Surrey Updates

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Shift

Another massive project heading to Council Monday:

Bosa Bluesky's 'Brightside' on the former Brick site.

• 40-Storey Residential with Retail at grade (Phase 1)
• 50-Storey Residential with 17-Storey Office podium (Phase 2)
• 50-Storey Residential with 8-Storey podium including 200 rental units (Phase 3)
• Large commercial / market hall building in centre of site

Really exciting project for this part of downtown Surrey, but since this location is so central, the street interaction should be improved. There should be a lot more retail than just one commercial podium. Loving the heights here.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Vin

Really exciting project for this part of downtown Surrey, but since this location is so central, the street interaction should be improved. There should be a lot more retail than just one commercial podium. Loving the heights here.

There are 2 commercial podiums (tower 1 & 2) and a stand-along commercial building in the centre of the project that builds the part of a commercial activated mews that runs to the north of the site to the quieter residential at-grade tower 3 and the amenities.

[GenWhy?]

The lane is treated surprisingly well, if I remember.

[Sheba]

City of White Rock wins court fight over building-height restriction

The B.C. Supreme Court has sided with the City of White Rock in a dispute over a developer’s plan to build a 12-storey building.

In June 2018 the then-city council passed a resolution to issue a development permit to G.S.R. Capital Group, authorizing the construction of a 30-unit, 12 storey residential building to replace the existing two-storey structure.

A month later the city issued a development permit for G.S.R. but after a municipal election later that year, a new council was sworn in. The new council passed a number of resolutions, one of which was aimed at amending a bylaw to reduce the permitted maximum height of any building at the G.S.R. site from 12 to six storeys.

The city notified the company of the resolutions and later invited it to make submissions on the changes being contemplated.

The company submitted a building-permit application in January 2019 with council later directing that the permit be withheld after identifying a “conflict” between the planned development and the zoning bylaw amendments under preparation.

A public hearing was held in March and council later held a special meeting at which it passed bylaws limiting the maximum height of the property to six storeys. The city told the developer that it was not permitted to proceed with the development as originally contemplated.

The developer took the city to court and sought a judicial review of the decisions made by City of White Rock.

It argued that it should be entitled to proceed with a 12-storey building at 1310 Johnston Rd., in the Lower Town Centre of the city, and also sought orders quashing the new bylaws and resolutions. The developer raised a number of arguments, including that the development permit scheme was aimed at providing a degree of certainty to both developers and municipalities. The company claimed that the decision to withhold a building permit was unreasonable.

The city responded by arguing that a council’s decision to issue a development permit was not a general approval of all aspects of a development and told the judge that it had acted reasonably and fairly.

In her ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carla Forth found the city’s decision to adopt the bylaws to be reasonable and lawful, and declined to grant the orders sought by the developer.

“City council did what we thought was in the public interest for the city of White Rock with regard to the height of buildings in the Lower Town Centre of White Rock,” White Rock Mayor Darryl Walker said in a statement. “The city must ensure development meets the needs of the community while helping to create the White Rock we want to see in the future.”

[Vin]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

There are 2 commercial podiums (tower 1 & 2) and a stand-along commercial building in the centre of the project that builds the part of a commercial activated mews that runs to the north of the site to the quieter residential at-grade tower 3 and the amenities.

I don't know. It just feels like way too much plaza space: should have way more concentrated retail instead. But love the overall proposal.

[officedweller]

I didn't think the Brightside project had enough retail along the Mews.
It looked like the amenity building took up a lot of the Mews frontage and would be inaccessible/deadspace to the general public.

[dferch]

I found some renders for the Fleetwood development at Fraser & 84 ave. It's still very conceptual at this point but interesting nonetheless.

http://bucci.com/fleetwood/

[sryboy]

Originally Posted by dferch

I found some renders for the Fleetwood development at Fraser & 84 ave. It's still very conceptual at this point but interesting nonetheless.

Nice find!

[Cypherus]

Great find. Thank you for sharing. Project scope looks reasonable for the area.

[scryer]

It is definitely a great find. I'm happy to see this kind of change to the area.

[Shift]

Thanks for sharing. That will certainly change the feel of the area (currently all auto dealerships, strip malls, and townhomes).

Application is underway but won't be able to receive Final Approval until the Fleetwood Plan is finalized in 2022.

Therefore would expect this to start construction 2023 at earliest / completion 2026 or later if phased. Would tie in with the opening of the SkyTrain to Fleetwood in 2025.

https://apps.surrey.ca/Online-Development-Inquiry/?year=19&seq=0366

[Equinox71]

Originally Posted by Shift

Would tie in with the opening of the SkyTrain to Fleetwood in 2025.

https://apps.surrey.ca/Online-Development-Inquiry/?year=19&seq=0366

After watching NW mayor Jonathon Cote on the news tonight speaking of Translink needing serious funding during COVID, I highly doubt that any current Translink expansions will be on target. The whole system is taking such a colossal hit at this time that it's hard to imagine plans continuing with current timelines.

[montyhallgoat]

Originally Posted by Equinox71

After watching NW mayor Jonathon Cote on the news tonight speaking of Translink needing serious funding during COVID, I highly doubt that any current Translink expansions will be on target. The whole system is taking such a colossal hit at this time that it's hard to imagine plans continuing with current timelines.

I'm more optimistic about the SkyTrain extensions than ever.
The governments will probably greenlight various infrastructure projects as part of the post-COVID 19 economic recovery plan.
It's understandable that they have a no plan to bail Translink out on day-to-day expenses, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be a different story for infrastructure projects.

With the economy down the toilet, both the federal and provincial governments need to introduce stimulus package with tax-cuts and massive public spendings to jump-start the economy.
Infrastructure projects are popular because they have long-lasting benefits to the region while creating short-term jobs and demands, while politicians can boast about them and rack up more votes.

I think it's more likely than ever to see full SkyTrain extensions all the way to Langley and UBC at once because of the pandemic.
Heck, they might even throw in the gondola to SFU and a hyperloop or two trying to salvage whatever left of the economy.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by montyhallgoat

I'm more optimistic about the SkyTrain extensions than ever.
The governments will probably greenlight various infrastructure projects as part of the post-COVID 19 economic recovery plan.
It's understandable that they have a no plan to bail Translink out on day-to-day expenses, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be a different story for infrastructure projects.

With the economy down the toilet, both the federal and provincial governments need to introduce stimulus package with tax-cuts and massive public spendings to jump-start the economy.
Infrastructure projects are popular because they have long-lasting benefits to the region while creating short-term jobs and demands, while politicians can boast about them and rack up more votes.

I think it's more likely than ever to see full SkyTrain extensions all the way to Langley and UBC at once because of the pandemic.
Heck, they might even throw in the gondola to SFU and a hyperloop or two trying to salvage whatever left of the economy.

Infrastructure spending in Vancouver area is pointless and you would not see any return on investment and it would actually cost more to build currently. Construction is currently running at 110 %. Many projects you see around town at a stand still are waiting for a key trade to have manpower available. For a lot of tasks there is only 2 or 3 contractors that do that service and they get booked a year ahead. Adding additional public funded projects to the mix to stimulate an already existing over capacity industry is plain stupid and a waste of taxes. Our taxes are going to go up a fair bit due to Covid response. The same thing is also said about the Community Benefit Agreement its a bull shit policy that is just wasting taxes. Might work if the Eastern part of the province or far north needs a freeway but anything local is just taking away from existing labor pool.

[dferch]

Which trades are in such short supply?

[GMasterAres]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

Infrastructure spending in Vancouver area is pointless and you would not see any return on investment and it would actually cost more to build currently. Construction is currently running at 110 %. Many projects you see around town at a stand still are waiting for a key trade to have manpower available. For a lot of tasks there is only 2 or 3 contractors that do that service and they get booked a year ahead. Adding additional public funded projects to the mix to stimulate an already existing over capacity industry is plain stupid and a waste of taxes. Our taxes are going to go up a fair bit due to Covid response. The same thing is also said about the Community Benefit Agreement its a bull shit policy that is just wasting taxes. Might work if the Eastern part of the province or far north needs a freeway but anything local is just taking away from existing labor pool.

Pretty much spot on but what you're missing is logic doesn't enter into politics all the time, and people perceive of infrastructure spending as being this amazing economic driver. This is exactly why so many governments, when they have a surplus, instead of saying "Hey we have more money than we need, we'll CUT TAXES" instead say "Hey we have more money than we need, we'll SPEND MORE ON MORE STUFF!!!"

So he is probably right that we'll hear of some infrastructure spending pushes under the guise of Covid-19 recovery even though we know it doesn't work that way and they should probably likely NOT.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[dferch]

Well I guess I started something. Since I shared those renders, Daily Hive and Urban YVR have posted stories on the Fleetwood project.

https://urbanyvr.com/bucci-fleetwood-surrey
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/fleetwood-bucci-development-16065-16099-fraser-highway

[SpongeG]

I thought the funding for the skytrain expansion was locked down? they can't take it away now can they?

[SpongeG]

I pass this often, its going up on KGH sort of halfway between Newton and Surrey Central

Kings Landing II

buzzbuzzhome

Kings Landing which is complete is behind it

condosurrey.com