On Monday, Langley City Council held our first meeting of the year and our first meeting in our upgraded Council Chamber.
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| Langley City’s Council Chamber under renovation last year. Select the image to enlarge. |
The upgraded chamber received a significant technology upgrade, replacing an outdated analogue audio/video system with a new system. The new system includes improved audio and video, so people attending or viewing meetings in person or remotely will have a much easier time seeing and hearing the meeting. The new system also has improved accessibility features for people with hearing limitations.
At the same time as the technology upgrade, the City changed the room's layout to be more practical for meetings, moving away from the previous “Judge Judy” layout.
The first presentation Council received was from a group of community members who wanted the City to adopt a bylaw requiring people to spay or neuter their cats and limit the number of cats a person can own to a reasonable number. This bylaw update would provide a tool to limit people from hoarding cats, which is unhealthy for the cats. The group noted that stray and feral cats are a big concern in Langley.
Langley City Council asked City staff to include updating our Animal Control Bylaw for potential inclusion in our rolling strategic plan. I look forward to further discussion on this.
The second presentation for Council was from the group Strong Towns Langley. They presented why the City should consider removing on-site parking minimums, especially for commercial properties. As SkyTrain is coming to town, due to provincial regulations, most residential areas north of the Nicomekl River already have no minimum on-site parking requirements (beyond accessible parking). I told the presenters that Langley City is updating our zoning bylaw, which regulates parking, and that the City has already reduced on-site parking requirements and will consider further adjustments in the updated zoning bylaw.
Next, Langley City Council heard from Melanie LaPointe, who helps manage the City's Emergency Program. This new program was established after the Township of Langley elected to dissolve the previous joint emergency program. You can learn about the Langley City Emergency Program on the City’s website.
Langley City Council is moving forward with our Citizens’ Assembly on Community Safety. You can read more about this in a previous post. The motion to move forward with the Assembly had a transcription error, so Council did not approve the terms of reference for the Citizens’ Assembly. As a housing-keeping matter, the Council approved the terms of reference on Monday.
Council also discussed two Councillor-submitted motions.
The first was on the application of Langley City’s new Tenant Relocation Policy. Council approved a beefed-up policy back in July 2024. You can read more about this in a previous post. The discussion around the motion focused on which projects would be subject to this beefed-up policy and which projects would be subject to the older policy. Staff confirmed that any new redevelopment of a purpose-built rental building submitted from July 22, 2024, forward would be subject to the beefed-up policy. Two active redevelopment applications that were submitted before July 22nd are subject to the older policy. Council reaffirmed our support for the new beefed-up Tenant Relocation Policy.
The second motion concerned Langley City’s news release, “Langley City Rejects Langley Township’s Unfair RCMP Cost-Sharing Demand.” The motion called on the City to withdraw the release and apologize to the Township. The majority of Council did not support this motion.
For more details on these motions, please view the agenda for the January 13 meeting, including a video of the meeting.
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