SCC reacts to State of the City address

March 11, 2009

The Surrey Civic Coalition gave a cautious endorsement to the State of the City address by SurreyFirst Mayor Dianne Watts today.

SCC Vice President Stephanie Ryan applauded announcements that Surrey City Centre would be deemed an Economic Investment Zone, meaning sustainable development in City Centre would become a priority and that high-density commercial applications would take priority.

“We think this is good news for everyone in Surrey who has been waiting for a second downtown core south of the Fraser to be built,” said Ryan.

Ryan hopes that such priority-processing will help fast-track the process, but cautioned that giving substantial breaks in property taxes, permit fees, and development cost charges (DCCs) to business-related projects in City Centre could wreak long-term havoc on the city’s finances and will ultimately mean a higher tax burden for residents.

To Mayor Watts’ point that the Crime Reduction Strategy effectively targets the root causes of crime, Ryan responded that SCC’s school trustee team knows that a good-quality, fully-funded public education system is the best way to prevent crime.

“We know that for so many of the gangsters making news headlines lately the school system failed to equip them with the tools and skills they needed to succeed in a crime-free lifestyle. Making sure that every student, especially those at-risk, gets a chance to succeed in the public system and to become a productive citizen remains a priority for SCC," she said.

As for the biggest challenge for Council, Ryan said it would be to handle competing demands to occupy vacant industrial lands and to finally focus commercial development within Surrey City Centre.

“We saw in the past that when development wasn’t happening quickly enough in City Centre Council opted to approve many office and business park developments throughout the Newton Industrial Core, resulting in an inefficient use of that land and a real lost opportunity for the development of Downtown Surrey," said Ryan.