Surrey, B.C., council votes unanimously to request city charter

Council in Surrey, B.C., voted unanimously Monday evening to ask the province to enact a charter that would give British Columbia's second-largest city by population powers similar to Vancouver.

Almost all municipalities in B.C. apart from Vancouver are governed by provincial legislation called the Community Charter, which sets out broad powers like property taxes, bylaw enforcement and municipal services.

But with Surrey's population estimated to overtake Vancouver's as soon as 2030, Mayor Brenda Locke says the city needs its own charter like Vancouver to better serve its growing population.

"We will be soon the largest city in British Columbia," Locke told CBC News. "And we need the ability to chart our own destiny in very, very many ways, including economic development."

Locke and the rest of council voted Monday evening to approve a corporate report that recommends asking the province to enact a proposed Surrey Charter, with the city seeking powers such as the ability to enact its own empty homes tax.

The proposed charter detailed in the report would also "expand revenue sources" and give the city the ability to set fines for bylaw infractions, something currently set by provincial regulation.

If approved by the province, the charter would also allow Surrey to maintain single-family residential areas and exempt transit hubs from housing density legislation imposed by the province — which has proven controversial with some city mayors.

"I'm hopeful that [the province] will recognize that they must start treating Surrey fairly, and fairly means like they do with Vancouver," Locke said.

The report garnered enthusiastic support from Surrey First Coun. Linda Annis, an opponent of Locke's Surrey Connect party.

"It will provide us with a lot of opportunity to be a lot more nimble, a lot more flexible," Annis said.

"Quite frankly, Surrey soon will be bigger than Vancouver. And Vancouver has had a charter for some 70 years now. It's time that we have one as well."

Professor says province may be unwilling

Surrey's request for a charter will now be sent to the province, which ultimately has full authority over powers given to municipalities.

Andy Yan, the head of Simon Fraser University's City Program, said granting Surrey's request would come down to how much power the province was willing to share — especially as it pushes for more control over issues like zoning laws.

"It's something that's been long in coming," he said of the charter request. "There's Vancouver, Surrey and a distant third is Burnaby."

Another professor says the province might be unwilling to acquiesce to Surrey's request — as that could entice other large B.C. municipalities to ask for their own charters.

"If they agreed to do it for Surrey, we know that Burnaby, Richmond, Victoria, Kamloops, Kelowna would be right behind," said Hamish Telford, a political science professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.

"It would be a never-ending series of requests for unique charters."

Regardless of the province's response, Telford says, the ruling party in Victoria after October's provincial election may have to think about how municipalities are governed in B.C., and especially how they balance the books.

"Their expenditures have grown tremendously, but they're very limited in their revenue sources, which are really limited to property taxes," he said. "So, I think there is a need to to revisit the framework for how municipalities are governed in this province."

A spokesperson for the Municipal Affairs Ministry said the Community Charter, which passed in 2004, was developed with a lot of feedback from municipalities and aims to provide municipalities with a broad range of powers to support local autonomy.

"Should the ministry receive a proposal from the City of Surrey in the future, we would review it carefully," said Municipal Affairs Minister Anne Kang.

"My ministry remains committed to continuing to provide advice and support to local governments throughout the province, whenever needed."