October 21 Council Meeting: $0.75 million investment into Brydon Park. Developing ridesharing regulations

Last night was the 43rd Canadian general election, and it was also a regular Langley City council meeting.

Recently, the provincial government enabled the framework to allow ridesharing companies to operate throughout British Columbia. While the regulation of these services is mostly a provincial responsibility, the following items are the responsibility of municipalities in regards to ridesharing:

• Issuing business licences and setting business licence requirements
• Regulating through street and traffic bylaws

Some examples of the types of things municipalities can regulate include passenger loading zones, and the age and types of vehicles used for ridesharing.

Council passed the following motion to ensure that we get regulations in place:

THAT staff be directed to provide a report regarding developing a ridesharing and ride hailing policy, appropriate regulations, and supportive business licensing frameworks, working with TransLink, Metro Vancouver, and other municipalities.

Before passing the motion, Councillor Albrecht noted the importance of making sure that ridesharing fleets are accessible for all people in our community. I noted that ridesharing can come with negative externalities such as increased congestion, reduced transit usage, and challenges with passenger loading. I stated that we should be considerate of these externalities when developing our policies, licensing, and regulations.

San Francisco is the heart of the ridesharing industry, and that city is taking measures to ensure that their streets are usable for all users, reducing some of the negative impacts of ridesharing. For more information, check out Better Market Street.

Council also gave final reading to the 2020 Permissive Tax Exemption Bylaw. For more information about this bylaw, please read a previous post on the topic.

As I posted about earlier, work is underway to improve Brydon Park which is in one of the fastest growing neighbourhoods in Langley City.

Brydon Park - Phase 1 Renewal Concept Plan. Select image to enlarge.

Council awarded a tender to Western Watershed Designs Inc. for their $633,425 (excluding GST) bid for phase one improvements to the park. Including design work, phase one investment into Brydon Park works out to $749,425.

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting about the remaining topics from last night’s council meeting.