Taking Actions for Secure and Clean Redevelopment Sites

In Langley City, all new housing and commercial property projects are redevelopment projects, which typically involve the demolition of older buildings. While there have always been a small number of projects that stall, the number of stalled projects has increased markedly over the last year, as the cost of construction and financing has risen, and the selling price of housing and commercial properties has declined.

As a result, we’ve seen an increase in buildings slated for demolition that are empty, properties that are poorly maintained (such as by not controlling weeds or mowing lawns), and some that are improperly secured. The results are an increase in unsightly properties, people breaking in and camping inside these properties, and fires. All of this is completely unacceptable as it creates safety risks for the whole community.

In the past, it was typically weeks between when a building was vacated and demolition occurred; now it is months or even longer.

The City has always had a team that includes development services, police, fire, and bylaws to address these types of properties, but we need to augment this approach.

The City is actively working on updating the requirements for maintaining clean and secure properties and buildings slated for demolition. For example, this will include prescriptive requirements around securing windows and doorways, site fencing, property maintenance, and monitoring. These requirements will be communicated to existing site owners who have projects going through the redevelopment process, and they will be a requirement for all new redevelopment projects. Council may also need to update policies. These changes are happening ASAP.

As I noted, the best action is to have a very small window between when a building is vacated and when it is demolished. Even so, enhancing requirements for maintaining secure and clean properties will benefit the entire community now and into the future.

Transit Advocacy in Ottawa for TransLink Mayors’ Council: Day 2

Transit is a key to making life affordable, reducing congestion, and growing the economy, allowing people more access to jobs and opportunity.

Mayor Linda Buchanan (from the City of North Vancouver) and I are in Ottawa for two days, advocating for increased transit funding for Metro Vancouver on behalf of the TransLink Mayors’ Council. This advocacy includes funding for enhanced bus service, bus rapid transit, and rapid transit.

Mayor Buchanan delivered the keynote address and call to action around transit funding at the Canadian Urban Transit Association Policy Forum, noting that you cannot build housing without building transit, and that we need the federal government to come to the table, as transit is key to meeting their housing objectives and strengthening the Canadian economy.

Later in the day, on a panel, I spoke about the importance of building grassroots support for improving transit, as that is the only way to attract local, provincial, and federal dollars to expand our systems to meet our growing needs.

We then met with MP Taleeb Noormohamed, MP Wade Grant, and MP Jake Sawatzky to discuss a “Team BC” approach to ensuring the federal government invests in transit for our province and Metro Vancouver.

Transit Advocacy in Ottawa for TransLink Mayors’ Council: Day 1

Transit is a key to making life affordable, reducing congestion, and growing the economy, allowing people more access to jobs and opportunity.

Yesturday and today, Mayor Linda Buchanan and I are in Ottawa on behalf of the TransLink Mayors' Council advocating for increased transit funding for Metro Vancouver. This advocacy includes funding for enhanced bus service, BRT, and rapid transit.

Today, Mayor Buchanan will also deliver the keynote address at the Canadian Urban Transit Association Policy Forum, and I will be on the panel “Funding the Future of Canadian Transit.” Then more advocacy to MPs!

Federal Policies Mean 2026 Population Decline in Metro Vancouver

Over the past few years, population growth has been significantly higher than typical in Metro Vancouver. While the typical growth rate has been between 1% and 2%, starting around 2021, population growth increased to approximately 4.5%. This higher growth rate put strain on local government services, among other things.

Metro Vancouver Regional District growth rate. LG = Low Growth, MG = Medium Growth, and HG = High Growth. Select the chat to enlarge.

With the recent change in federal immigration policies, the Metro Vancouver Regional District projects that the region’s population will decline by approximately 0.1% in 2026 before stabilizing at around 1% annually, which has been the typical growth rate in the region. The Regional District’s staff report does note that “until federal policies stabilize, projections will remain more volatile and subject to change.”

From a local government services delivery standpoint, it should allow us to catch up a bit. I’m hopeful other orders of government will do the same.

The following map highlights that, over the long term, immigration is expected to drive population growth in Metro Vancouver.

Projected annual average medium growth migrations for Metro Vancouver between 2028 and 2054. Select the map to enlarge.

Metro Vancouver’s population is expected to reach 4 million by 2047. Langley City’s population in 2024 was estimated to be 35,316, and is projected to be around 45,000 by 2047, according to the region's updated medium growth modelling.

Representing, Governing, and Advocating Is a Three-Legged Stool. Langley City’s Upcoming Ottawa Mission.

Being an effective local government politician has three broad requirements.

One requirement is to represent your community at City Hall and around town. It means bringing policies, plans, and ideas that you believe will cause the most good for your community to City Hall. It also means helping people find the right person to talk to or process to follow when engaging with their municipal government.

Another requirement is to know how to govern effectively. This means working with others at City Hall and the region to turn policies, plans, and ideas into actions that provide the most good for your community. It also means working to ensure the municipality remains focused on delivering the most value for the community.

The third requirement is to advocate for your community, especially to the provincial and federal government, as many of the most significant challenges communities face require the support of those orders of government.

This blog began 17 years ago, when I was part of VALTAC, which advocated for the restoration of the Interurban train. I learned that the most effective way to advocate is to build genuine relationships with people, including those who have the ability to further what you’d like to see accomplished. You don’t build relationships with emails, letters, or Zoom calls. Relationships are built face-to-face and in person.

Langley City Council has done a pretty good job of building relationships with folks in the provincial government. Individually and as a group, we’ve met and chatted with many people, including by sending envoys to the Vancouver Provincial Cabinet office. Building these relationships has helped secure provincial funding and services for our community.

One area where we need to improve our advocacy efforts is at the federal level. Quite frankly, the lack of advocacy is likely why our community was passed up many times for federal funding programs. To establish relationships with federal government officials, we conducted our first mission to Ottawa in April 2024. You can read more about this on Langley City’s website. What really stood out to me is that many in Ottawa had no idea that Langley even existed (City or Township), so we had our work cut out for us.

Lunch Meeting with MPs during 2024 Ottawa Mission. Select image to enlarge.

Meeting with MPs during 2024 Ottawa Mission. Select image to enlarge.

Building on our last mission, we are planning another trip to Ottawa this fall. Councillor Albrecht, Wallace, Leith, White, and our CAO, Francis Cheung, and I will be building relationships and advocating for our community. Some specific advocacy topics include:

• Increasing immigration and settlement support for Langley
• Renewing the Building Safer Communities Fund
• Funding Langley City’s infrastructure needs
• Updating the building height restrictions within the Langley air zone

As I did last time, I will keep you updated on the progress of the mission

Like a three-legged stool, if one of the legs is missing, it's just not going to work. I believe that Langley City Council is representing, governing, and advocating for our community to the best of our ability.

September 8 Council Notes: Black Business EXPO, ReStore Property-Tax Exemption Request, and Housekeeping

Langley City Council received two delegations at its Monday night meeting. The first delegation was from Adebola Ige, who is part of the Yoruba Social & Cultural Association of BC. The organization is hosting a Metro Vancouver Black Business EXPO at Surrey City Hall on October 18th. The expo helps promote Black and other minority-owned businesses. They were looking for Langley City to get involved, and the possibility of holding an event in our community. They asked what support the City could provide to help minority-owned businesses. We invited them to apply for a Langley City Community Grant and also promised to connect them with our Socio-Cultural and Economic Development Advisory Committee.

The next delegation was from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Vancouver, which operates ReStore. ReStore sells newly donated and used quality home goods, furniture, and building materials. They explained the good work they do in our community and requested a property tax exemption to help support their efforts. Council members expressed their gratitude for the work they do in our community, and directed them to our finance team to ensure they have all the required information to submit a property tax exemption request, which Council would consider along with other such requests at an upcoming meeting. If Council granted them a permissive property tax exemption in the 2025 tax year, the amount of the city-controlled property tax would be around $71,400, which would have required the City to raise property taxes for other property owners by about 0.15%.

Later in the meeting Council approved an update to our CO-74 minute-taking policy. This was a housekeeping change to ensure minute-taking follows best practices and to reduce ambiguity about what should and should not be included in meeting minutes. Council also updated our deputy mayor rotation. The deputy mayor acts as the mayor in the mayor's absence.

Investing in the Basics: Repaving 55A Avenue in Brydon and Other Areas

Some of the roads in the Brydon neighbourhood are in rough shape, especially 55A Avenue and the north section of 198 Street. Earlier this year, Council approved a $2.3 million storm sewer renewal project on 198 St between 55A Ave and 54 Ave. This section of road will be repaved once the storm sewer project is completed.

Last night, Council approved a $508,533 tender to GB Paving Ltd. to repave several sections of road in our community, including 55A Avenue between 200th Street and the Surrey border.

As part of the same tender, they will repave a section of Fraser Highway, near 203rd Street, and a section of Douglas Crescent near 208th Street.

Sections of Douglas Crescent and Fraser Highway are being repaved (as shown in red). Select the map to enlarge.

Section of 55A Avenue being repaved (as shown in red). Select the map to enlarge.

The repaving of sections of 55A Avenue, Douglas Crescent, and Fraser Highway is scheduled to start this month and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Tracking Langley City’s One-Year Provincial Housing Order Target and Guidance

Like most urban municipalities in BC, Langley City has a provincial housing order from the Minister of Housing, which sets out the minimum number of housing units the provincial government wants to see built in each municipality over the five-year period from 2024 to 2029.

Langley City’s housing order cumulative targets are:
251 units in 2024-25
541 units in 2025-26
890 units in 2026-27
1,318 units in 2027-28
1,844 units in 2028-29

By July 31, 2029, the provincial government expects at least 1,844 units of net new housing to be built in Langley City. The type of units does not matter for this target number. The goal of the housing order is to ensure that municipalities have plans, policies, and approval processes that support the construction of these new units. If a municipality fails to meet its target, the provincial government may intervene.

Of course, there are other forces at play that impact housing construction, such as financing costs, material costs, and labour, which municipalities have no control over. For example, I’ve noticed a slowdown in new housing applications in Langley City this year, which is due to financing and construction costs outside of the City’s control.

Langley City must report annually to the provincial government on the target housing order. For the reporting period from August 1, 2024, through July 31, 2025, 533 net new units of housing were completed and ready for occupancy. This number exceeds our year-one provincial order.

The provincial government also set up what they estimate the bedroom count, tenure, and affordability type should be between 2024 and 2029. The following table shows how the net-new housing in the City is tracking to the 5-year guidance.

	Year One Completions	Five Year Guidance	Percentage Achieved
Studio	56	598	9%
One Bedroom	320	389	82%
Two Bedroom	146	348	42%
Three or More Bedroom	11	508	2%
Total Rental	333	810	41%
Total Owned	200	1034	19%
Total Below Market Rental	0	420	0%
Total Supportive Housing	0	23	0%

While the number of three- or more-bedroom units was low during this reporting period, I expect it to increase as more townhouses and ‘plexes complete construction. Additionally, the upcoming BC Builds project and expansion of the Langley Lions Housing facility will deliver meaningful units at below-market rent (both of which are provincially funded.)

While Langley City is working on minimum below market rental and 3-bedroom unit requirements, which would apply to new housing construction projects, it won’t deliver the number of affordable units the province would like to see. Building a significant number of affordable units will require targeted funding from the provincial and federal governments.

As a note, supportive housing is for people who are experiencing homelessness as a way to transition from living rough to living independently. Also, the studio units guidance of 598 can be either studio or one-bedroom units.

Many Opportunities to Help Shape Langley City’s Future This Fall

For many folks, school is back in session, and summer holidays are becoming memories. Langley City Council is back into full gear with our first Council meeting after the August break on Monday.

There are many exciting initiatives in the City that you can participate in this fall, which will help shape the direction of our community for years to come.

Langley City’s Citizens’ Assembly on Community Safety has been meeting since March. Our Citizens’ Assembly is a form of direct democracy where community members were selected via a lottery system and to reflect the demographic makeup of our community. They will be making recommendations to Council this fall on actions we should take to continue improving safety in our community. Their recommendations are created by the Citizens’ Assembly members, not City staff or Council, although they are supported by data, experts, and facilitators. They will be hosting a Community Dialogue shortly, open to anyone.

Langley City is making needed investments in our community as part of the Invest Langley City vision. Some key aspects of the vision that require input from our community include a new performing arts centre, an expanded Timms Community Centre, and an indoor aquatic facility. Your feedback on these facilities will be crucial in informing how these projects can move forward.

Langley City is developing a new transportation plan and an on-street parking management plan. Further community feedback will be required for these two plans.

I know that the City will be working on other plans and strategies that are equally important, but have a more narrow focus, such as the Glover Road/KPU Innovation District plan. I wanted to highlight the plans that will have a community-wide impact.

There is a whole lot happening, but there is one easy way to ensure that you don’t miss an opportunity to contribute, and that is by heading over to Let’s Chat, Langley City! Your feedback is taken seriously and helps shape the City’s plans and strategies. If you always want to stay up to date, you can join the Let’s Chat, Langley City mailing list.

Upcoming Coffee with Langley City Councillors

Langley City Councillors will be hosting two “Coffee with Council” events at Station Cafe at Timms Community Centre on Saturday, September 6th and Saturday, September 20th from 10am to Noon.

This is a low-key, drop-in event where you can grab a coffee and a light snack, and engage in conversation with Langley City Councillors. For more information, please check out Langley City’s website.

Understanding the Hidden Meaning in Langley City’s Coat of Arms

Every so often, the Mayor’s Office gets a request for an official Langley City pin, which is the City’s Coat of Arms. We recently got a request, and it got me thinking. I was looking back through my past blog posts, and while I had previously posted about the City’s logo, which was updated in 2017, I had never actually written about the Coat of Arms and what it represents. Langley City is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, a perfect time to learn about our Coat of Arms.

The Langley City pin. While the pin says “City of Langley,” the actual motto is “Strength of Purpose, Spirit of Community.”

Langley City’s Coat of Arms was granted and is registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority, which is a service of the Governor General of Canada. The practice of officially granting and recording Coats of Arms dates back to the Middle Ages. Until 1988, they were granted by the Sovereign (King/Queen or their representative) in Canada. Coats of Arms are used as official identity marks, and they were traditionally used for sealing legal documents, although this practice is no longer in use today.

Coats of Arms convey a great deal of information through their design. So what do all the symbols and designs in Langley City’s Coat of Arms mean?

The arms or shield symbolize the crossroads of Yale Road (Fraser Highway), Glover Road, and the BC Electric Railway. The blue star of Innes in the centre of the shield represented “Innes Corners,” which was the original name of the crossroad and is named after Adam Innes, one of the original settlers in Langley Prairie. This is why the Coat of Arms is painted into the middle of the intersection of Fraser Highway and Glover Road/204th Street at the entrance of the Fraser Highway One-Way. You can learn more about this history in my video, The History of Langley City: Part 1.

The crest or top combines the rural coronet (small crown), which is the traditional emblem for municipal governments, with maple leaves for Canada and dogwoods for British Columbia. The canoe is a reference to the McMillan Expedition of 1824, which went through Portage Park in Langley City and led to the founding of Fort Langley. There is a plaque in Portage Park that shares the story of this expedition. The lion on the coat of arms is the Scots heraldic symbol for McMillan. The lion also symbolizes the determination of citizens to defend the City’s interests, which is why it is holding the flag.

The compartments or bottom blue and white bars symbolize the Nicomekl River, with the grass and lilies representing nature.

The elk represents nature and the land. The elk is wearing a medallion with wheat sheaves. This is a reference to Langley City’s original name, “Langley Prairie.”

The horse represents agriculture and industry. The horse is wearing a medallion with a cog wheel and a gold coin. The gold coin is a traditional symbol of commerce. The Fraser Highway One-Way was the original centre of commerce for Langley.

Coats of Arms are packed with a lot of meaning and tradition, including Langley City’s.

Extended Pool Season at Al Anderson!

It’s Labour Day this long weekend, which is always a bit bittersweet. Of course, it is the day to celebrate the recognition of unions in Canada and their fight for workers’ rights, such as the eight-hour workday. It is also the last long weekend for many people before returning to school for themselves or their children. In Langley City, it was also the last weekend that the Al Anderson Memorial Pool was open for the season, but this has now changed!

This year (and going forward), Langley City Council approved extending the pool season until the end of September. This means more swimming lessons, more public swims, and more lane swims, which means we can keep the summer vibes going a bit longer! You can also take advantage of the loonie/toonie swim on Sunday evenings.

The new fall pool schedule is available on Langley City’s website.

On the topic of learning how to swim, the City always has and continues to encourage the use of public swim times to build that skill. More specifically, parents and guardians are welcome and encouraged to work with their children on their swimming development during public swim times.

Of course, during formal swimming lesson times, paid, structured instruction by outside instructors isn’t permitted due to safety, liability, and facility policies. These lessons must be delivered by the City.

Fundraiser for Ron Care Society

A few weeks ago, before I went on holiday, I ran into Ron Bergen in Downtown Langley. He is an advocate for people with disablity, HandyDART, and transit. He is also one of the few people who regularly attends Langley City Council meetings. Ron is also the founder and president of the Ron Care Society, which provides care kits that include personal hygiene products for seniors, newcomers, low-income families, and individuals experiencing homelessness.

The Ron Cares Society is hosting its first fundraising event, “Harvest Time Gathering Fundraiser,” on September 18th at Backyard Vineyards. Tickets are $100 each. You can learn more about this event on the Ron Cares website.

As part of the event, they will also be hosting a silent auction and a live auction, and are looking for people who might be able to donate items for the auctions. If you are able to donate items, you can email info@roncares.ca.

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Overdose Awareness Day in Douglas Park on Sunday

If you walk through Douglas Park, you’ll notice little purple flags. These flags denote the lives lost due to overdoses in Langley. Overdoses and overdose-related deaths are unfortunately widespread. If you haven’t been impacted, you likely know someone who has been. While many people link overdoses and people who are experiencing homelessness, overdoses primarily impact young men who have a job and housing. Many people don’t talk about their struggles with problematic substance use because they feel judged.

My dad, who has since passed (not due to overdosing), injured himself and started a long and problematic relationship with opioids, including overdosing. It impacted our family. He was eventually able to get help and put on a methadone maintenance treatment program.

Sadly, there are still significant gaps when it comes to preventing overdoses in this province.

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day. It is an opportunity to remember all those impacted by overdoses, come together to support each other, and also acts as a call to action to reduce overdoses.

An Overdose Awareness Day event will take place in Douglas Park on Sunday, August 31, 2025, starting at 6:30 pm. A candlelight vigil will take place at 8:30 pm.

There will be resource tents, performers, and speeches. The Lions Club will also host a BBQ that begins at 6:00 pm.

2025 Data Shows Langley City has the Third Lowest Property Taxes & Utility Fees for Detached Homes in Metro Vancouver

When people look at their property tax bill, it contains charges from the province, School Board, TransLink, Metro Vancouver Regional District, and their municipality.

In some municipalities, you get a combined property tax and utility bill (water, sewer, garbage), such as in Langley City. In other municipalities, you get separate property tax and utility bills.

When you see reports about municipal taxation, you’ll hear a lot about property tax increases as a percentage. This isn’t very useful as it doesn’t actually capture what the bottom line is that people pay.

Every municipality has different needs based on the desires of local residents, which means they will have different levels of taxation. Because it can be useful to compare municipal tax rates, the provincial government releases an annual “Taxes & Charges on a Representative House” report which compares the “all in” taxes and fees for an average-priced detached home in each municipality. Langley City is a bit of an exception, as we have close to 80% of households living in attached homes (apartments and townhouses). However, in most parts of BC, the detached home is the most common form of housing.

The province recently released its 2025 data. You can download the full dataset from the provincial government's website, but I thought it would be interesting to show the “all in” value for all municipalities in Metro Vancouver.

Municipalities	Typical Detached House Value	Total Residential Property Taxes and Charges
Port Coquitlam	$1,455,127	$6,457
Pitt Meadows	$1,184,823	$6,721
Langley City	$1,369,186	$6,977
Langley Township	$1,511,423	$7,021
Delta	$1,491,495	$7,176
Surrey	$1,709,547	$7,510
Coquitlam	$1,789,496	$8,000
Burnaby	$2,157,640	$8,051
Maple Ridge	$1,282,828	$8,380
North Vancouver City	$2,110,967	$8,547
Richmond	$2,050,462	$8,624
North Vancouver District	$2,277,299	$9,300
Port Moody	$1,912,333	$9,315
White Rock	$2,032,064	$9,687
Belcarra	$2,001,564	$10,547
Vancouver	$2,678,306	$10,811
Bowen Island	$1,633,484	$11,055
New Westminster	$1,639,283	$11,548
Lions Bay	$2,253,369	$11,610
Anmore	$2,533,798	$12,028
West Vancouver	$3,676,139	$13,721

I wanted to call out that New Westminster is higher in part because they also have their own electrical utility, while the rest of us are on BC Hydro. I also wanted to call out that while the province doesn’t provide the typical “all-in” value for attached housing, Langley City normally does. We don’t have 2025 data yet, but we typically have the lowest or second-lowest in the region. I expect this to be maintained in 2025.

Vacation Alert

I will be taking some time off and will be back blogging on Monday, August 25th.

The History of Langley City: Part 1

Have you ever wondered why Langley City feels like a crossroads? Or why many of the roads don’t run perfectly north/south or east/west? Or why Portage Park is called Portage Park and Glover Road is where it is? Or even how Langley City came to be?,/p.

Langley City, formerly known as Langley Prairie, has a rich history of connection. The prairie was always a crossroads for travellers. From First Nations Portages, to gold smugglers, old railways, and the Micahuds. Langley City is a story of connection and the quest for independence with the famous saying, “not a nickel for street lights!”

TRAILER - The History of Langley City: Part 1

Why does Michaud Crescent exist? Who is Innes, and why do we care about his corners? What’s with our road system? Where did people party at the turn of the 20th Century? And how did a random trip down the road lead to the eventual creation of Langley City?

Find out in “The History of Langley City: Part 1”. Coming Soon!

Walking and Transit Trips Up in Langley City. Exploring How People Get Around in Metro Vancouver.

When people examine how folks move around in our region, they typically refer to data from Statistics Canada. Unfortunately, this data only examines how people travel to their place of work. This is why, approximately every half-decade, TransLink commissions trip diaries, which provide a sample of all trip types people take throughout Metro Vancouver.

Metro Vancouver Regional District staff have recently created maps to look at the changes between TransLink’s 2017 and 2023 trip diaries for walking and transit trips.

With the exception of West Vancouver, walking trips are up throughout the region. Port Moody, Pitt Meadows, and Langley City have all seen a doubling of walking trips between 2017 and 2023. In Langley City, approximately 14% of all trips originating in Langley City were made on foot in 2023. For trips that stayed within Langley City, about 32% were walking trips.

Change in the number of walking trips between 2017 and 2023 across the region. Select the map to enlarge.

While overall transit ridership remained flat between 2017 and 2023, the following map shows that there has generally been a decline in transit trips in the western part of our region, whereas in the eastern part of our region, transit trips are significantly up. In fact, Langley City saw the largest growth in transit trips within the region between 2017 and 2023. In 2023, approximately 3% of all trips originating in Langley City were made by transit.

Change in the number of trips made on transit between 2017 and 2023. Select the map to enlarge.

In Metro Vancouver, the number of overall trips made by bike increased, while trips by automobile decreased between 2017 and 2023. For more information, please visit TransLink’s 2023 Trip Diary dashboard.

VIDEO: Langley City’s Crime Severity Index and Total Crime Rate at Lowest Level in Over 25 Years

As I mentioned last week, there is good news regarding the crime statistics in Langley City. Over the last five years, the overall crime rate has decreased by 40% and the Crime Severity Index has decreased by 50%.

At the same time, people are still calling the police. The number of police “files” or service calls is steady at around 12,000 annually in Langley City, with a peak of 12,676 in 2022 and a low of 11,703 in 2020, about a 7% difference. In 2024, the number of “files” was 11,997, which is about a 5% difference from the peak.

For all suspicious activity that is not an emergency, you can call the non-emergency police line at 604-532-3200 or use the online crime reporting tool.

Langley City’s Social Streets - Neighbourhood Party

Last week, Langley City held its first Social Streets event at Linwood Park. This was a casual drop-in event for people to hang out, get to know their neighbours, enjoy some low-key, family-friendly music, free food, and live entertainment.

People were dancing, relaxing in their lawn chairs, and enjoying a chef's cooking demo.

There are two other neighbourhood-scale Social Streets events scheduled to take place in about a month, so be sure to mark your calendars.

The next Social Streets event will happen at Hunter Park in the Alice Brown Neighbourhood. This will be one of the first City events in this part of our community in a long time.

Date: Wednesday, August 27th
Location: Hunter Park
Time: 3pm to 8pm

The Social Streets event after that will take place at Rotary Centennial Park.

Date: Wednesday, September 3rd
Location: Rotary Centennial Park
Time: 2pm to 8pm

I look forward to seeing you at your neighbourhood event!

Langley City’s Crime Severity Index and Total Crime Rate at Lowest Level in Over 25 Years

Recently, Statistics Canada released its latest annual Crime Severity Index and Crime Statistics, which cover the period up to 2024. Langley City’s overall crime rate and Crime Severity Index are at their lowest levels since 1998, the earliest year available on the Statistics Canada website. The following chart shows the overall and violent crime rates over the last decade for Langley City.

Within the overall crime rate is the violent crime rate. Langley City’s lowest violent crime rate occurred in 2014, with a rate of 1,439.85. It was trending up, but is now trending down. Violent crime means crimes against a person, which include incidents such as bar fights and threatening people to murder.

The crime rate is determined by the actual number of police reported incidents per 100,000 population.

The Crime Severity Index can be considered an improvement over raw crime rates, as it takes into account both the volume and seriousness of crimes. One homicide would impact the Crime Severity Index of a community 1,000 times more than one instance of “causing a disturbance,” for example. Statistics Canada determines the weighting for each type of crime based on the length of convictions people receive. The Crime Severity Index is calculated on a per capita basis. The following chart shows the Crime Severity Index over the last decade for Langley City.

Between 2015 and 2022, there was a data entry issue where a large number of “Making, or distribution of child pornography” incidents were misidentified as coming from Langley City. This error was corrected in the 2023 data going forward.

Langley City participated with other western Canadian municipalities to change how the Crime Severity Index data is reported. You can read more about this on a previous blog post and on a press release on Langley City’s website. The short of it is that crime rates and Crime Severity Index data should not be used to rank municipalities against one another, as it is an incorrect use of this data. Crime Rates and the Crime Severity Index are useful to understand trends within a municipality or jurisdiction.

July 21 Council Notes: One-Way Update, Housing, and School Sites

July 21 was the last Langley City Council meeting before Council takes a break for the month of August. Our next Council meeting will be on September 8th. In previous posts, I wrote about the 200th Street watermain project that Council approved a tender for, and Langley City’s on-street parking and public parking lot management strategy. Today I’ll post about the remaining items addressed at the meeting.

David Pollock, who is the Director of Engineering, Parks, & Environment, provided a brief update on the Fraser Highway One-Way Project. The project remains on time and on budget. The new sidewalks and first layer of asphalt will be completed before August 16, which is when the Arts Alive Festival takes place. At this point, people will be able to walk, roll, drive, and park on the one-way.

The second (and final) layer of asphalt will be applied at the end of August. Street trees and street furniture (chairs and tables) will be installed in the first few weeks of September.

Council also gave final reading for rezoning the property at 20256-20272 54A Avenue and issued a development permit for a 6-storey 114-unit apartment building. You can read more about this building in a previous post.

Finally, Council approved the Langley School District’s Eligible School Sites proposal. This is a rolling 5-year plan that outlines where the District plans to allocate the School Site Acquisition Charge, a $600-$1000 development charge applied to each new unit of housing in the City and Township. The District submits an updated proposal annually.

The District estimates that, over the next decade, approximately 900 new student spaces will be required in Langley City and 6,300 for the Township. The current plan for the City is to accommodate these students in expanded existing schools, as well as in expanded school and new school sites within the Township. As such, the School Site Acquisition Charge collected in the City and Township will be used to acquire new sites in the Township.

The City and School District are working together on identifying a potential future school site within the City that may be necessary after the arrival of SkyTrain. Council approved the Eligible School Sites proposal.

Parking in Downtown Langley City and North of the Nicomekl: More Options (2-Hour, 4-Hour, All-Day) in Downtown. Better Wayfinding. Residential Permit Parking.

This is the final post in my three-part series about Langley City’s on-street parking and public parking lot management strategy. Part one discussed the public feedback received regarding parking, and part two examined parking demand by block and street. Today’s post examines proposed actions to help manage parking north of the Nickomekl River and in our Downtown.

In our Downtown, based on feedback and parking demand, we need to shift longer-term parking from high-demand areas, such as on-street parking along the Fraser Highway One-Way, to areas with extra supply, like the City-owned parking lots around the Fraser Highway One-Way.

The following map illustrates the proposed changes to parking times, with shorter 2-hour parking on most streets and 4-hour parking in public parking lots.

Proposed changes to the on-street and public parking lots time limits. Select the map to enlarge.

The proposed changes also include rolling out shorter-term parking/loading spaces (30 minutes or less).

Langley City currently provides a limited number of reserved monthly parking spaces for rent in our public parking lots. The proposed changes include expanding the number of these spaces for people who work in our Downtown.

In the future, the City may consider implementing paid parking in high-demand areas to help manage parking turnover, if needed, once SkyTrain is operational. Paid downtown on-street parking isn’t proposed for implementation at this time. The City will explore securing on-site public parking as part of redevelopment projects near our two SkyTrian stations.

Finding our public parking lots is a challenge even for locals, so one of the big moves will be to develop and implement better public parking wayfinding.

For areas outside of our Downtown, north of the Nickomekl River, the City is exploring on-street permit parking in high-demand locations to help ensure that people can fairly share limited on-street parking spaces. Consultation will take place with the community regarding residential permit parking this fall.

To help ensure that people park appropriately, the City will also modernize its parking enforcement. An example includes implementing automated license plate readers for bylaw staff.

Parking in Downtown Langley City and North of the Nicomekl: Street By Street Peak Utilization

This is part two of a three-part series about Langley City’s on-street parking and public parking lot management strategy for areas north of the Nicomekl River. Part one examined the feedback the City received about people’s parking experiences and highlighted key findings from that feedback. This post focuses on parking utilization rates by block or corridor in our downtown and primarily residential areas north of the Nicomekl River.

We all recognize that land is valuable and that on-street parking must be balanced with other uses, such as loading zones, fire safety, streetside patios, and transit lanes. The golden rule for effective on-street parking is to maintain a utilization rate of around 85%. This means in each block, there should be one or two free spots, which prevents people from having to circle around. This 85% metric originates from the extensive research of the late Donald Shoup, as outlined in his seminal book, “The High Cost of Free Parking.”

The following map shows the typical peak parking utilization rate in Downtown Langley City.

Map showing typical weekday peak parking demand in Downtown Langley City. Select the map to enlarge.

The key finding for Downtown Langley City is that there is sufficient parking availability, both on-street and in public parking lots, but there is excessive demand in specific areas. For example, the Fraser Highway One-way section has excessive demand for on-street parking, even while the free public parking lots at City Hall and on the east end of the One-way have sufficient capacity.

The following map shows the typical peak parking demand for areas outside of Downtown Langley City, but north of the Nicomekl River.

Map showing typical peak evening demand in neighborhoods north of the Nicomekl River, excluding Downtown. Select the map to enlarge.

My key observation is that neighborhoods with a significant amount of townhouses that have fully enclosed parking tend to have higher on-street parking demand, including my own neighborhood (I live on the very west side of 55A Avenue). Anniodately, I see some of my neighbourhood's garages mostly filled with everything but a vehicle. When I lived in an apartment, parking was actively managed to ensure that only vehicles were in assigned parking spots.

Based on the feedback people provided and the observed parking utilization rates, the parking study team is proposing a set of draft recommendations, which I will share in part three of this series.

As a note, the maps show the times of day/day of the week with the highest typical demand.

Parking in Downtown Langley City and North of the Nicomekl: What We Heard.

With population growth, the arrival of SkyTrain, and thriving commercial areas, Langley City is developing an on-street and public lot parking management strategy for areas north of the Nicomekl River, with a focus on the Downtown Area.

Over the last year, the strategy development team has been gathering data, including on-street parking utilization rates and community feedback. Based on the data and feedback, they have developed a draft set of recommendations, which will be further refined over the coming months. However, before I get to the recommendations, I would like to share some of the feedback the team received.

In Langley City’s downtown area, there are two key findings that I would like to highlight. The first finding is that people who are not local to Langley City (approximately one-third of those who park downtown) are more likely to be dissatisfied with their parking experience.

Parking satisfaction among downtown parkers by typical parking duration and place of residence. Select chart to enlarge.

While parking dissatisfaction rates are low, they increase to 40% for individuals who want to park for more than six hours. This makes a lot of sense, as the City currently has only 3 hours of time-limited on-street parking and limited monthly public paid parking in our downtown area.

Parking satisfaction among downtown parkers by typical parking duration. Select image to enlarge.

Some of the top recommendations from the feedback the project team received included providing more dedicated medium- and long-term parking options (greater than three hours) in the downtown area and improving parking wayfinding, including to City-owned parking lots.

Looking at residential parking north of the Nicomekl River, on-street parking dissatisfaction rates are low; however, they increase for households with two or more vehicles.

Parking satisfaction in residential areas among residents by vehicle ownership. Select image to enlarge.

Tomorrow, I will continue posting about Langley City’s parking management strategy, looking at overall parking utilization rates.