At the October 18 Council Meeting, the City of Surrey approved a corporate report tasking staff with the duty to implement reduced permitting timelines. To minimize the wait time between applying and receiving a building or rezoning permit, Surrey City Council has approved a Guaranteed Permitting Timeline.
“The Surrey Board of Trade applauds the City of Surrey for making this first step. Long wait times currently experienced by developers and businesses lead to increased costs that are added to the final price of homes and businesses – driving prices of new builds up further,” noted Anita Huberman, President & CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. “We need to ensure that staff are able to respond to all developers and businesses in a timely manner if they have questions about their permit.”
“Many permits require updated information from developers and builders, which are not always easily interpreted for those that are new to the field or require more information. The Surrey Board of Trade receives daily calls on the red tape for permits and have engaged with staff and the Development Advisory Committees in previous years. This past Summer, we presented to the Development Advisory Committee on many items including red tape, the Green Infrastructure Network process, not for profit developers and the issue with housing supply, and the timelines for the permitting process.”
Staff will be implementing the following Guaranteed Permitting Timelines.
Rezoning Report to Council – Single Family
12 weeks
Rezoning Report to Council – Multi Family, Commercial and Industrial
16 weeks
Building Permit – Single Family1
10 weeks
Building Permit – Tenant improvement
10 weeks
The development process is not just delayed at the local government level. The Provincial Government has a role to play in development of land. The Surrey Board of Trade finds that another example of inefficiency is the Green Infrastructure Network process. In a policy released earlier this year, the Surrey Board of Trade asked that the Provincial Government:
1. Ensure an adequate level of service by providing required levels of staffing at the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development to review environmental applications based on the level of service needed by cities and the private sector; and,
2. Encourage municipalities to re-establish an environmental review committee with municipal staff, provincial regulators, and industry representatives.
The Surrey Board of Trade will continue to monitor the implementation of the permitting.
Read the full corporate report here https://www.surrey.ca/sites/default/files/corporate-reports/G.%20CR_2021-R203.pdf
View the SBOT presentation to the Development Advisory Committee here https://businessinsurrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CITY-OF-SURREY-PRESENTATION-TO-DAC.pdf
Read the full policy by the Surrey Board of Trade here https://businessinsurrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Updated-20210308-1445-Surrey-Solving-the-Green-Infrastructure-Network-Compliance-Bottleneck.pdf
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Anita Huberman, 604-634-0342, anita@businessinsurrey.com
