A road in Clayton Heights is getting both storm and sanitary sewer upgrades to support future development.
Properties along 74th Avenue between 181st and 188th will benefit from the sewer extensions.
Surrey City Council voted to approve Corporate Report R144 at its regular council meeting July 22, approving both extensions.
The report—from the Engineering Department’s GM Scott Neuman and the Finance Department CFO Kam Grewal—first recommended council establish a Local Area Service to allow construction of a sanitary sewer along 74th. The cost for the project will be $5.5 million with funds recovered from a Local Area Service charge to be “apportioned based on final costs and on a lot area basis in accordance with City Policy.” The second recommendation was to build a storm drainage sewer on 74th between 181st and 188th Streets. The cost for the sewer was estimated to be $9.4 million, with money coming out of the Housing Accelerator Fund—money that would be put back in over five years from the Development Cost Charge fee.
The sewer construction will “support multiple housing developments,” wrote Neuman and Grewal, with “cost-recovered by way of a Local Area Service under Local Area Service Bylaw for the sanitary sewer, and Development Cost Charge funds for the storm sewer.”
The city first looked at upgrading this area in 2023 after getting money from the Feds through the Housing Acceleration Fund. The money is offered to fund new builds in an effort to improve affordability by increasing the amount of available housing.
“The West Clayton Neighbourhood Concept Plan was completed in 2015 and outlined a compact and walkable community that would provide a diversity of housing, with the highest density along the Fraser Highway corridor, and gradual transition to townhomes and medium to low density residential to the north,” wrote Grewal and Neuman. “The servicing strategy for West Clayton required substantial upfront investment into sanitary sewer and drainage infrastructure, which has limited much of the development potential in this area due to a largely fractured ownership.”
The pair added that in 2022, the City of Surrey built the North Cloverdale trunk sewer from Fraser Highway up to 74th and this has increased the amount of development applications for the area and thus the next phase of sewer construction is necessary.
“A number of development applications have progressed, primarily along the 74th Avenue corridor, but have still been stalled by the high cost of underground utility construction,” Grewal and Neuman explained. “Currently, the number of developments prepared to move forward with the provision of this infrastructure would provide up to 640 new townhome and apartment units along 74th Avenue and would improve servicing conditions for about 375 additional units along 73rd Avenue.”
According to the city’s Community Charter, in order for City Council to implement a Local Area Service Bylaw, the city must provide public notice and notify the owners of the properties that would be affected by it.
“Following notification, Council may proceed with establishing the Local Area Service, unless a sufficient petition against the service is presented within 30 days following the second public notification,” Grewal and Neuman wrote. “In order for a sufficient petition, the petition must be signed by the owners of at least 50 per cent of the parcels that would be subject to the local service tax, and the persons signing must be the owners of parcels that in total represent at least 50 per cent of the assessed value of land and improvements that would be subject to the local service charges.”
For cost-recovery charges for both sewers, the two GMs wrote they would only be charged when the properties were: rezoned, subdivided, consolidated, or if development permits, development variance permits, building permits, temporary use permits were issued, or when properties were connected to the sanitary sewer.
