Surrey city council rejected at third reading a 58-unit townhouse project for a tony Fleetwood neighbourhood of single-family houses after dozens of speakers railed against the proposed development at 8464 Wildwood Place during a public hearing at City Hall on Monday (Nov. 18).
Seventy-two people were on the speakers list. There were also unregistered speakers at the three-hour hearing.
The application failed on a five-to-four vote, with Mayor Brenda Locke and councillors Linda Annis, Mike Bose, Harry Bains and Mandeep Nagra voting in opposition and councillors Pardeep Kooner, Rob Stutt, Doug Elford and Gordon Hepner in favour.
Council heard that 95 per cent of the neighbourhood – some 484 residents – signed a petition against the proposal. Residents complained it would increase traffic, density, noise, overburden local schools and parks, drive down land values, be an eyesore, bring “criminal activity” and transiency and otherwise wreck their quality of life.
“It will destroy the character of our neighbourhood,” Gary Dhadda said.
“Our neighbourhood consists of 10,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet half-acre lots with large luxury homes so putting 58 townhomes right in the middle of these houses is not appropriate. Our neighbourhood is quiet, peaceful, lush green and safe.
“This development will cause great harm to the quality of life we enjoy in this neighbourhood,” he told council. “We need single-family quarter-acre lots that flow with the overall layout of the neighbourhood and complement this existing, well-established character. We don’t need townhomes.”
Resident Barb Kinsella said the proposed townhouses “do not fit in the culture of our area.” She noted that a horse farm occupied the area before the existing houses were built and “it was a lovely area before our houses came in.”
“Nobody wants to look out their back window and see a group of townhomes staring back at them,” she said.
Still many speakers also spoke in favour of the project, pointing out that single-family homes are financially beyond reach for many Surrey families, that council must be alive to the affordable housing crisis and that these dwellings will make home ownership possible for people otherwise priced out of the market.
“Maybe my son can afford one some day,” Magic Dhaliwal told council.
One speaker questioned the affordability of the proposed townhouses, saying she went to an open house to hear they will cost up to $1,5 million.
Arman Rai didn’t care for the tone of some speakers’ remarks. “Hearing a lot of the concerns today regarding the safety, demographic and characteristic of the neighbourhood, it almost seems like a federal prison is getting built in the middle of the neighbourhood,” he told council.
“I’m a young adult, initiating my career, on the verge of getting married but I’m living at home. I also know many people are ln the same boat as me,” Rai said. “Affordable housing is problem for my generation – owning a single detached home in our market, as a young adult, is nearing the impossible.
“On the other hand,” he added, “owning a small one-bedroom condo is undesirable for its cost. Keeping the next generation in mind, it should be crucial when making these decisions. A spacious townhome provides a perfect solution to this for us young adults who are having a tough time finding our way through this housing market.”
Allwood Development Ltd. is the owner.
The applicant requested the rezoning of a portion of the site from General Agriculture Zone to Quarter Acre Residential Zone and a portion from General Agriculture Zone to Urban Residential Zone to develop the 58-unit complex, one-quarter residential lot and a “remnant urban lot with future subdivision potential.”
Elford explained why he voted in support of the project.
"I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight, hanging in here until the late hours and I appreciate the passion."
He called the vote "challenging."
"We're expected to absorb 400,000 people in this community and that's 66 per cent more people and the challenge we have is where are we going to put them? Also, the fact of the matter is this development isn't a bad development, it's actually pretty good," he said. "The reality we face as a council now is this new housing legislation, it hamstrings us."
The choice, Elford said, is building a "nice well-planned, staff-approved townhouse development or do we end up with a hodge-podge...to me, I choose the devil we know, and in this case I wlll be supporting this project."