Metro Vancouver’s Governance Review Missing Key Requirement

The North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant fiasco shook many people’s confidence in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, including its governance. Today, municipalities appoint directors to the Metro Vancouver Regional District board with votes based on population. I’m simplifying some aspects of the board’s makeup for this post. The Regional District’s board is political, and in my mind, that is OK.

Deloitte recently completed a board governance review of the Regional District and presented 49 recommendations. Under provincial legislation, the Regional District consists of three entities: the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the Greater Vancouver Water District, and the Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District.

One of the challenges with today’s decision-making on water and sewerage infrastructure is that the projects tend to be complex and challenging to “see” if corners were cut, if the project delivered as it was supposed to, or if it was a gold-plated solution.

While some people point to other challenges in the Regional District, the biggest challenge is the lack of independent review of large water and sewer projects. I observe that some of these projects become like trains; once they leave the station and pick up speed, they are hard to adjust or even stop if required.

One big recommendation from Deloitte is to have the Water and Sewerage Districts have smaller boards with a mix of elected and independent, non-elected members. The independent members would be appointed based on their qualifications to manage large utilities. Would this hybrid model work better? It reminds me of the TransLink Board, and I think the jury is still out on that governance model.

The other significant recommendation is to include feedback from the existing technical advisory committees in board reports to provide a broader perspective. These technical advisory committees include staff representatives from member municipalities in Metro Vancouver.

Deloitte interviewed me as part of this governance review. When I talked with them, I told them I wanted to see the creation of an independent technical advisory group that reviews the Regional District’s significant projects and plans to determine if they are delivering value for money for our region and meeting the overall strategic goals of the board.

Deloitte recommends enhancing the current internal auditing at the Regional District, but it does not capture what I think is needed.

It’s scary to think I’ve held elected office for nearly a decade. I’ve observed that governance is rarely the problem; it is whether people decide to be good or bad actors in a political system. You cannot governance your way out of bad actors; that is what elections are for.

I’m happy to see many of Deloitte’s recommendations. Still, I think they missed the Regional District’s biggest challenge: the need for the board to have independent technical advice for major plans and projects.

Enrollment Numbers - Langley Schools

One of the questions I get from time to time is about the number of students attending schools in our community. Langley City is part of the Langley School District, so while there is no such thing as a City or Township school, some schools serve most of the students in Langley City.

The Langley School District regularly provides a Funding and Enrolment Update report. The most recent public report is from October 2024.

The following chart shows the total headcount for all school-aged students in Langley.

Langley School District - School-Aged Student Headcount from 2011 to 2024. Select the image to enlarge.

As you can see, it has been growing at a steady rate. The following chart shows the total number of students (government-funded and international) for both 2023 and 2024 for the Langley Secondary catchment area.

School	2024	2023	Change
Langley Secondary School (incl Focus)	1204	1069	135
H D Stafford Middle School	759	766	-7
Blacklock Elementary	303	276	27
Douglas Park Elementary	350	314	36
James Hill Elementary	365	371	-6
Nicomekl Elementary	426	454	-28
Simonds Elementary	160	142	18
Uplands Elementary	242	253	-11

As a note, Nicomekl is getting a 200-student classroom expansion, which is under construction right now. This expansion is like getting another Simonds Elementary-sized school and provides room to grow for students in one of the fastest-growing neighbourhoods in Langley City.

On a side note, the R E Mountain catchment area continues to see the most growth, with 399 more students between 2023 and 2024, compared to the Langley Secondary School catchment area, which grew by 164.

The School District and City work closely to understand how new growth impacts school enrollment, which helps the School District plan for growth or a decrease in students at individual schools.

Langley Animal Control and Shelter Potential Separation

Since 2003, Langley Animal Protection Society (LAPS) has provided animal control and shelter services to Langley City and the Township of Langley. Both the City and Township have separate contracts with LAPS.

Cooper at Campbell Valley Park by Robin Horn

In September of last year, Township of Langley Council asked their staff to investigate providing animal control services in-house and having LAPS operate a Township-only shelter. The Township of Langley owns the land and the current Patti Dale Animal Shelter, which houses animals from both municipalities.

Langley City and Township have received great value from LAPS as a volunteer-led and donor-driven organization. For example, both municipalities receive cat services at no cost as donors fund the LAPS cat program entirely. Langley City received $36,968 annually in no cost cat services, such as sheltering and care.

Currently, the City pays $129,554 to LAPS annually for animal control and sheltering services.

Langley City provides 15% of the operating funding for contracted animal control and shelter services to LAPS. LAPS animal control officers allocated 7% of their time to City files and patrols. 4% of animals admitted to LAPS care as part of the contracts are from the City. This results in a subsidy for the Township contract.

I hope that LAPS can continue to provide services to both communities, as providing these services in-house will drive up costs for both municipalities due to the reduction in volunteer and donor support.

On May 12, Langley City Council asked City staff to explore different operating models and develop an implementation strategy to maintain animal control and sheltering services for our community if Township Council does decide to change its animal control and shelter model to exclude the City.

More Transit and Road Funding for Langley

I posted a few weeks ago about the now approved Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation Investment Plan for TransLink. This plan will deliver improved transit service throughout the region, especially in the South of Fraser.

On Monday, TransLink presented some of the plan’s highlights to Langley City Council, focusing on Langley and the South of Fraser.

Many people do not know that TransLink also funds the major road networks, such as Fraser Highway and 200th Street. The investment plan includes a 70% increase in rehabilitation funding for the major road network. For Langley City, this works out to an additional $1.27 million per year in funding. Langley City will also get $616,000 for active transportation projects such as new sidewalks and bike lanes.

The following slide from the presentation shows improvements to the bus network.

2025 Investment Plan Scope Map, Langley and South of Fraser. Select map to enlarge.

The network will be significantly improved, as you can see. One highlight is the new transit access to Campbell Valley Regional Park.

These improvements will start rolling out immediately, though it may take a few years for them to be fully implemented across the transit system.

May 12 Council Notes: Crime Prevention Committee and Subdivision

Yesterday, I posted about the Council's approval of the 2024 Year-End Consolidated Financial Statements. Today, I wanted to cover some of the other items from the May 12th Langley City Council meeting.

On December 9th, Council deferred voting on a proposal to convert 20525 and 20541 46A Avenue into eight smaller lots. The proposed subdivision includes both an environmentally sensitive area and a natural hazards area. At the time Council had concerns about the project. As I noted in a previous post, it "led Council to refer this rezoning and subdivision proposal back to City staff as its current form is likely something that Council would not approve."

On Monday, Council considered the proposed eight-lot subdivision rezoning. While City staff did provide more information, there was no change to the application. As a result, Council unanimously denied the rezoning application.

Later in the meeting, Council approved its Crime Prevention Committee Work Plan. The committee, which includes volunteer members, will focus on promoting crime prevention tips, block watch and business watch, Crime Stoppers, the 529 Garage bike ID program, secure bike parking, and public safety theme murals.

Regarding public safety theme murals, Council approved the following mural, which will be installed on the north-facing wall of the City Hall/Timms Community Centre.

“Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow” by Carla Maskall. Select the image to enlarge.

Langley City Receives Clean Bill of Financial Health

Every year, every municipality in BC must prepare year-end consolidated financial statements. Langley City Council approved its 2024 statements last night.

Kristine Simpson from BDO Canada, the City's external auditor, found that our year-end statements fairly present the City's financial position.

Overall, the City received more revenue than expected. While property taxes were lower than expected, user fees from water and sewer usage, gaming proceeds, interest payments, and transfers from other levels of government were higher.

For expenditures, the City was under budget. One of the large drivers was lower debt servicing costs, as the City did not receive its loan until halfway through the year. Labour costs were also lower due to staff vacancies caused by new positions, people seeking other opportunities, and delays in re-hiring those positions.

The City transferred an additional $7.4 million into reserve accounts due to the difference between revenue and expenditures. These will be used to fund future capital projects or debt servicing costs.

One of the indicators of investment into community assets such as public buildings, roads, sewers, and water mains is the "equity in tangible capital assets," which grew from $293 million to $310 million.

At the end of 2024, the City had $21.7 million in long-term debt.

The City collects development cost charges from each new development. The City allocates these funds for specific projects. At the end of 2024, the City had $40.6 million in these charges, which will be used for specific future capital projects required to accommodate population growth.

The City also had $64.7 million in reserve accounts at the end of 2024, which will be used for capital projects per the City's Capital Improvement Plan.

You can download the 2024 Year-End Consolidated Financial Statements for more information.

Official Release: City of Langley Responds to Termination of Shared Policing Agreement

I wanted to repost the following official media release from Langley City.

As expected, on May 10, 2025, the Township of Langley terminated the City of Langley and Township of Langley Police Capital and Operations Cost Sharing Agreement, which has been in place since 1993. This agreement specifically addresses the co-owned RCMP detachment building and shared municipal staff.

It is important to clarify that the agreement on the detachment building is not the same as the Township’s call for de-integration. Any de-integration of policing requires approval from the provincial government, which has not happened.

“Langley City Council is unanimous in its belief that de-integration of the Langley RCMP Detachment will not improve the quality, efficiency, or effectiveness of policing in Langley,” stated Mayor Nathan Pachal.

Mayor Pachal continued, “We have consistently been willing to work with the Township of Langley to ensure all the facts are on the table and together come up with a path forward that is in the best interest of all Langley residents and businesses.”

Langley City remains open to a mediated process — as recommended by the Province — to work toward a fair, modernized agreement that ensures effective, coordinated policing for both communities.

Mayor Pachal reaffirmed: “Our goal is a strong, stable public safety model that reflects our shared responsibility and protects taxpayer dollars. We look forward to continuing conversations that support both communities and put public safety first.”

Over the past several years, the City has demonstrated a strong and consistent commitment to public safety — including strategic investments in fire services, emergency management, and policing — to ensure reliable service delivery now and into the future.

It continues to seek constructive dialogue with the Township, the Province, and the RCMP to support a coordinated, modern public safety model.

With both Langleys growing and SkyTrain on the horizon, the case has never been stronger for an integrated, coordinated, and financially responsible public safety model that reflects the needs of both communities.

Langley City's 70th Anniversary: “Not a Nickel for Street Lights for Langley Prairie.”

Last night, I was at a Langley City Emergency Program Volunteer Appreciation Event with other Council members. The work of the Langley City volunteer responders is critical when there is an emergency in our community.

Anyway, I was talking with a few volunteers after the formal award ceremony when one of the younger volunteers asked me why there was a Langley City. An old volunteer said it was something about streetlights.

This year is Langley City’s 70th Anniversary, and we’ve recently displayed some historical artifacts about our community, including this article from the Langley Advance newspaper from March 13, 1985, when Langley City was celebrating its 30th Anniversary.

Langley Advance Article from March 13, 1985, “City incorporated 30 years ago.” Select the image to enlarge.

“We said, ‘Okay, we’ll do without the water and the sewer. Just give us the street lights so we don’t have to keep tripping over in the dark.’”

“The only light came from the store windows, if you can believe that,” Jeffery said. “But the [mayor] was very adamant and he stonewalled us.”

When the merchant made one last pea for amenities, the [mayor] George Brooks, was immovable. He said, “Not a nickel for street lights for Langley Prairie.”

It was, said Jeffery, the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Langley Prairie business owners and residents felt that their taxes weren’t being reinvested into the community and that they weren’t well represented. 85% of Langley Praire voters choose to form their own community, which is how Langley City came into being.

I’m proud to say that Langley City now has all the streetlights and that we continue to invest every nickel of tax back into our community.

If you would like to learn more about the Langley City Emergency Program, including how to become a volunteer, please visit Langley City’s website.

Right to Cool in Apartments and Townhouses

We have been getting more extreme heat events over the last several years. The Metro Vancouver heat dome in 2021, when over 600 people died, stands out as one of the worst climate-related incidents in Canada. In BC, newly constructed buildings must have living spaces that cannot have temperatures that exceed 26°C. This change came into effect in March last year.

Of course, many older buildings don't have cooling systems, whether they are strata or rental. Last week, elected local government representatives from across the Lower Mainland met for our annual Lower Mainland Local Government Association Conference. One part of the conference includes debating motions where we collectively would like the province or federal governments to take action. One such matter was the right to cool.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District, City of Vancouver, City of North Vancouver, and Vancouver Coast Health recently released a whitepaper called "Thermal Safety in Existing Multi-Unit Residential Buildings." One of the barriers to allowing people to install cooling systems can be strata councils and landlords.

The provincial government needs to change the Strata Property Act to allow individual owners to install active and passive cooling measures at their discretion and prevent the ability of strata councils to restrict passive or mechanical cooling or ventilation measures. At the same time, the province needs to provide a toolkit for stratas to help ensure measures are in place for the safe installation of these systems.

For rental properties, the province needs to change the Residential Tenancy Act to ensure tenants have the "right to cool," which could range from requiring landlords to allow portable or window A/C units to require retrofits of older buildings.

Elected representatives at the conference voted in favour of asking the province to take action.

May 5 Council Notes: Seniors' Affordable Housing

On Monday, Langley City Council met with Langley Seniors in Action. This advocacy organization is seniors-led and focuses on driving change that creates positive impacts for older people in Langley.

The conversation focused on housing for older people with a lower income (such as those only receiving CPP, OAS, or GIS) and the lack of housing options for these folks. We discussed how partnerships will be essential to build more deeply affordable housing units. We noted that the private sector alone won't be able to provide these deeply affordable, seniors-focused housing units and will require significant funding from the provincial and federal governments.

We discussed the redevelopment of affordable housing sites, such as what is occurring at the Langley Lions Housing Society site, to ensure that seniors are not displaced. For example, at that site, the intent is for the current vacant area to have new buildings with existing residents relocated to new buildings to allow for an older building to be gradually redeveloped. Over time, the site would have newer buildings, but the people who live there could remain on the site.

We also discussed current older market rental buildings, the state of repair of these buildings, and redevelopment.

We discussed inclusionary zoning, which the City is working on. Inclusionary zoning allows municipalities to require a percentage of new housing units priced below-market in new housing projects. You can read more about this in a previous post.

We also touched on other topics, but these were the main highlights.

Later in the meeting, Council gave final reading of our tax rate bylaw. You can read more about this in a previous post.

The State of Flood Management and Dikes in Metro Vancouver

A few years back, I posted a report on the state of the dike network in the Lower Mainland. A 2015 report found that “almost all of the dikes are substandard and most will not withstand the provincially adopted design flood events.”

The provincial government transferred the responsibility of maintaining dikes to a patchwork of municipalities and diking authorities more than 20 years ago. The results have been inconsistent maintenance of dikes and a network that doesn’t meet modern flood protection standards.

One of the gaps right now is the lack of an over‐arching organization that can help coordinate flood management, including dikes. However, the Metro Vancouver Regional District is doing some of that work now. They recently completed documenting and mapping all flood-related improvement projects in the region since around 2010.

Map of flood-related capital projects in Metro Vancouver from around 2010 to today. Select the map to enlarge. Source: Metro Vancouver

They found that 47% of dikes are in a poor state of repair, and most do not meet modern flood protection standards, including the risk of overtopping durning a flood event or being damaged during an earthquake.

Summary of dike vulnerabilities and state of repair in Metro Vancouver. Source: Metro Vancouver

With this understanding, the Regional District is now looking at putting together a prioritization list for flood management projects to help reduce the risk in our region. Local authorities could use this data to help secure funding from the federal and provincial governments based on risk level.

While work has been done to reduce flood risk, we have much more work to do.

April 28 Council Notes: Tax Rate, Letter, and Fire Rescue Service Review

Yesterday, I posted about the BC Builds below-market rental, mixed-use building, which received third reading or approval in principle at Monday’s Langley City Council meeting. Today, I wanted to post about the other matters that Council addressed.

Council gave first, second, and third reading to our 2025 tax rate bylaw. This bylaw enables the City to collect property tax per our 2025 – 2029 Financial Plan. In previous posts, you can read more about this plan’s operations and capital budget sections.

The Council also approved the work plans for our Arts, Recreation, Culture, and Heritage Committee as well as our Accessibility Advisory Committee.

Langley City Council received a letter from Langley Seniors in Action who expressed concern about the loss of affordable housing and potential actions they’d like the City to take. Langley City Council will meet with this group soon to discuss their concerns.

Langley City is celebrating its 70th Anniversary, and our first Citizen’s Assembly is happening now. Council approved using $47,000 from our Council Enterprise Fund to help ensure people are up-to-date on the Assembly’s work and more aware of community-wide engagements. The City will also use the funds to create a Langley City historical stories series and promote our 70th Anniversary in the Downtown core and at community events.

Council released the executive summary and recommendations from our Langley City Fire Rescue Service Review. However, due to privacy and confidentiality concerns, Council declined to release the full report.

Council also received a letter from the Metro Vancouver Regional District requesting feedback on a proposal to change our regional growth strategy in Delta. Council requested that City staff prepare a response.

Finally, Council released the names of people recently appointed to various City committees. You can read more about this on Monday’s Council meeting agenda.