Fleetwood BIA renewed for 2 more years
Published 1:15 pm Thursday, March 12, 2026
Surrey council voted on March 9 to renew the Fleetwood Business Improvement Area (BIA) for a two-year term from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2028.
“I just want to say the Fleetwood BIA does just a great job in their community and I know it has been very challenging times with all that’s going on with SkyTrain and the Fraser Highway corridor so kudos to them and I just want to give a shout-out to Dean Barbour, their executive director, for the great work he does,” Mayor Brenda Locke said prior to the vote.
City manager Rob Costanzo explained in a corporate report before council that a BIA collects funds “for specific purposes through a rate levied against benefiting properties in a specified area” and that a BIA is an “effective means” for businesses in that specific area – in this case Fleetwood – to finance programs in an effort to keep it “healthy and prosperous.”
There are three other BIAs in Surrey besides Fleetwood – the Cloverdale BIA, Downtown Surrey BIA and Newton BIA.
Fleetwood’s is set to expire on March 31.
Costanzo noted city hall collects BIA revenues through an annual tax levy on applicable Class 5 and 6 properties in the catchment area. Class 5 is light industrial manufacturing operation uses and Class 6 is business “and other uses such as” offices, stores and warehouses.
The city manager said there are roughly 113 property owners subject to Fleetwood BIA’s tax levy within its boundary, with a collective estimated total assessed value of $1,020,895,400.
All told, 27 petitions opposed the Fleetwood BIA renewal met the February 9 deadline, constituting 23.9 per cent of property owners and representing 21.5 per cent of the total assessed value.
Incidentally, the current population within the area of the Fleetwood Plan area is roughly 47,000 residents. The initial plan anticipated population growth to 175,000 residents but this updated plan projects a total population at “build-out” being up to half a million people although the area embraced by the plan is not expected to reach that build-out point until after 2100, with a total 75,000 residents expected by 2050.