The Scott Road corridor can accommodate a wider range of housing types and densities to help support increased transit ridership and provide developers with greater flexibility to meet housing demand.

That’s one of the conclusions of Metro Vancouver’s report, which also notes that six-story wood-frame apartments and concrete towers are expected to be the most viable form of development along the corridor, while future The Scott Road East area’s retail potential is expected to be relatively modest.

In 2023, Metro Vancouver hired Urban Systems to prepare a supply and demand study for Scott Road on behalf of the Regional District, the City of Delta and the City of Surrey, aimed at supporting and unifying efforts planning underway for the corridor, which received RapidBus service from TransLink this year.

A report to the Regional Planning Committee on the study says population and housing projections are presented in “low growth” and “high growth” scenarios to provide an estimated range of future market demand.

The report adds that currently, levels of development activity are significantly higher on the Delta side, indicating opportunities for Delta and Surrey to complement their respective planning initiatives at key density nodes.

Under current market conditions, the most viable development types along the corridor are six-story wood-frame apartments, including potential for commercial use at ground level, as well as concrete towers.

“Due to the high levels of development activity seen on the Delta side, the report recommends prioritizing development of the area around the Kennedy Plan first. Thereafter, the formulation of the Strawberry Hill plan can be undertaken, followed by the urbanization plan, which will depend on a comprehensive review of market conditions and current land use patterns,” the report notes.

Metro’s study also looked at various factors, including potential development fee implications and provincial housing legislation, including the designation of areas surrounding the Scottsdale Exchange as a transit-oriented development zone.

The report also states that there is an urgent need to balance land use plans and policies, particularly in relation to future consideration of needs for market rents or sub-par rental housing. walk.

The study is one of several background studies that served as the basis for the City of Surrey’s Imagine Scott Road Visioning study.

It was also used to guide the City of Delta’s new Official Community Plan, which identifies the Scott Road corridor as the city’s highest density forms of development.

The study highlights that, overall, the number of residential units proposed is currently higher on the Delta side than on the Surrey side, with 2,074 units being considered. Assuming that if all units are approved, they will likely hit the market no later than 2034.

Industry stakeholders interviewed noted that the Scott Road corridor represents an excellent development opportunity for Delta, as it is an area that is considered, relative to other surrounding jurisdictions, to be in need of increased densification for a long time.

Interviewees also suggested that Surrey and Delta should consider spreading infill development opportunities across the length of the corridor, for example by allowing medium density in areas between key high-density nodes. This would encourage smaller scale projects, as a wider range of potential redevelopment sites would provide a greater degree of market accessibility to a wider range of potential development companies.

Regarding barriers to development, interviewees on both sides of the corridor noted that there is a perception of significant community opposition to intensification.