Development Application Review

See an overview of the review and referrals process for land development applications.

After you submit your Land Development Application, it will be reviewed by staff and may be referred to other internal and external groups for comment.

The application review process may include all or some of these steps, depending on your application type. The process may also require multiple discussions between you and the City of Surrey Planning Department team, and its duration will vary depending on how complex your application is.

View the status of your application online with our Online Development Inquiry tool.

1. Review and revise your Application

Review and revision documents

The Land Development team will identify if a land development application meets the submission requirements for each application type listed in the submission requirements checklist.

The applicant's consultants will continue to make revisions to documents throughout the review process, or provide additional reports as requested and/or required. 

Special committee and referral groups

Your application might also be reviewed and referred to different internal and external groups. You must hire the appropriate consultants (if necessary) and provide the necessary information for each group, before meeting deadlines. There are 3 different types of groups the Land Development team might refer an application to:

  1. Internal Referral Groups: Eg, Land Development Engineering, Legal Services, Trees & Landscaping, Realty Services, Parks Planning, Fire Department
  2. Council-Appointed Groups: Eg, Advisory Design Panel (ADP), Surrey Heritage Advisory Commission (SHAC), Agriculture and Food Security Advisory Committee (AFSAC)
  3. External Referrals: Eg, Neighbourhood Associations, BC Hydro, FortisBC, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, School District #36

2. Receive the Engineering Review

The Engineering Department does a review of Land Development Application. This Engineering Review outlines the developer's Engineering requirements for the development application.

The Land Development Engineering Division administers the municipal infrastructure servicing requirements necessary to support Land Development and Building Permit projects in Surrey.

3. Notify the community of your development

You must notify the community that a development application is in process and to give the public the opportunity to seek more information or to provide input on the proposed development. How you notify the community depends on your Development Application type:

Pre-Notification Letter

A minimum of two weeks prior to the Regular Council – Land Use meeting, the Area Planner sends Pre-Notification Letters if the project includes one or more of the following:

  • Rezoning
  • Land Use Contract (LUC) amendment
  • Neighbourhood Concept Plan (NCP) amendment
  • Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment
  • Temporary Use Permit (TUP)

Development Proposal Sign

The developer must install the Development Proposal Sign that follows the Development Proposal Sign Specifications if the project includes one or more of the following:

  • Subdivision
  • Development Permits
  • Rezoning
  • Land Use Contract (LUC) amendments and discharges
  • Neighbourhood Concept Plan (NCP) amendment
  • Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment or Temporary Use Permits (TUP)

Signs must follow the Development Proposal Sign Specifications.

A photograph of each installed sign must be received by the Area Planner at least two weeks prior to the application being forwarded to Council for consideration or before the Approving Officer signs the Preliminary Layout Approval (PLA) letter.

Public Information Meeting

Developers may conduct public information meetings at the request of the City of Surrey or on their own initiative.

These meetings inform area residents about proposed developments. The meetings also let developers get feedback so issues and concerns can be identified and addressed early in the development approval process.

Follow the Public Information Meeting guidelines for developers Once you've held your meeting, provide the Area Planner with a detailed record of the meeting, including the public responses and any resulting project revisions.

4. Present your Land Development Application Planning Report to Council

The Developer and Area Planner work together to ensure that there are no outstanding items that need to be resolved. The Area Planner then prepares and forwards a Planning Report on the development application to Council at a Regular Council – Land Use meeting.

Learn about the conditional approval stage of the land development process.

Development Fees