91原创 City mayor Ted Schaffer slows down as he prepares to make a left turn at the Surrey-City of 91原创 border and points to a row of well-maintained older single-family houses.

鈥淔our lots, $4 million,鈥� Schaffer says.

The sale went through just a few weeks ago and the new owner is expected to apply for permission to replace them with a bigger, modern multi-unit project.

Schaffer is taking a Times reporter on a quick driving tour of the City鈥檚 current building boom.

The City Development Services department is handling more than double the usual number of projects, with 19 approved or close to approval, another five applications pending and more at the preliminary discussion stage.

The projects are mostly larger residential developments, like the 98-unit, four-storey apartment building approved for a parcel of land near the 5400 block of 201 street and the 80-unit condominium going up just down the street.

A precise dollar estimate of all the activity is difficult to calculate, but it鈥檚 in the 鈥渢ens of millions鈥� of dollars, Schaffer says.

鈥淭he City is changing. That鈥檚 the big thing,鈥� Schaffer says as he turns down a residential street that is transitioning from older single-family homes to townhouses, with several just-completed buildings already sold out and construction fencing marking the start of a new project.

鈥淭his is an area that鈥檚 just jumping鈥� Schaffer says.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e what young families can afford. They鈥檙e sold, sold, sold.鈥�

While projects are becoming increasingly common, there is still a good mix of reasonably priced options open to buyers in 91原创 City, the mayor says.

Schaffer pilots his passenger past a row of industrial buildings along Production Way, a business area where the City is planning upgrades that will include new sewer and water lines.

鈥淭he City is working very hard on its infrastructure, what you don鈥檛 see,鈥� he says.

鈥淚f we fix all this up, it should encourage more light industry to come in.鈥�

City planners cite several factors that have combined to create the current increase in development activity 鈥� location, cost and efficiency.

The City is fairly close to the core of Metro Vancouver, but without the skyrocketing prices seen in other cities.

That makes builders who want to attract cost-conscious buyers pay attention to a community where most housing prices are running a quarter to a third less than the rest of the Lower Mainland.

A just-released report 鈥溾�� by Vancity rated the smaller of the two 91原创s at thein the Lower Mainland, with a median price of $271,250 for all property types (detached, attached and condo apartments), requiring 18.4 per cent of an average household monthly income to cover mortgage costs, property taxes and maintenance costs.

That compares to the far-more-expensive West Vancouver, number one on the list of the 10 least affordable municipalities, with a median price of $2.8 million, where buyers need double an average monthly income to cover mortgage, taxes and maintenance.

Add to that, the fact the City has kept development cost charges under control, winning a 鈥淢unicipal Excellence Award鈥� from the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association Vancouver chapter (formerly known as the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks).

NAIOP declared the City a winner in the 鈥淢ost Improved鈥� category in its 14th annual Regional Industrial Development Cost Survey, which showed the City recorded an 18 per cent drop in overall development costs.

There is also the streamlined approval process 鈥� the municipality has won a reputation for efficiency when it comes to handling development applications.

A recent Fraser Institute study found 91原创 City posted the fastest approval times in all of Metro Vancouver for housing permits, averaging around 1.6 months.

It鈥檚 a big selling point, considering some Metro areas can take more than a year to process development applications.

鈥淲e鈥檝e done a project in 13 days,鈥� Schaffer notes.

He鈥檚 referring to the that was built in 2014 as part of the , the collection of top-end car showrooms at Glover Road and the 91原创 Bypass billed as Canada鈥檚 only all-luxury auto mall.

On the wall of the mayor鈥檚 office at City Hall hangs a framed written message from Christian Chia, the president and CEO of OpenRoad Auto Group Ltd. praising the City as 鈥渁 great place to do business鈥�

鈥淭he City of 91原创 reviewed, processed and approved our development permit application in 13 days,鈥� Chia says.

鈥淭hat has to be a record!鈥�

That kind of ultra-quick handling is not something the city can do every day, but the fact it could and did has attracted attention, Schaffer believes.

鈥淲e have noticed an increased interest (since the 13-day Porsche approval was reported). Word is getting out鈥� Schaffer says.

鈥淭he City of 91原创 is no longer the best kept secret in Metro Vancouver,鈥� says Gerald Minchuk, director of development services and economic development at the City of 91原创.

In the City, development usually involves tearing down older, smaller buildings and replacing them with higher-density new structures, Minchuk says.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not expanding into greenfield areas, we鈥檙e re-developing.鈥�

Minchuk has been meeting with builders lately, holding open houses to discuss proposed changes to the City zoning regulations to clarify language and reduce bureaucratic barriers.

鈥淲e spend a lot of time and effort understanding the issues of the development industry,鈥� Minchuk says.

Minchuk says the City is paying attention to affordable housing, with policy goals that include support for density, providing a way of legalizing secondary suites, maintaining restrictions on converting multiple-unit rentals into condos and tracking rental housing units and social housing inventory.