BC Builds Affordable Rental Mixed-Use Project at 49th and 200th

Last night, Langley City Council gave first and second reading to three bylaws, which, if approved, would allow the construction of a BC Builds housing project between 49th Avenue and 50th Avenue on the west side of 200th Street.

Rendering of the proposed project at 19991 49 Avenue, 19990 50 Avenue, and 4951-4975 & 4991 200 Street. Select the image to enlarge.

BC Builds is a provincial government program that provides grants and low-interest loans to build rental housing for people who make middle-income levels, such as teachers, nurses, tradespeople, and small business owners. The specific household income brackets for renting in a BC Builds project are:

• $85,870 - $136,210 for a studio or one-bedroom
• $138,770 - $201,030 for a two-bedroom or large

BC Builds projects must have at least 20% of their unit available at 20% below market rents.

To make these projects viable, BC Builds partners must contribute free or low-cost land. The Church of the Nazarene is leading this project and is contributing land. Langley City is also contributing land for the project. Even though the Church is leading the project, there are no and cannot be any religious requirements/preferences/obligations to rent in the building.

The project, if approved, would have:

• 302 apartments (60 of these units will have below-market rents)
• A childcare facility (with approximately 49 infant/toddler/preschool spaces and approximately 24 after-school spaces.)
• A new church and community hall
• A greenway plaza and connection to a future trail to be extended to Conder Park
• 6,458 sq. ft. of commercial space for shops or services

Langley City's Official Community Plan must be amended for this project to move forward. While the Official Community Plan envisions a mixed-use project like this proposal around 49th Avenue and 200th Street, the height limit was 3 stories, which needs to be increased to 6 stories. 6-stories height is proposed only to be allowed when "20% of the total unit count being rented at a minimum of 20% below market rent rates, and secured by Housing Agreement for the life of these buildings" and only a project touches 49th Avenue and 200th Street on the northwest corner.

The next step will be a public hearing at 7 pm on April 7th at Langley City Council Chamber. This public hearing is when people can formally provide written or verbal feedback on this proposal. You can find out more information on Langley City's website.

I will post more information about the project's specifics after the public hearing.

Langley City Film Festival - Film Submissions Open

Langley City will host its 2nd Film Festival on October 18th and 19th. This year's themes are "The Emotion of Sound" and "The Natural Environment."

This short film festival has youth and general filmmaker categories. Young filmmakers can submit films between 30 seconds and 5 minutes, while general short films can be between 2 minutes and 20 minutes. Prizes range from $500 to $1,000. Filmmakers must reside in BC.

You must have created any submitted film between May 1st, 2023, and May 1st, 2025.

The deadline to submit a film is May 1st.

For more information, including how to submit your film, please visit Langley City's website or events@langleycity.ca.

The following trailer is from the 2023 festival.

Accommodating Population Growth Requires a Plan, Invest Langley City

In February, BC Stats released the last population estimates for municipalities in BC. While looking at the year-over-year changes is interesting, there is value in looking over a more extended period. I wanted to look at the population growth of municipalities in the South of Fraser over the last few decades.

The following is the change in population between 2004 and 2024 by municipality:

• Surrey - 80%
• Langley Township - 73%
• Langley City - 44%
• White Rock - 32%
• Delta - 26%

One of the challenges with fast growth is keeping up with services. Building new cultural and recreation facilities takes time and considerable finances. For example, it is easier for Delta to plan for and build these facilities than Surrey. Surrey is always in catch-up mode.

Langley City's growth is "middle of the road" for South of the Fraser communities, but we still must invest in facilities to keep up with growth. We will need to expand basic facilities like our operations and maintenance yard as well as recreation and cultural facilities. With SkyTrain, population growth will accelerate, which is why Langley City Council is creating our Invest Langley City vision. This vision will outline when and what we need to build to ensure that our residents and businesses continue receiving a high service level. I'll be sharing more about this vision as it progresses.

Langley City's Citizen's Assembly on Community Safety: First Offical Meeting

On Saturday, Langley City held the first meeting of our Citizen's Assembly on Community Safety. The Assembly will be looking into how we can meaningfully improve safety in our community and shift response away from emergency services, which is reactionary to proactive solutions. The Assembly will have experts, researchers, and facilitators to support their work.

A Citizen's Assembly differs from a regular City Committee in several ways. One difference is that the Citizen's Assembly membership reflects the makeup of people in our community and is a form of direct democratic process.

A regular City Committee has people appointed by Council from the community who are passionate about a topic, representatives from organizations working within the topic area, and members of City Council. The Arts, Recreation, Culture and Heritage Committee has specific membership requirements. For example, one person on that committee must be from the performing arts community, and another must represent heritage.

The Citizen's Assembly also has significantly more financial and staffing resources behind it as the Citizen's Assembly will be putting forward solutions for a complex challenge.

Council met the 29 people who are the Citizen's Assembly. The City hosted a welcoming ceremony. After the ceremony, the Citizen's Assembly got to business.

There has been a lot of interest in the Citizen's Assembly. You can follow along with the Assembly as the City will post information online. You can also sign up for email updates on the City's website. There will be opportunities for broader public participation throughout the process.

The City put together a small video from the welcoming ceremony.