February 10 Council Meeting: Engineering and Parks Update - Snow, flooding, and other matters

This last month has been extremely busy for Langley City crews; Langley City council received an update on Monday night about the various activities and projects underway in the community.

In the middle of January, Metro Vancouver received an extraordinary amount of snow in a short period of time. Langley City crews were out making sure that city-maintained roads, walkways, sidewalks, and facilities were accessible.

Snow in Downtown Langley. Select image to enlarge.

At the beginning of this month, after weeks of heavy raining, the Nicomekl River floodplain was fully doing its job. City crews were out ensuring that our community remained safe, responding to localized flooding events.

Flooding, pedestrian bridge east of 203rd Street. Select image to enlarge.

Flooding, Brydon Lagoon. Select image to enlarge.

The Nicomekl River floodplain is protected. One of the reasons why we didn’t see massive flooding in our community this month is because we have preserved the integrity of the floodplain over the years to protect us from a 1 in 100-year flooding event. Due to climate change, there will be more frequent and severe flooding that the current floodplain will not protect us from. This is why the City updated it Floodplain Elevation Bylaw recently, and is proposing to support redevelopment to reduce flooding risks in the upcoming new Official Community Plan.

In time for spring, the new Douglas Park Community Garden will be open.

A proposed Rotary Centennial Park Community Garden is also in the works.

A new public washroom will be opening soon at Nicholas Park.

If you’ve travelled down 203rd Street recently, you will have noticed that there is a new traffic light at Industrial Avenue to enable better access between Industrial Avenue and 203rd Street.

Traffic light replacement in progress at 53rd/53A Avenue/206 Street. Select image to enlarge.

The traffic light at 53rd/53A Avenue/206 Street is also in the process of being replaced.

LED lighting replacement. Select image to enlarge.

Council also learned that work is continuing to replace all our streetlights with energy-efficient LED lights.

New water and sewer system monitoring and control system. Select image to enlarge.

The system that ensures that our water and sewer system is fully monitored and controlled was recently replaced. This will help ensure that our city-owned utilities continue to provide reliable service.