Frankly Speaking

There's more than one way to freeze things in Surrey. In January, 74 Avenue in Clayton was covered with snow. A few months later, demolition contractors took down three homes on the street to prepare the site for the building of a new elementary school. Now it is November - and there is still no funding in place for the school to be built, even though funds for it were promised at about the time of this snowfall. A rally on Oct. 28 once again highlighted the need for more school space in Surrey. This issue has become even more critical this school year, as a settlement between the B.C. government and the B.C. Teachers Federation following a lengthy court battle means class sizes are significantly smaller. Many Surrey schools were already short of space, and now there is significantly less. The rally was held at Earl Marriott Secondary and was organized by the Surrey Schools Coalition, a group encompassing parents, city representatives and the business community. Karen ...

The lack of parking in East Clayton is due to the City of Surrey allowing coach houses to be built on small lots, on the same lots as adjacent homes which have plenty of room for a suite to be added. The city compounded its initial mistake in approving this type of development by sitting on its hands in regards to urban infrastructure. Clayton has no library, no recreation centre, very poor transit (with the exception of the 502 route on Fraser Highway), not enough schools and many other deficiencies which urbanized areas should not have to wait two or more decades for. Whether it was due to detailed reporting, a meeting with representatives of the housing industry, or simply a change of heart, Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner has done the right thing in putting plans to evict tenants of 175 suites on hold. Hepner said Oct. 16 that the city would be looking at additional options , and holding off enforcement of a letter sent to property owners in August, giving them six months to g...

Cloverdale is at a crossroads. This isn’t new, considering that its founding in 1891 as Surrey’s first town was due almost entirely to its strategic position. Back then, it came to life because of construction of Surrey’s first railway, the New Westminster Southern, which brought predictable scheduled transportation to Surrey for the first time. Many Surrey residents lived on farms within a reasonable distance of Cloverdale. The fact that the location of the new town was also on the east-west McLellan Road meant that the new community that had nowhere to go but up. As 2017 begins, 125 years after Cloverdale began, this same logic prevails. Cloverdale remains on major transportation routes – Highway 10, Highway 15 and two railways. All are far busier than the original 1891 routes were. It is located in one of the fastest-growing areas of B.C., and is one of the few places in Metro Vancouver where there is still a reasonable supply of developable residential land. Cloverdale i...

Frank Bucholtz photo Plans for 136 new homes across the street from the new Clayton North secondary will be discussed at a public hearing held by Surrey council this month. The Clayton area has a severe shortage of classroom space for students. Surrey schools expect to have an extra 1,000 students in the classrooms when school began on Tuesday. As challenging as that is, even more challenges are coming. Development is continuing at a frenetic pace, despite a 15 per cent foreign buyer tax which seems to be addressed more towards Vancouver, the North Shore and Richmond. There are a number of signs of real estate activity slowing down in those markets, but many people continue to buy homes in Surrey for the simple reason that it is more affordable. If all the development proposals now in the planning stages go ahead, the school district will have several thousand more students in the next few years. Longtime trustee Laurae McNally points to a proposed development in Clayt...