March 21, 2016 Council Meeting Notes

Yesterday was my inaugural Council meeting. It was great to see friends and supporters at the meeting last night. Mayor Ted Schaffer briefly introduced me. After the introduction, I took the oath of office. We then launched straight into business.

My council seat name tag. Select image to enlarge.

Throughout the duration of my term on Council, I will be posting about the previous night’s Council meeting on this blog. Minutes of Council meetings can take several weeks to get posted, and local media coverage of meetings can be limited at times.

Council and members of the public first heard from the proponent of a development application to expand an existing warehouse along Production Way. The application was for CKF Inc which is the largest employer in the community. CKF produces food service packaging.

This City of Langley's Master Transportation Plan calls for sidewalks along Production Way. The City of Langley’s recently released Industrial Business Attraction & Expansion Study found that high-quality sidewalks, streetlights, and landscaping was key to retaining businesses in the community.

A payment in lieu of having CKF build a tiny section of sidewalk was requested. Once the City has completed the planning for sidewalks along Production Way, CKF’s payment will be applied to the construction of sidewalks in that area.

The development application was approved by Council. Afterwards, there was a delegation by Shea Ryan about homeless in Langley..

There were several bylaws up for final reading. Final reading means that Council can vote for or against adopting a bylaw, but can't discussion the bylaw. Discussion happens at earlier readings of a bylaw.

Council approved a bylaw to update the Official Community Plan to include updates from the recently approved Master Transportation Plan, and Parks, Recreation and Culture Master Plan.

Council also approved a bylaw to repeal the old 1969 Fireworks Regulation Bylaw, and approved an updated Water Shortage Response Plan Bylaw which is in line with the updated Metro Vancouver Water Shortage Response Plan.

An update to the film production fee schedule, for productions that use public property in the City, was also approved.

Council approved City staff submitting an application to the federal government’s Small Communities Fund. If successfully, the City of Langley could receive $2.3 million from the federal government for a $3.62 million project for replacing the water and sewer lines under 56th Avenue between the Langley Bypass and Glover Road. The project would also include installing new traffic signals, lighting, sidewalks, and pavement along the corridor.

Lafarge Canada was approved by Council to receive a contract to resurface various sections of roadway.

Map of approved road repaving and speed hump installations for 2016. Select map to enlarge.

Finally, Council received a report about the by-election results.

This was a fairly short Council meeting, lasting 30 minutes.