December 1 Council Notes: Provincial Bill M216 Makes Community Less Safe, Gender-Based Violence, City Fees and Charges

Back in 2022, the Langley Housing & Homelessness Table created an action plan, which called, among other things, for a public awareness program to help people understand the experiences of people who are victims of gender-based violence. In September, Council also received a presentation from Battered Women’s Support Services and their #DesignedWithSurvivors campaign.

Council passed a motion to incorporate gender-based violence public awareness, prevention, and education into the upcoming National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on December 6th. There will be an event at McBurney Plaza between 10am and 11am on Saturday, December 6th, which will include a moment of silence to honour women who have died due to gender-based violence.

Currently, a private member's bill, M216 - 2025: Professional Reliance Act, is making its way through the provincial legislature. Sometimes, local governments require a peer review of construction designs due to risk. For example, Langley City used to accept certified geotechnical designs for building parkades without double-checking them. As you may recall, we had a cave-in or partial cave-in during the construction of two parkades in December 2022 and August 2024. One almost took out an adjacent building. As a response, the City now requires a peer review of these designs to reduce real risk to public safety. Bill M216 would strip local governments of the ability to require peer review or challenge designs. This bill will make our communities less safe. As such, Council approved the City to submit input to the BC Legislature about this dangerous bill.

Council also addressed some financial matters. As part of the budget process, Council needs to set the fees for water, sewer, and solid waste collection services for 2026. Council gave first, second, and third reading to update the water fees. The water fee is increasing by $0.17 per cubic meter to $2.06 per cubic meter. The flat base fee of $75.00 remains. The average detached homeowner will see their water charges increase to $754.80 in 2026, an increase of $56.10 or 8% over 2025. The average strata homeowner will see their water charges increase to $466.40, an increase of $32.30 or 7.4% over 2025.

Council also gave first, second, and third reading of a bylaw to update various fees and charges to account for inflation. You can view these fees on the City’s website.

As I’ve been posting about, Council gave third reading to both the Official Community Plan update and the new zoning bylaw. Council also adopted our 2026 meeting schedule. You can view the schedule of meetings on the City’s website.

Langley City's Proposed New Tree Protection and Management Bylaw

As I’ve been posting about, Langley City Council is in the process of adopting a new tree protection bylaw. As part of the process, Council gave first and second reading to the new proposed bylaw at Monday’s Langley City Council meeting. The proposed bylaw focuses on the protection of trees on city-owned or managed property, trees during redevelopment, trees in environmentally sensitive areas, and significant trees on all property throughout the City. A significant tree is a tree with a trunk diameter of 75cm or more.

For any trees in the categories noted above, if someone wants to remove a tree, they will need to obtain a tree permit. A tree permit would only be issued for one of the following conditions:

• The tree is dead, or more than 50% of the crown is dead
• The tree is causing damage to a building or other damage that can only be mitigated by removal
• An arborist noted that a tree is at high or extreme risk of failure
• It must be removed to comply with another City bylaw

In BC, a tree protection bylaw cannot limit someone building to the permitted density on a property, so the tree protection bylaw would not apply to trees in the footprint of a proposed building. The proposed bylaw also specifies how to protect trees during redevelopment.

The bylaw allows the removal of a tree that is in imminent danger of falling and injuring persons or property without a permit, though evidence of an emergency must be submitted to the City after the fact.

If a protected tree is removed, the proposed new bylaw requires it to be replaced with 2 to 6 new trees, depending on the context.

If someone removes a protected tree without a permit or in violation of the bylaw, they can be fined $3,000 per tree.

As I’ve noted previously, the City is hosting an open house on the proposed tree protection bylaw tomorrow from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Formal Public Input - Medical Clinic with Pharmacy and 2025 Budget

Last night, Langley City Council held two formal public input opportunities.

The first was a public hearing to receive feedback on a proposed rezoning that would allow a medical clinic with an accessory pharmacy at 20334 56th Avenue. Langley City’s zoning bylaw prohibits new pharmacies within 400 metres of an existing pharmacy, and this proposed medical clinic with an accessory pharmacy would be located within that distance. You can read more about this in a previous post. Langley City Council received four letters from local pharmacy owners regarding this rezoning. Their primary concern was that the proposal would be a full-service, retail pharmacy. Some suggestions in the letters included restricting the pharmacy’s use to clinic-based dispensing, preventing the development of stand-alone retail operations, ensuring access to the pharmacy is available only via the medical clinic, limiting the pharmacy's footprint, and limiting signage, among other suggestions. At the public hearing, the applicant noted that they would limit the pharmacy's footprint to about 1,076 square feet and would consider additional restrictions. Of note, former City Mayor Ted Schaffer expressed his opposition to rezoning, and former City Mayor Peter Fassbender expressed his support for the rezoning at the public hearing. As this was a public hearing and per BC Law, Council is no longer able to receive any further feedback on the proposed rezoning.

Langley City Council also provided a formal opportunity to provide feedback on the 2026 - 2030 Financial Plan. Two people provided their input. The Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce always provides feedback, and this year was no different. They ask that Langley City Council find further ways to reduce the budget, such as by reallocating end-of-year surplus to ongoing operating costs or eliminating unfilled staff positions. Another resident had a specific question about the proposed increase in solid waste costs for 2026 and also asked about reallocating end-of-year surplus to ongoing operating costs.

The use of surplus comes up from time to time, which is why Council adopted an “Allocation of Operating Budget Surpluses” policy last year. The short of it is that year-end surpluses are directed into our reserve account for one-time capital projects. The following excerpts are from the policy:

The City does not budget for a deficit or plan for surpluses. The City shall adopt a balanced budget whereby operating revenues are equal to operating expenditures for each year.

Operating budget surpluses represent one-time funding that, by its nature, cannot be relied on to recur on an ongoing basis.

As operating budget surpluses are non-recurring in nature, they shall not be applied to the following year’s operating budget to fund ongoing expenditures, and/or to reduce the following year’s tax rate.

Langley City’s Magic of Christmas Festival - This Saturday!

Langley City’s Magic of Christmas Festival is back this Saturday, December 6th, at Timms Community Centre in Downtown Langley City.

Find your last-minute Christmas gifts at the annual Holiday Artisan Market, which runs from 10am until 5pm inside Timms Community Centre. This market is hosted by the Langley Arts Council.

Outside, from 2pm until 6pm, there will be live music, family-friendly games and activities, an opportunity to meet Santa, and food trucks. One activity is “Ride the Holiday Pandas,” which kids will love.

One of the new food vendors this year is “Soda Rebel,” which offers dirty soda. If you’ve watched a certain reality show that takes place in Utah, you will know what this is about.

For more information about the Magic of Christmas Festival, please visit Langley City’s website. I look forward to seeing you this Saturday!