MORGAN HEIGHTS — The owner of an RV storage facility claims the City of Surrey is putting the squeeze on his business to make room for a road that would run through his backyard.
Karsten Roh lives on a triangular lot in South Surrey with a handful of neighbouring properties, tucked next to Highway 99, and has stored RVs on-site for more than seven years. He said the city wants to realign Croydon Drive - which runs parallel to the highway and diverts onto 156th Street and 28th Avenue - across his property, as part of the area's land use plan.
While he's not opposed to the planned development, he's opposed to the development plan.
"They've placed a condition on development of this property, namely the developer would have to dedicate the land required for the road and also construct the road," said Roh.
"They expect the developer to do the heavy lifting on it."
In addition to the road realignment, Roh said the city is dead set on rezoning his residential property to business park light industrial to allow construction of an office building. The triangular lot is right next to the busy highway, and part of it is under hydro lines, which limits the height and width a developer can build.
Furthermore, in order to initiate the realignment, Roh said a developer would have to purchase his property and the neighbouring duplexes, totalling 5.11 acres.
After dedicating the road and a portion to the hydro right-of-way, the developer would be left with about half of the land.
"I think it's averaging out to about $1.5 million an acre, and 80 per cent of what you just bought is going to be under power lines, and the piece over there that you're buying right next to the freeway has to be dedicated, so you've lost that immediately," said Roh. "That's the only piece that doesn't have power lines over it and it's gone.
"That makes the buildable land very expensive."
According to Roh, it would be more profitable to build something other than offices on his property, but development applications are expensive and developers feel that merely suggesting something other than an office building would be akin to throwing money away.
"Just to give it a try, developers are scared to do that. It's too much of a gamble."
Because of these conditions, Roh said it is extremely difficult to sell his property. His home has been on the market for years, but he said developers won't touch it.
"I've lost 100 per cent of commercial and industrial buyers," he said. "The only guy that you're going to get here is somebody that's looking for a trainwreck.
"He's not going to write you a big cheque.
He wants a gift. I might as well just hang onto it then."
CITY OF SURREY V. RV STORAGE
Roh purchased the land about 20 years ago at a much lower cost than its current market value. If he were to sell it today, he said he'd have to drastically cut his asking price.
"When I bought here, there was no talk of the road in '93. I got blessed with this after having lived here."
He said the restrictions that the city has put on the future development of the land has made RV storage the only financially feasible use for it - and now the city is taking that away.
At a land use meeting last year, council voted 7-2 against the renewal of his temporary use permit for RV storage. The city's bylaw department has given Roh until the end of March to remove the vehicles from his property.
"The only reason that this works here is because I bought in 1993," he said. "You couldn't buy this property (today) or anything of a comparable value and expect to make any money parking RVs."
Coun. Linda Hepner voted in favour of renewing the permit, saying it was a suitable use of land while the city reached a better resolution for the property.
"I thought he had a piece of property that was actually fulfilling a need in the community," said Hepner. "I thought it was worth the extension as he went about to try and sell that property."
Coun. Barinder Rasode recognized that there is a need for RV storage in the city, but voted against the renewal, citing the need to put a time limit on temporary use permits.
"I have consistently said that we need to maintain the temporary nature of permits," she said.
"By automatically extending them, we're not getting the best land use that's intended for the property."
Roh said the location of his storage facility gives locals a nearby place to safely park their vehicles when they don't have the land to store them themselves. Otherwise, he said the next nearest place to store RVs is at the Surrey/Langley border.
"It seems like a perfect interim use, and that's why Surrey approved it (in 2006). Now they're just saying, 'Time's up,' even though there's nothing on the books, there's no development."
THE PRICE TO PAVE
The city has estimated the cost of the realignment at $1.2 million, though Roh noted that unforeseen expenses could increase that figure.
"It's not just a matter of clearing out the trees and throwing down some gravel and asphalt, there's a little bit more to it," he said.
Roh acknowledged that the developer would receive money back from the city through development cost charges (DCCs).
Jaime Boan, transportation manager for Surrey, said the city would contribute roughly 64 per cent of the estimated cost, primarily through DCCs.
"The city will cover the west half of the road, which is the half that essentially fronts Highway 99," Boan said. "As well, we pay an upsizing component, so what we require of the developers is that they build to a local road standard and then we upsize to a collector road standard.
"An individual pays for fronting road costs, but when we're looking at collector and other special roads or arterials, we collect a development cost charge on a broader area and that money is put towards improvements like this."
Boan said the realignment is to help alleviate increased traffic on 156th Street and 28th Avenue as the area densifies with townhomes and other developments.
"It's a project we'd love to see move forward, but until development occurs, it's not a project that the city would be undertaking on its own," he said.
QUIET LIVING 'GONE'
After more than 20 years on the property, Roh admitted that he'd like to put the whole situation with the city behind him, but he said he's boxed in a corner.
"If I was in control, I could see myself moving from here," he said, adding that he doesn't want to store RVs forever. "You've got the sound of the freeway in the back, you've got power lines in the front, 156th is getting pretty hectic. The quiet enjoyment of living here is gone.
"Do I have that option with what the city has bestowed me with here? No."