The old Cloverdale Mall site, which used to commercially anchor the Town Centre before becoming rundown and decrepit, has been undergoing a planning process for redevelopment. As reported last summer, the City has brought in its development division to create a new multi-phased master plan to re-develop the site into a mixed use, residential and commercial area. The first fruits of their year long labour were presented last week by Mayor Watts during the AGM of the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association.

According to information published in Cloverdale Magazine, the site has been split into four/five zones, with their respective phases. The plan is similar in design to the Newton Town Centre revitalization plan, featuring a focus on green streets, public spaces, and a variety of uses. A green street will split the site vertically in two, while a retail street will run through the area horizontally, making a connection with the dead Hawthorne Square. Residential options will include rowhousing, townhomes, and apartments/condos.

The proposed first phase will feature the relocation of the Royal Canadian Legion west to the corner of 176 St and 57 Ave. The 3 storey building will include at-grade commercial units, as well as one and two bedroom residential units above. Parking will be underground.

New details will be provided as I receive them.

Beyond the previously announced details, City Hall will be a two-phased building, with the second phase seemingly planned to include the hotel/office tower component. The Performing Arts Centre, planned to start construction after City Hall Phase 1 ends in 2013, does not have a final design yet. The previously mentioned Museum does not appear to be part of the plan anymore. Furthermore, the long rumoured SFU expansion space is mentioned in the brochure to be included in the Library, although that seems doubtful unless the university plans to rent the initially-empty fifth floor.

The new City Hall building, to be constructed along the north edge of City-owned property along 104 Ave between University Drive and City Parkway, will be about 180,000 sq. ft. It will include an adjoining civic plaza with a capacity of 5000 people. Construction will begin in early 2011 and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2013. Initial plans include connection to the Library to form a district energy system.

It is estimated to cost $50 million, most of which will come from a loan with the Municipal Finance Authority. It is unknown whether the final design is the same L-shaped monolith that has been featured in City documents recently (included above).

For about five years now, Mayor Dianne Watts and her staff have followed an ambitious vision to create a vibrant, sky-scraping, new downtown core in the heart of an old part of Surrey.

Sure, thanks to the recent global recession, this quest has sometimes had challenges.

But yesterday morning, the mayor’s vision for a new Surrey City Centre was looking splendid — especiallywhen viewedfromthe36thfloor of a new downtown residential tower. The occasion was a traditional “topping off” ceremony of developer Concord Pacific’s Park Place North Tower just off King George Boulevard and overlooking London Park and the nearby SkyTrain system. From up here, it offers a grand bird’seye view of the extent and scope of downtown Surrey’s rebirth.

And the fact that it’s deep-pocketed Concord Pacific pouring the ceremonial final bucket of concrete on this 698-suite residential tower shows that, in Surrey, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

For Concord is the developer who transformed downtown Vancouver’s former Expo 86 site on False Creek into a worldwide envy of city-centre rebuilding.

It focused on Surrey City Centre about a year ago after one of the three-hectare site’s towers had already been completed, while two more stood just partially completed. That’s because the project had been stopped dead in its tracks in October 2008 after its financier, New York-based Lehman Brothers investment bank, collapsed.

Yesterday, Concord Pacific president and chief executive officer Terry Hui stated emphatically that his company took over this project because it saw that Mayor Watts and her team have their act together.

“Surrey has a very clear strategic plan for developing its city centre,” he said. “Mayor Watts has also been out promoting her city and that’s bringing in more investment and development. We’ll build two more towers here and now we’re looking at other Surrey projects.”

Hui also said the other components Surrey is placing in the City Centre helps attract investment as well. These include the new regional library now under construction, an expanding Simon Fraser University campus and an enlarging Surrey Memorial Hospital, together with planned projects such as a new RCMP “E” Division headquarters and a new Surrey City Hall.

Relocating city hall to the core is a vital next step, Watts suggests.

“It’s really important that when you expect private-sector investors to invest in your new city centre that you be seen doing the same thing,” she says.

However, the task of attracting new investment for Surrey City Centre is far from over. The next major step forward is to acquire a major hotel-convention centre complex.

“Moving city hall to the new core sends a positive message to investors, but we’re also in dire need of a Pan Pacific-style hotel and convention centre,” Surrey Board of Trade chief executive Anita Huberman tells me.

But I expect the hotel complex will happen soon because the story of Surrey’s core redevelopment is spreading. Surrey, you see, was was recently ranked as B. C.’s top spot for real-estate investment – that industry — for the second year in a row.

As part of the long term City Centre land use plan under development, a recreational “Green Network” was proposed to facilitate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists in the area. The Green Network is a more than just bicycle ways though; it also incorporates natural habitat enhancement, sustainable stormwater management, placemaking through public art and historical markers, wayfinding, and street furniture. Among the projects:

• a pedestian priority core near City Hall and SFU
• an art walk along University Drive
• a history walk along the Quibble Creek Greenway
• a culture corridor along King George
• a series of new plazas and “pocket parks”
• a new “urban greenway” with separated bike paths along 105 A Ave
• higher quality greenways

Click on through for way more!

The plan outlines 5 priority projects to begin the Green Network:

1. The enhancement of King George Boulevard between 112 and 108 Ave. This section of the road acts as a gateway to the City Centre and will feature new trees and planting installations.

2. New high quality bike lanes installed along 100 Ave from City Parkway to the Quibble Creek Greenway. Within the “Urban Core” zone, the 1.5m bike lanes will be painted in a solid colour and features bike boxes at major intersections to give cyclists safe priority on the road.

3. 105A Ave, between 138 and 140 St, will be the first section built of this new east-west urban greenway. It will feature a 3m bikeway separated from traffic by both a 2m boulevard and a 1.5m planted zone.

4. 112 Ave is planned to eventually incorporate a separated bikeway along its northern edge. In the short term, to facilitate a safe cycling route, new bike lanes are to be painted along 140St north of 105A Ave, and continue along Hansen Road and 112 Ave to King George.

5. Quibble Creek Greenway, between 100 and 102 Ave, is flagged as a demonstration project that will set the new standard for greenways in the area. The pathway will be expanded to provide cyclists with a 3.5m section and pedestrians with a 1.5m zone. New shrub and trees will be planted along the route to enhancement the natural habitat. Other ideas include bird boxes, benches, a BMX bike park for kids, and a “nanotower” – a vertical green tower which provides new bird habitat and facilitates placemaking and wayfinding.

Check out all the plans below:

Darts Hill Garden, one of the hidden highlights of Surrey tucked away in Grandview, is set to get a major expansion. The City has recently acquired properties to the north and east of the existing Garden and hope to partner with Kwantlen Polytechnic to open a horticultural school on the site. Exploring the possibilities for Darts Hill, a committee recently completed a preliminary master plan for the park, with their ideas viewable below. According to the City,

Darts Hill Garden Park is the long-time family home of Edwin and Fancisca Darts. In 1993 the property was given by the Darts to the City of Surrey creating a ‘life estate’, with the City contributing financially to the upkeep of the gardens. The gardens include a broad range of horticultural specimens and are lovingly cared for by the Darts Hill Society and the Parks, Recreation, and Culture Department.

According to the City’s Engineering Dept. 10 Year Plan, Surrey will spend over half a billion years in the next decade on transportation infrastructure. Almost 90% of that money will be put into roads.

So much for “balanced” transportation.

If you’ve been following the progress of the City’s NCP areas through the years, you will have noticed a steady increase in the density of these massive redevelopment projects. Although surrounded by primarily single-family homes, Clayton has a number of mid-rise buildings near its commercial core (large in and of itself). Grandview, in South Surrey, incorporates many planning elements learned in Clayton, with an even larger commercial component, as well as so-called lifestyle urban centres, featuring mock Main Streets along mid-rise buildings.

Now, the large rural area between Tynehead and Port Kells is set to take density to a whole new level. As the last major parcel of land in the City that can be redeveloped, nearly the entire project will be medium densities or higher.

The staff report on the Tynehead-Anniedale NCP reveals the increased transport access as a major impetus for the redevelopment of the area. In other words, the Gateway Highway 1 expansion, as well as the Golden Ears Way/Golden Ears Bridge project have prompted this development effort.

Within the planning process, the City has approached both TransLink and the Ministry of Transporation to discuss changes to the road infrastructure. The City requested that the MoT plan to build a cloverleaf interchange at 96th Ave and 176 St, so that traffic could continuously flow, despite a massive increase in population, and thus cars, in the area. The request was denied because of the intersection’s proximity to the existing Hwy 1 interchange just north, which would raise safety concerns.

To TransLink, the City requested that they install new intersections along Golden Ears Way so that industrial parks could be built along the route. TransLink denied the request, stating that doing so would simply increase congestion along the route. Instead, the City has planned a significant commercial component to be built west of 176 St, along 96 Ave.

What frustrates and frightens me about this planning proposal is how inherently suburban sprawlish it truly is. Port Kells is so disconnected from the rest of the City right now, and consists of a tiny, rural population, much the same way most of Grandview is. What the City wants to do is massively increase the population is one of the most disconnected areas of Surrey, which will only increase traffic congestion on Highway 1 and the Golden Ears Bridge as there is no easy way to connect this area to transit anytime soon! For all the touting Council is doing about the Town Centres, this type of planning is in complete contradiction with urban, transit connected development. This is Sprawl 101 point blank. It’s sickening.

The interior of the under construction City Centre Library

A better look at the proposed design for the new City Hall

The long term Quattro master plan

The Surrey Outpatient Hospital under construction at Green Timbers