Newton Sustainability in Action

The City of Surrey will develop Newton Sustainability in Action, a Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan (SNAP) targeted for "Newton" a neighbourhood on the City's west side hosting a population of 50,000. Newton Sustainability in Action aims to engage and educate the community around sustainability in creating an action plan that can be undertaken by community partners as well as individuals, to help the neighbourhood achieve the vision, goals and indicators of Surrey’s Sustainability Charter 2.0 and incorporate sustainability planning in all of their initiatives. The vision for the SNAP is to have a collaborative approach between all stakeholders. Stakeholders involved will include key City staff from different departments, technical experts, the Newton Business Improvement Association, Village Surrey, community organizations, residents and others who have spearheaded community projects. Provincial government representatives will be invited, when possible, to bring in provincial expertise and perspective. Through their involvement in the process, City staff will make the linkage between the Newton planning process and broader technical and infrastructure aspects of the neighbourhood. For example, any discussions around transportation needs will include the relevant City staff, who will be able to link back to the City’s capital planning and budgeting processes. The City of Surrey’s methodology includes a steering committee comprised of employees from different City departments and neighbourhood/community/businesses organizations. The Steering Committee’s mandate will be to provide advice and guidance on the engagement strategy, to review all phases of the project and to solicit input and advice from the technical experts. The identification and prioritization of actions will be informed by Surrey's innovative Sustainability Dashboard, which reports on 55 broad community indicators connected with the Sustainability Charter's goals and outcomes, including those related to Provincial climate mitigation. Surrey will prioritize actions that have the greatest ability to achieve multiple theme goals and multiple desired outcomes. The City will also prepare the implementation by identifying specific actions and tasks, responsibility for accomplishing them, timeline, resources and possible funding sources. The implementation strategy will be reviewed by technical experts as needed, the Steering Committee, and City staff to ensure robustness and effectiveness. The City’s Sustainability office will coordinate monitoring and reporting on targets. Surrey will develop a neighbourhood engagement strategy and communications materials which will identify specific public consultation tactics, audience and timing for engagement and communications throughout the process, including by using avenues such as social media, neighbourhood events, local recreation centre and seniors centre, etc. For example, to provide information to the largest number of residents possible, traditional and social media and block parties will be used. To engage neighbourhood residents on prioritizing actions, the City of Surrey will hold a more focused action planning workshop (APW) with fewer participants to identify technical and infrastructure needs. Council members will be invited to attend the public events and will be regularly updated at council on the project status. The proposed plan is linked to or will be informed by several existing policies, plans and programs: the Surrey Sustainability Charter 2.0, the City's Official Community Plan, the Surrey Community Climate Action Strategy, the Newton Town Centre Plan update, the City's Transportation Strategic Plan, and Walking and Cycling Plans, as well as the BC Climate Leadership Plan. The following deliverables will lead to Newton’s Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan (SNAP): Steering Committee’s terms of reference, engagement strategy, neighbourhood profile, draft goals and desired outcomes, implementation strategy and monitoring system, and Newton Sustainability in Action plan. (Project description from original funding application)