Changes to Advanced Voting and Other Housekeeping Matters for Upcoming Election

October 17 is election day for all local governments in BC. As is typical, local governments review their election-related bylaws. On Monday, Council gave the first, second, and third readings to approve, in principle, several changes as outlined in this post. Adoption of these changes to bring them into force will be considered at the next Council meeting.

Most people know about advance voting, which is open to all eligible voters. Langley City also had two Special Voting Opportunities: one at the Evergreen Timbers, restricted to residents of that care home, and one at the Langley Senior Resources Centre, for its members only. On average, about 40 people took advantage of those opportunities.

In the 2022 election, the Langley Senior Resources Centre was designated as an advance voting location open to all eligible voters. Langley City staff did an evaluation and found that the Langley Senior Resources Centre location had a lower turnout than other advanced voting days at Timms Community Centre. Langley Senior Resources Centre also noted some challenges with having voting at their locations, as it disrupted their programming.

As a result, advanced voting will now take place only at Timms Community Centre, with four advanced voting days, maintaining the same number of days as in the 2022 election.

Every vote matters. In the 2022 election, one member of Langley City Council was elected by two votes. It is important that we make it easy for folks to vote, including people with limited mobility or other disabilities. In 2022, Langley City introduced mail-in ballots, which expanded voting opportunities.

8 people took advantage of the special voting at Evergreen Timbers in the 2022 election. The City will be discontinuing this special voting opportunity. The City instead will work with all long-term care providers to ensure everyone is aware of mail-in ballots and curbside voting opportunities during advance voting days and on general election day.

Most people believe that Canada is fully metric, but we actually aren’t, which means our laws and bylaws use both imperial and metric measurements. Langley City’s sign bylaw allows 4’ x 4’ or .91m x .91m as the maximum size for election signage. Now .91m is actually 3’, so there was a discrepancy. During the last election, all candidates had 4’ x 4’ signs. To make the bylaw consistent, the maximum metric size was increased to 1.2m x 1.2m.

SkyTrain Mark I as Public Art in Langley City

As you may know, TransLink is retiring the Mark I SkyTrain fleet, which entered service in the 1980s. TransLink put out a notice back in the fall of 2024 saying they have a process in place for people or organizations that would want to get one of these retiring cars for free, with the remaining going to be scrapped.

This piqued interest among some members of Langley City’s Arts, Recreation, Culture & Heritage Committee, who put together a detailed proposal to acquire one of the Mark I cars and turn it into an iconic public art installation in our Downtown.

This piece of public art would be functional and celebrate our transit heritage. Langley Prairie (the old name of Langley City) was a major stop on the Interurban transit line back in the day, and with SkyTrain coming, it makes a lot of sense to celebrate transit, which shaped and continues to shape our community.

The SkyTrain car would also become a landmark and gathering place for the community. The idea would be to convert the interior of the Mark I car into a usable space that could host a pop-up shop, art gallery, or cafe.

As for location, there are a few options, such as at Innes Corners Plaza or the Langley City Centre SkyTrain station, though nothing has been finalized. There is an active railcar restoration and handperson community here, and there are already folks who are interested in volunteering to transform one of these Mark I cars.

Langley City has a public art fund that could help cover some of the costs of this project. While there is more work to do before this project becomes a reality, Langley City Council supported this public art concept in principle on Monday night.

I really look forward to seeing how this proposal will take shape, and I am very excited about this grassroots effort to transform a Mark I SkyTrain car.

For more information, please read the full proposal.

Langley City Has a New Accessibility Plan

Last night, Langley City Council adopted a new 10-year accessibility plan for our community. This plan is required under provincial law and builds on the previous work done in the City over the last 20 years.

Langley City’s Accessible Plan outlines objectives to improve accessibility in the City’s built form, such as parks, sidewalks, and housing, service delivery, communication, and internal processes, such as hiring and procurement.

Some of the objectives include:

• Review the City’s public washrooms from an accessibility lens.
• Improve the accessibility of City parks, plazas, paths, and playgrounds.
• Strengthen the pedestrian network.
• Develop an accessible parking strategy.
• Ensure that there are recreation programs that are accessible for blind and visually impaired people.
• Ensure that there are recreation programs that are accessible for Deaf, deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf-Blind people.
• Ensure that any construction detours, including the moving of bus stops is advertised on the City’s website and social media.
• Ensure local representation of people with disabilities in City communications materials.
• Improve staff competency related to accessibility and disability, including disability awareness and understanding of barriers that people face due to physical or cognitive disabilities.

There are 29 objectives in total. Learn more by reading the full report.

This new plan would not have been possible without the contributions of people with disabilities. There is a saying nothing for us, without us. The plan has short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives. Council approved this new accessible plan yesterday evening.

The next step will be for Langley City staff, with support from the Accessibility Advisory Committee, to update the City's current policies and other work plans. Some objectives will have financial implication and will be included in future budgets for Council to consider.

Langley City FIFA World Cup Public Watch Parties

Langley City is hosting four free watch parties during the World Cup. These are family-friendly, alcohol-free watch parties with a food truck, entertainment, and crafts. There will be a large screen at Civic Plaza at Timms Community Centre.

The dates and times are as follows:

June 18: FIFA Canada vs Qatar
Pre-Game Starts: 2:15pm
Game: 3:00pm

July 2 FIFA Round of 32 Game: Round of 32 – Teams TBA
Pre-Game Starts: 7:15pm
Game: 8:00pm

July 7 FIFA Round of 16 Game: Teams TBA
Pre-Game: 12:15pm
Game : 1:00pm

July 19 FIFA Final Game: Teams TBA
Pre-Game: 11:15am
Game Starts: Noon

For more information, please visit Langley City’s website.