Surrey city council鈥檚 regular meetings each Monday will now end at 11 p.m. and be recessed to 1 p.m. Tuesday if there are still items to be considered, unless council decides otherwise.

Also, speakers at public hearings will be limited to three minutes instead of five to address council.

Council so decided on Monday (Jan. 30).

Bylaw amendments also approved by council will see public hearings waived for subdivisions involving five or fewer single-family residential lots and authority delegated to city staff to issue development variance permits for 鈥渁 variety of minor鈥� variances including yards and setbacks, height of buildings, the siting of basement access and basement wells, landscaping and screening, off-street parking and loading/unloading requirements, and signage regulations.

Coun. Mandeep Nagra said this will streamline 鈥渁 lot of process,鈥� and make it 鈥渟o much easier鈥� for homeowners tackling smaller projects.

Coun. Doug Elford expressed 鈥渁 mild concern鈥� about the 11 p.m. cutoff.

鈥淚 guess my concern is if we鈥檙e at or very near the end of a meeting or on the agenda, I was hopeful that maybe the council would have the option of carrying it on if it鈥檚 only like a half an hour, because to bring everything back the next day for a very small amount of agenda I think is not practical,鈥� Elford told council.

鈥淪o I鈥檓 looking for a little bit of leeway at that 11 o鈥檆lock cutoff time.鈥�

Rob Costanzo, Surrey鈥檚 general manager of corporate services, replied that if council wants to stay longer, it can make that call.

鈥淏ut if it appears that it鈥檚 a stacked room and we鈥檙e going to be here until 4 in the morning,鈥� he said, 鈥渢hen the call of the chair would be call a recess until 1 p.m. the next day.鈥�

Coun. Linda Annis said she鈥檚 鈥渟o pleased鈥� to see these amendments.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to help streamline a lot of the processes through the planning department and make it easier for people that are doing minor developments to be able to move forward much more quickly.鈥�

The meeting cap, she added, is 鈥渓ong overdue.鈥�

鈥淚 think of some of the marathon sessions that we sat through over the past four and a bit years and we鈥檙e not at our best to be making a decision at 2 a.m. and to ask our residents of Surrey to stay here until 2 or 3 in the morning knowing that they鈥檝e got to get up and go to work the next morning to me just isn鈥檛 on, so I鈥檓 very pleased to see this moving forward.鈥�

Coun. Pardeep Kooner requested city staff provide council with a regular report on development variances that have been issued, 鈥渏ust keeping us apprised of which ones have been approved,鈥� and if the planning department and resident can鈥檛 agree on a variance, that council can still vote on it.

Meantime, council鈥檚 Monday night meeting came to an alarming end.

鈥淐an you believe that?鈥� Annis laughed. 鈥淲e were just about to adjourn and we had to go out for the fire, there was no fire it was just a false alarm. It woke us all up, it was a little chilly out there.鈥�

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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