Improving Accessibility on Langley City Sidewalks and Streets

While Langley City is currently developing an Accessibility Plan, the City has been working for some time to address physical barriers to access on our sidewalks and streets.

For as long as I’ve lived here, the City has also been slowly making all bus stops accessible. An accessible bus stop has sufficient width and depth to allow someone in a wheelchair to board and exit a bus. Currently, 98% of bus stops in the City are wheelchair accessible, one of the highest rates in Metro Vancouver; the City is looking into making the remaining stops accessible.

In most communities, you’ll see curb letdowns at intersections, which allow people with wheelchairs and other mobility devices the ability to cross a street. While curb letdowns are important, at an intersection with traffic lights or a flashing crosswalk, people also need to be able to push the crossing button. The City has also been working to make sure these buttons are accessible. The following is a recent change at Michaud Crescent and 200th Street to make the crossing button accessible.

I remember going on a day trip years ago with a friend of mine who uses a wheelchair. As I walked with him, it heightened my awareness of the small things that can create big barriers to people accessing our community independently.

Langley City’s new Transportation 2050 plan continues to address improving accessibility in our community, including bringing all curb letdowns to modern standards, getting the last 2% of bus stops accessible, completing the sidewalk network, ensuring more accessible parking on-street and in private development, and making other small but important changes, such as for accessing crossing buttons.

Wrangling Solid Waste in Metro Vancouver

While a combination of public and private service providers in our region collect garbage, recycling, organics and other solid waste, it is the Metro Vancouver Regional District that manages the overall solid waste system. The Regional District is in the process of updating its Solid Waste Management Plan, which, if adopted, will impact Langley City.

I’ve posted about the overall goals of this proposed updated plan last summer: rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. In short, it means thinking about how we design products and packaging to prevent waste in the first place and do everything we can to prevent waste from being burned at an incinerator or buried in a landfill.

To that end, the Regional District is proposing new waste-reduction targets for the next decade.

The plan’s target is to:

• Reduce per capita waste generation by 10% from 1.22 tonnes to 1.1 tonnes
• Reduce disposal per capita by 30% from 430kg to 300kg (burned or buried)
• Increase the recycling rate from 65% to 70% (material recycled into new products, including compost)
• Increase the diversion rate from 65% to 75% (includes all material recycled, plus any material used to create alternatives to fossil fuels)

Recycling and diversion rates have always been lower in our region for attached housing (townhouses and apartments) than detached housing, so one of the focus areas is to boost these rates. There is also significant waste generated during the demolition and construction of buildings, so another focus area is preventing the disposal of valuable building materials.

Our region has a strong track record of reducing waste. I’m optimistic that we will now be able to address reducing waste generation and further reducing disposal under this proposed new plan, if it is adopted.

Extending Funding for Project Black Festher: Keeping Langley Students Out of Gangs

Last fall, I wrote about Project Black Feather. The federal government funded this program through their Building Safer Communities Fund, and it is a joint program between the City, Township, and Langley School District. Project Black Feather’s mission is to reduce the likelihood of young people going down a dangerous path of gang and gun violence.

Project Black Feather, as of last fall, has worked with 400 young people in the Langley School District, with over 150 experiencing positive changes, including addiction recovery and reduction in gang-affiliated behaviour. By all accounts, it has been a success.

Funding for this program was set to expire at the end of March. In the fall, Langley City Council went on an Ottawa mission, where one of our goals was to see the extension of Project Black Feather.

The federal government has extended funding for this program, which is great news, though Council would like to see it become permanently funded. With that in mind, Council approved sending a letter to the federal government, including the Minister of Public Safety, asking for an opportunity to meet to talk about making the Building Safer Communities Fund permanent to support programs like Project Black Feather, and to help support a Canada-wide knowledge sharing network for programs like Project Black Feather.

I look forward to hearing back from the federal government.

A Closer Look at An Expanded Timms/Performing Arts Centre and Al Anderson Memorial Pool

Invest Langley City is our community’s vision for infrastructure projects, including water, sewer, transportation, parks, public safety, and recreation facilities to meet the needs of residents and businesses over the coming decades. There are two key projects that the City is seeking voter feedback on during the upcoming fall municipal election: an expanded Timms Community Centre with a Performing Arts Centre and an expanded Al Anderson Memorial Pool.

Over the coming months, the City will be doing all it can to reach out to residents and businesses in our community to provide information about the benefits and impacts, including costs, associated with these projects, and to seek community feedback in preparation for the fall municipal election. I previously posted about some upcoming in-person and online open house events.

Last week, Council received an information package about the proposed Timms Community Centre with a Performing Arts Centre and expanded Al Anderson Memorial Pool.

An expanded Al Anderson will include a new building for an indoor leisure pool, hot tub, steam room, and sauna, and will change the operation of the existing outdoor pool from seasonal to year-round. The expanded facility will cost about $71.7 million to build. If approved, including construction and ongoing operating costs, it will increase the average annual property tax for a detached home by $357 and for an attached home (townhouse/apartment) by $151.49.

An expanded Timms Community Centre with a Performing Arts Centre will include a new half-gymnasium, over a half-dozen new multi-purpose rooms, including spaces for fitness and arts programming, a new 500-seat theatre, and a smaller black box studio. The facility will also have commercial retail units fronting Fraser Highway. The expanded facility will cost about $107 million to build. If approved, including construction and ongoing operating costs, it will increase the average annual property tax for a detached home by $618.24 and for an attached home (townhouse/apartment) by $262.11.

These projects would likely need to be funded by a loan. Municipalities in BC have a maximum debt ceiling, determined by total debt service costs. The following graph shows that if both projects were built 100% with a loan, the City would still be well below its maximum debt ceiling.

Graph showing the maximum debt service limit and debt service cost for the proposed aquatics and Timms Community Centre with Art Centre expansions. Select the graph to enlarge.

My hope is that in the fall municipal election, people will feel that they have all the information they need to make an informed choice on whether they want to move forward with both, one, or none of these projects.