Surrey has ambitious future in its sights
New city hall, plaza, arts centre, library, transit upgrades . . .By Brian Lewis, The Province
January 14, 2010If we want a stronger Canada as well as stronger provinces, then our cities have to be stronger, too.
That's the way Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts sees it, even though our cities receive only about eight cents out of every tax dollar Canadians pay.
And from those few pennies, cities must fund a multitude of service costs, including big-ticket items such as police and fire protection.
The fiscal imbalance continues to tilt away from equilibrium as both senior governments continue offloading their responsibilities on to the most junior and least-powerful governance partner.
So it's all the more remarkable that Surrey is proceeding with its ambitious Civic Centre Development Project, which will provide B.C.'s fastest-growing metropolis with a new city centre to serve as the South of Fraser region's central business district.
It will include a new city hall and large civic plaza next to an expanded Simon Fraser University. There'll be new office towers, a performing arts centre and a new main library. There'll be upgrades to King George Highway and the nearby Skytrain system, plus a new bus exchange.
All this is about to happen adjacent to the existing one-million-square-foot, 25-storey Central City office tower and nearby Surrey Recreation Centre between 102nd and 104th avenues.
The first phase will be construction of the the Surrey Central Library.
Council on Monday saw new design sketches of this $30-million library by local award-winning architect Bing Thom. In an interview Wednesday, Watts described the designs as "stunning."
But the 65,000-square-foot library is under the gun time-wise, Watts explains, because it's a jointly funded project under Ottawa's fiscal-stimulation program and must be completed by March 31, 2011.
"The three levels of government are contributing $10 million each and now the next phase is to put the library out to tender," the mayor says.
Next on the agenda is relocating the existing 134,000-square-foot city hall at 14245 56th Ave. into a new city hall/office tower complex at the new city centre.
"We've simply outgrown the existing city hall's space," the mayor says. "We need at least 150,000 square feet in a new city hall, plus room to grow."
But Watts acknowledges that the new city hall, which is now in the design phase, will be far more than bricks and mortar to house city staff and council.
"The city has to take the lead here," she says. "If we expect the private sector to invest in our downtown core, then the city has to invest in the core as well."
The existing city hall will be either leased or sold to help fund the new premises, which will be developed as a city hall and office tower in conjunction with the private sector, Watts says.
The Civic Centre Development Project's final component will be a performing arts centre that will contain a 1,600-seat theatre and a 250-seat studio theatre.
Watts also says she's confident that the total project can be completed within several years--without serious impact on Surrey's tax levels, which are the currently the lowest within Metro Vancouver.
© Copyright (c) The Province Newspaper
