New Process to Prevent Parkade Construction Cave-Ins

Because Langley City is built on a floodplain, we have challenging soil conditions when it comes to the construction of buildings. As a result, when people propose constructing apartment buildings in Langley City, the City requires a geotechnical review to ensure that the construction and building designs will work in our soil conditions. This review includes the design for excavating underground parkades. Under provincial law, the City's only power is to ensure that a geotechnical engineer signs off on these designs. When an engineer signs off on a design, they take on the liability for any problem that could result from the design.

For as long as I can remember, this process worked well until December 2022, when there was a partial cave-in of a retaining wall put in place during the excavation of a parkade. This cave-in was extremely concerning, but it was a one-off. Then, in August of this year, there was another partial cave-in at another construction site. Council learned late last week about another soil shift event at another construction site. This is now a trend and is 100% unacceptable.

At Monday night's meeting, Langley City staff updated Council that the City will now require peer reviews on all geotechnical designs. This peer-review process means that at least two geotechnical engineers from different firms must sign off for an apartment project to move forward. The cost of this peer-review process will be on the builder. This new process is meant to ensure that a cave-in never happens again and restore trust in the design and construction of underground parkades in our community.

November 18 Council Notes: Housing Projects

Last night, Langley City Council looked at three new proposed housing projects.

The first proposed housing project was for a 6-storey, 80-unit apartment building at 20130-20150 53 Avenue & 20139-20153 52 Avenue (near Nicomekl Elementary School). If approved by Council, the apartment would have 45 one-bedroom units, 30 two-bedroom units, and five three-bedroom units.

Rendering of proposed project at 20130-20150 53 Avenue & 20139-20153 52 Avenue

Council gave first and second reading to the rezoning bylaw for this proposed apartment project.

In June 2023, Langley City Council gave third reading for a proposed 12-storey apartment building at 5360 204 Street on the site of the current Pyramid Apartments. The applicant withdrew the 12-storey apartment building proposal and is now proposing a 6-storey, 283-unit apartment building.

Rendering of proposed project at 5360 204 Street

There are two important things to note. First, because this would redevelop a current purpose-built market rental building, all market rental units must be replaced one-for-one in the new apartment building per Council policy. Second, the building is subject to a Council tenant relocation, compensation, and right-to-return policy. In 2023, Council negotiated additional tenant compensation for this project above the then-current policy and the right for tenants to return at 20% below market rent. So far, about 2/3rds of the current tenants who fall under the tenant relocation, compensation, and right-to-return policy have moved from the building and been compensated. Twelve tenants are remaining. Council updated our tenant relocation, compensation, and right-to-return policy, beefing up some aspects of the policy, including compensation, this summer. You can read more about this in a previous post. Council had a good conversation last night on whether the new beefed-up policy should apply and, if so, how it would impact tenants who have already been relocated and compensated under the old negotiated policy. In a 4-3 vote, Council gave first and second reading to this scaled-down version under the old negotiated policy.

Finally, Council issued a development permit for a 6-storey, 178-unit apartment development at 20644 Eastleigh Crescent.

Rendering of proposed project at 20644 Eastleigh Crescent.

For more information on these projects, please visit Langley City's Development Application Portal. The portal has detailed plans and other supporting documentation, including reports from the City's Advisory Design Panel, plus the status of all applications as they work through the approval process.

SkyTrain Construction 24/7 Hotline

With the Surrey Langley SkyTrain extension under major construction, there may be times when you need to get in touch with the project construction team urgently, or you may have a general question.

You can now call 1-844-815-6111 if you need to contact them 24/7.

For general construction information and additional contacts, you can visit the project's website at https://surreylangleyskytrain.gov.bc.ca/

Please note that the provincial government manages this website and the hotline, not Langley City.

This summer, we used 205 billion litres of drinking water in Metro Vancouver

On an average day in Metro Vancouver, we use about 1 billion litres of water. That means, on average, each of us uses about 330 litres of water daily, about a bathtub or two's worth. This number grows during the summer.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently released a report showing water usage over the 2024 summer season. The following chart shows water usage.

Metro Vancouver Daily System Consumption Comparison 2023 and 2024. Source: Metro Vancouver

In 2023, there was higher water usage in May and June. Over the peak May 1st to October 15th season, we used 216 billion litres in 2023 and 205 billion litres in 2024.

The following chart shows our region's water storage levels. Our water comes from the North Shore mountains and Coquitlam Lake.

Total Source Storage for Metro Vancouver Usage, 2021-2024. Source: Metro Vancouver

While we used less water this summer, we had lower snow packs and drier conditions, which meant we were close to lower-than-normal water storage levels. Water conservation will continue to be the path forward for our region. I was born and raised in Okanagan, so water conservation has always been on my mind. In Metro Vancouver, we must get away from grass lawns and look at other landscaping treatments. In my townhouse complex, they replaced some grass with river rocks and some low-water plants. It looks pretty nice.