city’s control,” the report explains.
The report also goes into detail how, in the past year, Surrey has introduced and implemented more than 25 major process improvements aimed at accelerating the approval and development of housing projects.
The City of Delta’s housing target from the province was imposed in the fall of 2023.
The Ministry of Housing had announced that Delta’s housing target was 3,607 new units, representing the number of net new units needed to meet 75 percent of the total estimated need.
That figure was the minimum number of net new completed units for Delta within five years, ending Sept. 30, 2028.
Delta’s second progress report last fall, covering the period between Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, notes the city completed 561 net new units of housing in the past year, exceeding the target of 514 set by the province in October 2023.
“In addition to reporting on the number of units achieved, the staff report also features discussion on the hundreds of units in the development approvals pipeline, the market conditions like high interest rates and rising constructions costs that are slowing down housing construction, and the measures Delta has taken to support the Housing Target Order,” the city explains.
