Editing Surrey, British Columbia (section)

== Sustainable development ==

In 2008, Surrey city council created and adopted the Surrey Sustainability Charter:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sustainability Charter: a commitment to sustainability |url=http://www.surrey.ca/files/Sustainability_Charter.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2013 |publisher=City of Surrey |archive-date=August 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818092829/http://www.surrey.ca/files/Sustainability_Charter.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> a comprehensive document spanning 72 pages that takes a comprehensive look at all facets of society and creates an overarching document to guide the urban development of the city for the next 50 years. In 2011, the city council released the second update to the 2008 document indicating the progress made in the three years since the inception of the report.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sustainability Charter update 2011 |url=http://www.surrey.ca/files/2011FinalSustainabilityReport_web.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2013 |publisher=City of Surrey |archive-date=May 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513120432/http://surrey.ca/files/2011FinalSustainabilityReport_web.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Problems ===
{{Anchor|Hurdles}}Being an all-inclusive plan requires an interplay of many complex and sometimes [[wicked problems]]. Trying to account for all problems is ambitious, and as the report admits, being at the municipal level reduces the funding, power and resources to implement the vision. The report acknowledges the political hurdle and notes that the city needs to influence players with more power such as the provincial or federal government in order for the vision to be successful.

Some other hurdles that have arisen since the inception of the charter include the following:

==== Suburban sprawl and the Gateway Program ====
[[File:Holland Park, Surrey BC2.jpg|thumb|Holland Park and Residential towers in Surrey]]
{{See also|Urban sprawl|Gateway Program}}

Surrey currently faces the problem of urban sprawl, the phenomenon that is characterized by the low density residential, with almost no commercial or industrial zoning. This results in a heavy outflow of traffic in the morning, and inflow in the evening.

The announcement of the Gateway Program in 2005 by the [[British Columbia Ministry of Transportation]] meant a large expenditure in transportation infrastructure. Despite the oppositions by the [[Metro Vancouver]] and several mayoral councils,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Burnaby Public Consultation on Provincial Gateway Program |url=http://www.burnaby.ca/Assets/city+services/roads+and+traffic/Transportation+-+Gateway+-+January+15+2007+Council+Report.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2013 |publisher=City of Burnaby |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006101816/http://www.burnaby.ca/Assets/city+services/roads+and+traffic/Transportation+-+Gateway+-+January+15+2007+Council+Report.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Standing Committee Minutes |url=http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20060606/documents/ttmin.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2013 |publisher=City of Vancouver}}</ref> the project went ahead to create the [[South Fraser Perimeter Road]] and the Port Mann Bridge, both which pass through major portions of Surrey. It has been criticized to be contradictory to not only Metro Vancouver's Sustainable Region Initiative,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Proposed twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and Highway 1 expansion |url=http://www.livableregion.ca/pdf/PortMannBriefingJune06.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2013 |publisher=David Suzuki Foundation |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626210338/http://www.livableregion.ca/pdf/PortMannBriefingJune06.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> but also Surrey's Sustainability Charter. Studies have shown that with an increase in road capacity, ''generated traffic'' increases, that is traffic that is diverted (shifted in time and route) and induced travel (increased total motor vehicle travel).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Litman |first=Todd |date=September 10, 2012 |title=Generated Traffic and Induced Travel Implications for Transport Planning |url=http://www.vtpi.org/gentraf.pdf |access-date=February 11, 2013 |publisher=Victoria Transport Policy Institute |archive-date=March 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310045906/http://www.vtpi.org/gentraf.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> With the construction of the 10 lane Port Mann Bridge, the problem of suburban sprawl is exacerbated not only with the additional capacity, but [[RapidBus (TransLink)|RapidBus]] service was also cancelled despite expectations of a stop in Surrey.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 23, 2012 |title=Dianne Watts angry Surrey dropped from RapidBus plans |work=News 1130 |url=http://www.news1130.com/2012/11/23/dianne-watts-angry-surrey-dropped-from-rapidbus-plans/ |access-date=February 13, 2013 |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522004406/http://www.news1130.com/2012/11/23/dianne-watts-angry-surrey-dropped-from-rapidbus-plans/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Transportation and land use ====

The Sustainability Charter hinges on a large reduction on [[automobile dependency]] requiring a well established transit infrastructure to the multiple districts of Surrey. In 2008, [[Gordon Campbell (Canadian politician)|Gordon Campbell]] announced the extension of the [[Expo Line (TransLink)|Expo Line]] beyond the current terminus to as far as Langley.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 16, 2008 |title=More Skytrains for Surrey |work=Surrey Leader |id={{ProQuest|373127516}}}}</ref> However, financial shortfall came upon Translink shortly after, and many of the announced plans came to a halt. Plans to expand northward via the [[Evergreen Extension|Evergreen extension]] came to fruition prior to the vision of extending [[light rail]] out to Guildford, Newton and Langley. Mayor Watts attempted impose equal tolling across the region to assist with funding transit to reduce car reliance.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 15, 2012 |title=A better Surrey hinges on halted transit plans |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/a-better-surrey-hinges-on-halted-transit-plans/article4279109/ |access-date=February 13, 2013 |archive-date=May 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520082048/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/a-better-surrey-hinges-on-halted-transit-plans/article4279109/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Protecting agricultural land reserves also play an important part in the charter of sustainability. The idea behind the agricultural land reserves is to encourage and increase the role of urban agriculture, thus reducing the reliance of food transport and increasing the quality and availability of food to local people. The Charter takes the idea one step further by encouraging food processing [[agribusiness]] to complete the supply chain circle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sustainability Charter: a commitment to sustainability |url=http://www.surrey.ca/files/Sustainability_Charter.pdf |access-date=February 13, 2013 |publisher=City of Surrey |pages=20 |archive-date=August 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818092829/http://www.surrey.ca/files/Sustainability_Charter.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In a case study of Toronto completed by Pierre Filion, he claims that while transit and natural area conservation are successful at achieving their respective immediate objectives, they "do not modify metropolitan-wide relations between transportation and land use...in a fashion that is consistent with smart growth". Filion identifies that the largest obstacles are [[NIMBY]] reactions from the public and the limited finances from the public sector.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Vojnovic |editor-first=Igor |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781609173470/ |title=Urban sustainability : a global perspective |publisher=Michigan State University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9781611860559 |location=East Lansing |pages=509–523 |access-date=February 13, 2013 |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017001357/http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781609173470/ |url-status=live }}</ref>