December Council Meetings: Transit ridership up 30%, Preparing for SkyTrain, and the Magic of Christmas.

In the summer of 2018, council adopted Langley City: Nexus of Community. This is a comprehensive vision for our community focused around preparing for the arrival of SkyTrain. One of the key requirements of this vision is to have City staff report back annually to council on the progress made in implementing this vision. Council received the second annual update at Monday night’s council meeting.

Out of the 23 recommendations made in the Nexus of Community vision, 13 are in-progress including:

• Communication plan about Nexus approved by council
• Community outreach launched about Nexus
• Official Community Plan update in-progress
• Zoning bylaw update in-progress
• Capital budget plan to support Nexus on-going
• Expand Development Services completed
• Advisory Design Panel approved by council
• Nicomekl River Neighbourhood Plan in-progress
• $1 million Prosperity Fund created
• Strategic property acquisition and site assembly on-going
• Economic Development Commission created
• Iconic Entertainment/Cultural development (Performing Art Centre) in-progress
• Annual progress reporting about Nexus on-going

Many of these initiatives will wrap up at the end of 2020 which should free up City resources to move forward with the remaining Nexus of Community recommendations.

Councillor Albrecht and Councillor Wallace presenting awards for the Magic of Christmas parade. Select image to enlarge.

Langley City’s Magic of Christmas parade a few weekends ago was the best yet! Awards were giving for the best parade entries this year at the Monday night meeting.

Transit ridership on 502 & 503 up over 30%. Select image to enlarge.

At the December 9th meeting, council received an update about the various projects occurring in our community. Some of the highlights include:

• Installing new wire theft deterrents on City streetlights
• Completing boulevard maintenance along 200th Street
• Improving the Pleasantdale Creek trail
• Building an off-leash dog area in Brydon Park, plus creating a new trail network within the park
• Building a new washroom at Nicholas Park
• Implementing bus lanes in Downtown Langley to support the 30% increase in transit ridership on the 503/503 since the launch of the new Fraser Highway Express

For a community that is only 10 square kilometres in size, we have a lot of good things going on.