Surrey’s council is pushing for its own set of rules under its own charter.
By 2030, the City of Surrey is forecast to become the most populous municipality in the province and Mayor Brenda Locke said the city needs to set the pace and its own destiny.
A report going to the council Monday at 2 p.m. said a Surrey charter would give the city additional powers, responsibilities and exemptions, which includes new provincial housing legislation.
“We absolutely do need to be able to build our community in a way that we see fit for the future,” Locke said.
The report states that a charter would give the council discretion to maintain single-family residential zones, instead of being forced to automatically permit up to six dwellings to be able to hold a public hearing for rezoning and exempt transit hubs from the density requirements.
“It would allow us to have flexibility to do what we think is right for the residents of Surrey, and I think in many cases we would agree with what the province has done, but it gives us that flexibility,” councillor Linda Annis said.
Council said it also wants to be able to charge its own empty homes tax the way Vancouver does.
However, one political scientist thinks it is unlikely the province will agree to the request.
“As soon as Surrey gets something that Burnaby and Richmond would want, something that Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops (will want),” Hamish Telford, a professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley told Global News.
“I don’t think (the province) wants to be writing tailor-made charters for each city in the province.”
Telford said the city probably won’t get an answer.
“I think the province, whichever party forms the government, might just say ‘thank you, we’ll take this under advisement,’ and consider it indefinitely,” he said.