The Cloverdale Town Centre Plan is getting an upgrade.
According to a City of Surrey corporate report, the town plan will be amended to reflect the updated needs a new hospital will bring to downtown Cloverdale.
City council passed Corporate Report R176 at their regular meeting Oct. 30 authorizing city staff to initiate an update to the plan.
The report, submitted by Parks and Rec. GM Laurie Cavan, Engineering Dept. GM Scott Neuman, and Planning & Dev. GM Don Luymes, recommended council approve the report so staff can update the area’s land use and road network needs. The last update in 2019 incorporated a boundary change. At the time, that change extended the town centre area around the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Tech Campus and what would become the new Cloverdale hospital site.
“The intent of this report is to seek council authorization to initiate a plan update for components of the Cloverdale Town Centre Plan,” Cavan, Neuman, and Luymes, noted in their jointly-authored corporate report. “This update will focus on supporting the planned new hospital and B.C. Cancer Centre, including considerations for medically supportive land uses and updated market conditions.”
Four years ago, city council updated the plan to allow a “compact, vibrant, and sustainable town centre in Cloverdale, anchored by its heritage and historical significance.” But with the new hospital and cancer centre announced, the area’s needs have changed again. Instead, the area land use designations will be updated to reflect those needs.
Work had already begun on the hospital site after an official groundbreaking ceremony was held in the middle of September, earlier this year.
“The Cloverdale hospital is expected to provide much needed medical services in Surrey, with a special focus on general medicine and short‐stay surgeries,” Cavan, Neuman, and Luymes continued. “The Cloverdale Hospital will also feature new technology and equipment, including innovative digital technologies and services.”
When the hospital opens, and even before it’s completed, the surrounding areas will start to see interest in new medical offices, clinical space, food and beverages needs, and accommodation, which can serve workers, families of patients, and students.
The three city GM’s added that other changes have occurred since the town plan was upgraded—in November, 2019, and since the new hospital was announced in December, 2019—most notably, a new master plan, since approved, for KPU.
“A plan update will address these changes and support more market responsive land uses in the area.”
Now that the corporate report has passed council reading, city staff will begin a planning process for a major update to Cloverdale’s town plan. First, technical studies will be done and then a community engagement strategy will be implemented.
City staffers will look at updating land use designations and local area transportation, which could include both roadways and city transit.
A list of key stakeholders that will be involved in the consultation process include: Fraser Health, KPU, Metro Vancouver, TransLink, the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce, the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association, developers, and residents of the area.
Staffers will also engage in a market analysis to “review the demands and needs of medically supportive uses near a hospital site, as well as the viability of certain employment uses in the area.”
There will also be an “amenity review” to look at the needs of new patients—to both the hospital and cancer centre—along with the needs of new employees and visitors. The review will seek input from local residents living around this “medical precinct.”
Staffers will begin work on updating the plan immediately with an eye to having the renewed plan ready for a council vote by the end of the year.
The Cloverdale Town Centre Plan focuses on how land is used in the downtown core and directs the area’s long-term growth.
“The new Cloverdale Hospital, as well as the future expansion of KPU Tech Campus, will fundamentally change the market conditions in the area, increasing demand for office, supportive, and employment uses,” Cavan, Neuman, and Luymes conclude in their report.
“An update to the existing plan will ensure it is supportive of these changes with appropriate and supportive land uses and development parameters.”
