July 13 Council Notes: School Site Acquisition Charges, Regional Land Use

Langley City and Township are in the same school district. School Districts can apply a district-wide School Site Acquisition Charge to all new residential housing projects to help offset the cost of purchasing land for new schools to accommodate student growth. There cannot legally be a separate rate for Langley City and the Township of Langley. As required by provincial law, the School District No. 35 Board of Education must prepare an annual School Site Acquisition Charge report that outlines student population growth over the next decade, the school sites to which the funds will be allocated, and the charge rate. This must be approved or denied by both Langley City and Township Councils.

In the most recent report, the City is expected to see 785 additional students over the next decade, and the Township is expected to see 6,561 additional students.

The School Site Acquisition Charge will be used to help purchase the following sites:

• South West Latimer Sport Field/Playspace - 5 ac
• North East Gordon (Jericho) Sport field/Play space - 5 ac
• Williams Elementary - 10 ac
• Smith Elementary - 10 ac
• Willoughby Slope Middle - 15 ac
• Brookswood Fernridge Middle - 4.6

These sites are in the Willoughby and Brookswood areas of the Township. The School District believes that the additional student in Langley City can be accommodated on existing school sites in the City with expansions, such as the recently completed 200-student expansion at Nicomekl Elementary.

In the long term, the City believes that a new school site will be required in the northwest section of our community due to the SkyTrain. The City will work with the Board of Education to identify a potential future site.

For each new unit of housing, the School Site Acquisition Charge is as follows:

Apartments - $600-$800*
Townhouses - $900
Detached Houses - $1,000

Langley City Council approved the School District No. 35 Eligible School Sites Proposal.

Any change to regional land-use requires the Metro Vancouver Regional District Board to consult with all local governments in the region. The City of Surrey is looking to remove 2.7 acres of Employment land near the Pacific Highway Truck Crossing to accommodate 20 single-detached houses. The Board sent a letter to Langley City Council noting this. Council asked City staff to send a response back.

*The lower number of units per hectre, the higher the rate.

New Mural Coming to Douglas Park Washroom Building

Over the years, the City has installed murals on several park washroom buildings throughout our community, such as the Inturban-themed mural in Linwood Park and two murals in Rotary Centennial Park. On Monday night, Langley City Council approved $12,000 from the City’s Public Art Fund to install a mural on the new Douglas Park washroom building.

The City will now put out a call to artists. The mural should illustrate the diversity of park users, events, and activities that take place at Douglas Park, and it should wrap around the four sides of the building.

Still on the topic of murals, Langley City regulates private murals in our community that would be of a more commercial nature. A Bread Affair currently has a mural on its building on the Langley Bypass and is looking to have it repainted with a fresh design. As per the City’s bylaws, it must be reviewed by the Arts, Recreation, Culture and Heritage Committee and approved by Council. On Monday, Council approved the mural. As this is a private mural, it is not funded by the City.

Langley City Council Gives Approval in Principle to $661,601 in Property Tax Exemptions to Non-Profits and Houses of Worship for 2027

There are two ways that Langley City Council provides financial support to non-profit organizations in our community. One is through our community grant program, and the other is through permissive property tax exemptions.

The community grant program is funded through casino revenue, while the permissive property tax exemption program is funded through property taxes. On Monday, Langley City Council gave approval in principle to grant $661,601 in permissive tax exemptions for the 2027 tax year. Without these exemptions, the City would be able to lower property taxes overall by about 1.5%.

While Council has not contemplated removing a non-profit organization's permissive tax exemption, it has not approved any additional permissive tax exemptions since 2022. Personally, I consider this a legacy program and am not supportive of its expansion.

Houses of Worship receive a statutory property tax exemption from the provincial government for the land on which their physical buildings occupy. The City also grants a permissive tax exemption for the remaining portions of the land they own.

The following table lists the permissive tax exemptions for the 2027 tax year.

Organization	Amount
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver	75,196
Vineyard Christian Fellowship	68,617
Langley Seniors Resource Society	62,168
Langley Lawn Bowling	52,358
Langley Care Society	41,650
Town & Field Church	41,396
Langley Memorial Hospital Auxiliary	40,547
Vancouver Global Mission Church	40,170
Anglican Parish of St Andrew's	36,006
Church of the Nazarene Canada Pacific District	32,365
Langley Community Music School	29,658
Encompass Support Services Society	27,709
Inclusion Langley Society	23,965
Bridge Community Church	23,620
Langley Food Bank	23,097
Langley Community Services Society	13,101
Langley Stepping Stones	11,532
New Apostolic Church Canada	9,088
Langley Hospice Society	5,784
Council of the Salvation Army	3,574

Council will need to adopt the 2027 permissive tax exemptions at its next meeting.

Langley City Joins the Call to Action for Renewing Flood Protection in the Lower Mainland

With climate change, flooding events are becoming more common in the Lower Mainland. In Metro Vancouver, about half of the dikes that protect us from flooding “are in a poor state of repair, and most do not meet modern flood protection standards.” These dikes also do not meet seismic design standards, which is critical as our region is in an earthquake zone.

The 2021 Fraser Valley flooding resulted in $675 million in insurance claims and disrupted the movement of goods and people from the Lower Mainland to the rest of Canada. This is significant given that the Port of Vancouver is Canada's largest port. All this to say that our region is a trade corridor of national significance.

The provincial government has created a B.C. Flood Strategy, which is pending implementation.

Langley City Council received a presentation last night from the Lower Fraser Floodplains Coalition, which includes First Nation and local governments in the area. Their report noted that “a single major flood in the Lower Fraser could wipe out over $350 billion in economic value.”

With that in mind, they are calling on First Nation and local governments in the Lower Mainland to sign onto a joint statement which includes calling on the federal and provincial governments to:

Recognize the Lower Fraser’s resilience as a matter of national and provincial significance: urgently requiring attention, but manageable with practical measures, and essential for the long-term safety, and the cultural and economic well-being of all communities, the province and the country;

Recognize that collaboration, not competition for piecemeal funding, is the foundation for resilience in the Lower Fraser, and that enabling First Nations and local governments to work together to meet responsibilities to their communities that flow from title and rights and jurisdictions, is part of that foundation.

Address federal and provincial responsibilities to ensure the resilience of critical infrastructure essential for the region, for British Columbia and for Canada; and

Develop a sustained, long-term investment program for the Lower Fraser adequate to support collaborative work across federal, provincial and local governments, First Nations and the private sector to achieve regional floodplain resilience that works with nature, not against it.

Langley City Council approved the City's signing onto this joint statement last night. Other local governments that have signed onto the joint statement include the Metro Vancouver Regional District, Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, Port Coquitlam, and the Township of Langley.