December 2 Council Notes: Housing Matters and Budget

Last Monday, Langley City Council gave third reading, otherwise known as approval in principle, for two zoning bylaw amendments. The first was for a proposed 6-storey, 80-unit apartment building near Nicomekl School at 20130-20150 53 Avenue & 20139-20153 52 Avenue. You can read more about this proposed apartment building in a previous post.

Rendering of proposed project at 5360 204 Street

The second was for an update of an original proposal for a 12-storey, 370-unit apartment, but it is now a 6-storey, 283-unit apartment at 5360 204 Street, otherwise known as the Pyramid Apartments. Council narrowly approved the third reading. As I noted previously, there was a robust discussion on which version of Langley City's Tenant Compensation and Relocation policy should apply. Langley City policy requires that if an existing market rental building is redeveloped, the new building must have at least the same number of market rental units. In this case, this proposed project would require 44 units, but the applicant proposes providing 53 rental units.

Council gave first, second, and third reading authorizing a housing agreement which will secure these 53 rental units for the life of the building.

Council also approved two motions presented by Councillors Mack and White.

This first motion asked that Council "conduct budget deliberations in Open Meetings of Council; AND that council consider Service Level Increments (increases) in Closed Meetings, as necessary, but only as strictly permitted under Section 90 of the Community Charter."

This motion aligns with our current practices, though we are adding more workshops for the 2025 budget. You can read more about this on the City's 2025 Financial Plan webpage.

The second motion asked City staff to "research and provide a report back to council on a local policy framework for inclusionary zoning; such that can further be considered by Council for adoption in the upcoming zoning bylaw update." Inclusionary zoning means that a certain number of units must be below market cost for a development project. Cities can also use something called density bonusing as well to achieve below-market units. Back in 2021, Council kicked off this process.

Without provincial or federal help, funding for below-market units and other Council priorities, such as three-bedroom apartment units, childcare space, and tenant compensation and relocation policies, plus funding to build local infrastructure to support new growth, must come from developer profits, sometimes known as "land lift." Langley City Council hired a land economist to understand how much we can ask from projects while ensuring projects can still be built. We must ensure projects are built as the provincial government requires that our policies ensure we meet our provincial regulated housing order targets.

The short of it is that City staff confirmed they are already working on an inclusionary zoning report for the Council, which they will have ready next year.