The State of Langley City Address

Last night, I delivered the State of Langley City address to the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Langley City Council.

The presentation focused on eight key themes.

The first theme is delivering foot traffic to retail businesses in the Willowbrook Mall area, along the Langley Bypass, and in our Downtown. SkyTrain will bring more foot traffic to Langley City. Langley City is leveraging this SkyTrain investment by building walking and cycling infrastructure that makes it safe, easy and inviting for people to visit these three parts of our community from the SkyTrain stations. Langley City's population will double in the next few decades. Our community is 10 square kilometres, putting people within an easy walk or bike ride to our retail areas. We are investing in building our safe and accessible walking and cycling network to deliver these people to local business areas, including along the Langley Bypass.

Langley City is a regional destination for people. For example, I have friends in Vancouver who travel to Toy Traders on the Langley Bypass or head to Downtown Langley for its unique blend of restaurants and local retail. Langley City is investing $20.7 million to renew our Downtown's Fraser Highway One-Way section. The plan will include widening sidewalks to support outdoor patios for restaurants and cafes. We also continue to move forward on getting a Performing Arts Centre in our Downtown. While people are already visiting Langley City during the day, we want to expand our evening offerings to support nightlife. In the future, people will head to Downtown Langley for dinner, see a show at our Performing Arts Centre, and then head to a lounge, stroll along the street, or enjoy a plaza.

When people visit Langley City, they will want to stay. Langley City has a small-town feel with big city amenities as a regional town centre and the eastern hub of Metro Vancouver. We have jobs, shops, services, and an extensive parks and trails system, all within an easy walk or bike ride. SkyTrain will further cement our role as a regional hub and attract more people and businesses to our community. KPU is investing in its Langley City campus. It has a vision to create a community within a community by building student residents and partnering with the City on our Glover Road Innovation Boulevard Plan, which will connect businesses with the KPU community.

Langley City is an incubator of business. Langley City's industrial lands are well situated, with easy access to a provincial highway and the railways. SkyTrain will also make it easier for businesses to attract and retain employees. I've heard from several businesses that public transit and safe walking access are keys to ensuring a healthy talent pool.

We know loneliness is linked with adverse health outcomes and is a problem in the Western world. The antidote for this is to create a happy city. A happy city is a community where our urban design and city services create opportunities for people to connect with their neighbours. It is about creating inviting public plazas, streetside cafes, community gardens, and dog off-leash areas. It is about urban design that allows people to connect at the human level. Langley City will continue to invest in great public spaces. We will also continue investing in our recreation and cultural programming, community centres, and partnerships with non-profits such as the Langley Senior Resources Society that help combat loneliness.

We must take transformational action to address homelessness, addiction, safety, and poverty in Langley City. This is why we are working on our Citizens' Assembly on Community Safety. We have recently hired a full-time social planner who is working to coordinate services in Langley City between our non-profit sector, Fraser Health, and the provincial government to ensure that we take an outcomes-based approach that focuses on people. This will help us identify gaps in services that prevent people from getting help and ensure that the help is creating positive outcomes for people and our community.

We know we need to build more housing, including more affordable housing in Langley City. Langley City has some of the fastest turnaround times in Metro Vancouver if someone wants to build in our community. We will ensure we invest in City staff and resources to continue housing creation. We've also updated our Official Community Plan and are working on a new zoning bylaw which will give people more housing options, including the ability to build 'plexes, garden suites, and coach homes in our traditionally single-detached housing neighbourhoods. We are also working on a below-market housing policy to enable the creation of affordable rental housing through redevelopment and an updated tenant relocation policy. This policy will ensure that people are cared for when they relocate due to redevelopment. This policy will also ensure that they can move back into our community at rents similar to what they paid once the redevelopment is completed.

The final theme is that Langley City is a complete community with everything you need within our 10 square kilometres. Langley City Council will continue to invest in enhancing our complete community.