Major Neighbourhood Plan Amendment for Surrey’s Anniedale-Tynehead

By Mike Harrison

At the July 25th council meeting, the first stage of a substantial neighbourhood concept plan (NCP) amendment was approved by Mayor and council, and City of Surrey staff were authorized to proceed with the Stage 2 component of the NCP review. The NCP amendment comprises 111 acres on the west side of the plan, south of 96 Avenue between 172 Street and Highway 15. The study area will receive updates to, among other things, land use designations, the road network and the size and location of future parks.

The current Anniedale-Tynehead plan was designed around a large-scale commercial node that was planned to be a regional shopping centre with large format retail, restaurants, grocery stores and more. Approved in 2012, the original plan sat undeveloped after running into utility servicing challenges and losing the support of the developer who envisioned the plan.

So, when Beech Westgaard managed to amass enough land to justify the extraordinary offsite servicing bill, an amendment to the plan was expected, at the very least, to redesignate what is objectively an untenable amount of commercially designated land.

Over the past year, an extensive planning review was undertaken to collect feedback from all critical city departments, local stakeholders, the Surrey School District and the land owners within the study area. The result is the plan amendment shown above.

Key highlights of the amendment include:

• A complete replacement of the large-format commercial designation and in its place a variety of residential and mixed-use designations in order to make a “walkable urban village.”
• Expansion of the neighbourhood park and addition of a new urban park amongst the proposed condo developments
• Minor adjustments to local roads including the realignment of 94a Avenue, the major east-west road through the study area
• A relocation of the proposed school site

Next Steps

Over the coming months, City staff will be working through Stage 2 of the planning process which dives deeper into housing form, watercourse impact, lot consolidation requirements and much more. We are also told to expect an update to the area specific Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) fees to address the increased population as the density proposed in the amendment would increase Anniedale-Tynehead’s population by over 6,500 residents.

You can read the City’s entire corporate report on the amendment by following THIS LINK. The report includes additional detail on the rationale for the amendment, a comparison of old vs. new land use concepts and a thorough list of the work to be completed as part of the Stage 2 component of the NCP process.