April 9, 2018 Council Meeting Notes: Summer works projects, Langley Bypass zoning, and wire theft reporting

Throughout the week, I have been posting about the items covered at Monday night’s Langley City council meeting. On Tuesday, I posted about the bingo expansion at Cascades Casino, and I posted about the Crime Prevention Task Group’s adopted recommendations yesterday. Today I will be finishing up the posts on that meeting.

When the Langley Bypass was first zoned for retail development, council required that businesses had to be 4,000 sq. ft. or larger. This was added at the time to prevent Downtown Langley businesses from relocating to the Bypass. Over the years, council has loosened this requirement, allowing up to 25% of retail businesses at certain developments to be less than 4,000 sq. ft. This has not had a detrimental impact on our Downtown.

The owner of City Square, located along the Bypass between Fraser Highway and 200 Street, requested that their development also be allowed to have 25% of businesses be less than 4,000 sq. ft. Council gave third reading to update zoning to allow this.

On the one-way section of Fraser Highway in our Downtown, the street trees have become an increasing safety risk. Unfortunately, the trees planted were not the right species for a street tree, resulting in sidewalk upheaval. Council approved removing all but four trees between 204 and 206 Street, and smoothing out the sidewalk to reduce the safety risk. This is a temporary fix. In 2019, it is expected that the one-way section will be completely rehabilitated including new tree streets.

Our parks are happening places, and we are now in short supply of benches and picnic tables. Council approved additional funding to allow the City’s parks department to purchase and install new benches and picnic tables in time for the busy summer season. More parking will also be available at Penzer Park shortly.

With warmer weather coming, the City is getting ready for its annual road rehabilitation program. Patching and repairing will occur throughout our community; significant projects include:

• 56 Avenue between Production Way and 200 Street
• The lane between Fraser Highway and Industrial Avenue that connects Valley Centre Mall to 203 Street.
• The intersections of 200 Street at 40 Avenue, Glover Road at Eastleigh Crescent, and Glover Road at Duncan Way.

New street lights were also install in Downtown Langley laneways to improve safety recently, and the new Michaud Park Community Garden is under construction. There will be 36 plots which will be managed by LEPS. If you’d like a plot, you can email them at agriculture@leps.bc.ca.

The floodplain trail network is also getting upgrades with two bridges being replaced near 203 Street and near 201A Street.

Wire theft is a serious problem in our community. If you see someone messing around will a streetlight or traffic signal, please call 911. If it is after that fact, please visit http://rfs.langleycity.ca to report wire theft.

An example of wire theft.

Council also approved various housekeeping bylaws, including updating our election bylaws in preparation for the fall.