November 3 Council Notes: Langley City’s New Zoning Bylaw Gets First and Second Reading

Langley City Council adopted our current Official Community Plan back in November of 2021; the previous Official Community Plan dated back to the 1990s. Our current zoning bylaw dates back to 1995, when I was in Grade 6, and is outdated. Following the adoption of our current Official Community Plan, Langley City staff began work on creating a new zoning bylaw. The Official Community Plan articulates what we want our City to be, while the zoning bylaw defines what is allowed today. The City has held several open houses and provided in-person and online feedback opportunities regarding the zoning bylaw over the past few years. I’ve posted about these open houses and the feedback received.

On Monday, Langley City Council gave first and second reading to our new proposed zoning bylaw. There will now be an opportunity for people to provide formal written and in-person feedback at an upcoming council meeting. After, Council will consider third reading of the bylaw and then, at a subsequent meeting, final reading to adopt it.

At a high level, the new zoning bylaw aligns with our Official Community Plan and provincially mandated height, density, and parking requirements.

For our lowest-density residential zone, which permits detached homes, ‘plexes, and two-storey carriage homes (accessory dwelling units), it now encourages sloped roofs and a third-floor setback to reduce the boxiness of newer homes in this zone. These changes are compliant with provincial law and will still comfortably allow up to four to six units per lot as the new zoning bylaw increases the allowed lot coverage from 33% to 36% in this zone.

Childcare centres will now be permitted in all townhouse, apartment, commercial, and industrial zones within our community, with separation distances in our Historic Downtown and in industrial areas.

The new zoning bylaw codifies our Townhome and Plexhomes Best Practices Guide, which Council approved in 2023, including provisions for enhanced outdoor amenity spaces or local park improvements around new townhouse complexes.

As you may know, due to provincial law, Langley City cannot set minimum residential parking requirements in most areas north of the Nickomekl River, as they are within provincial Transit-Oriented Development Areas. The City is allowed to set minimum EV requirements. As such, the new zoning bylaw will require that all residential parking spaces be wired up for chargers, and 10% of residential parking spaces in buildings have EV chargers. Bike parking requirements have been increased within Transit-Oriented Development Areas. The new zoning bylaw will also allow people to park their RVs in their front driveways between May 1 and September 30 (this is currently not allowed).

To support below-market and non-market rental units, the minimum parking rates for these units outside of Transit-Oriented Development Areas are reduced to 0.7 and 0.5 spaces per unit. These parking reductions, combined with new density bonus provisions in the new zoning bylaw (which allow for slightly higher apartment densities in exchange for below-market rental units), will enable the private sector to construct these units.

Within Transit-Oriented Development Areas, the new zoning bylaw will require 2.5% of units in townhouses and apartments to be rental units priced 20% below local market rental rates, with the option to provide a cash equivalent that the City would put into an affordable housing fund.

The new zoning bylaw will also require that 5% of units in new apartment buildings must include 3 or more bedrooms.

The new zoning bylaw will also enable new uses in commercial uses, such as storefront-based vehicle rental, small-scale recycling, arcades, billiard halls, and containers modified for commercial or recreational use, such as pop-up coffee shops. The new zoning bylaw will not permit “spas” in our community, although current “spas” will still be allowed to operate in accordance with provincial law as non-comforming uses. If a “spa” closes, a new one wouldn’t be allowed to open.

Proposed land-use changes to the Official Community Plan to align with the provincial government's Transit-Oriented Development Area. Select the map to enlarge.

Running alongside the new zoning bylaw approval process is an update to the Official Community Plan. The proposed update aligns the zoning bylaw zones with the Official Community Plan’s land-use designations, codifies the Townhome and Plexhomes Best Practices Guide into the Official Community Plan, and resolves inconsistencies between the Official Community Plan and the provincial government’s Transit-Oriented Development Areas. Council gave first and second reading to update our Official Community Plan.

There has been a significant amount of public input, council input, and staff work over the last four years to develop this new zoning bylaw. I look forward to hearing and reading formal feedback from the community as we continue along this journey.

November 3 Council Notes: Pharmacy Distancing Exemption, 2025 Budget Amendment, Metro Vancouver and Library Board Appointments

There is a saying that there can be too much of a good thing, and that was the case in Langley City when it came to retail pharmacies. For retail commercial areas to thrive, they need a mix of shops and services. While pharmacies are an important part of our community, about a decade ago, you could close your eyes and walk in any direction and likely find yourself in one in Downtown Langley (I am slightly exaggerating). As a result, Council updated our zoning bylaw to require that any new pharmacy must be at least 400 metres away from an existing pharmacy.

Langley City Council received a rezoning application to allow an exemption to the separation requirement for a new medical clinic proposed at 20334 56 Avenue, which is an office building. The medical clinic applicant wants to provide an in-house pharmacy to service their clients. It would not be a standalone pharmacy; it would support their comprehensive medical care services model. The pharmacy itself would be about 900 square feet. After some questions from Council, Council gave first and second reading to a zoning bylaw update to allow this exception. There will be an opportunity for public input at the next regular Council meeting, prior to Council's consideration of third and final readings for approval.

Council also provided an opportunity for people to provide input on some proposed changes to the 2025 budget. No one provided written or verbal input. Council gave final reading to the amended 2025 financial plan. You can read more about this in a previous post.

Every year, Council must appoint our representatives for the Metro Vancouver Regional District Board and the Fraser Valley Regional Library Board. Council approved the same representatives as last year. Councillor Albrecht will be Langley City’s representative on the Metro Vancouver Regional District Board with Councillor Wallace as the alternative. For the Library Board, Langley City’s representative will be Councillor Wallace, with Councillor Mack as the alternate.

Extra Yard Waste Collection in Langley City Extended Until November 30th

With the new cart system for garbage and organics collections in Langley City, each address that receives City collection services gets one 240L garbage cart and one 240L organics cart. Only detached homes and non-strata townhouses receive this service. Most people in Langley City have private collection services as they live in apartments and strata townhouses. People can upsize or downsize their carts or purchase additional carts from the City. Generally, yard waste is placed in the organic cart; however, at certain times of the year, such as fall, more yard waste is generated. As a pilot this fall, from October 6 to October 31, the City allowed people to put out extra yard waste next to their organics bin in paper yard waste bags. Last night, Langley City Council approved a staff recommendation to extend this extra yard waste pickup pilot until November 30, 2025.

Langley City staff will gather the data from this pilot to determine if it should be made permanent going forward. The neighborhoods with the highest utilization of the extra yard waste pickup are Uplands/Mossey Estates and the Simonds neighborhood west of 200th Street. This makes sense, as these are the areas with the largest lots in our community. If the program becomes permanent, Council would need to consider whether it is a fall-only or a fall and spring program, the duration of the program per season, and how people will pay for the additional collection. Do all people who receive City collection services pay for it, or only those who put out our extra paper yard waste bags? This year, the cost of the pilot is being absorbed into the current City budget.

Of the approximately 3,600 addresses that received City collection service, 112 addresses are waiting for a larger 360-litre organics cart, and 83 are waiting for a larger 360-litre garbage cart. City staff expect these carts to be delivered sometime in December.

October 20 Council Notes: PECS in Parks, Zero Waste Strategy, Zoning Bylaw Feedback

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a method that enables people with limited or no ability to communicate to use pictures to express their thoughts and feelings. This system was originally developed to assist individuals with autism, although it can be used by anyone. One of the members of Langley City’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, Andrea Castro, has developed a PECS board that can be installed at playgrounds and other public spaces. The Accessibility Advisory Committee asked Council to approve the City to apply for a grant to install one of these PECS boards at Douglas Park or City Park. Council approved this request.

An example of a Picture Exchange Communication System board. Select the image to enlarge.

There are many community events in Langley City, and some do a better job than others of managing waste, including reducing waste, composting, and recycling. Zero Waste Strategies look at a hierarchy to eliminate waste and prevent it from ending up in landfills. The top of the hierarchy aims to prevent waste generation in the first place, followed by reducing waste, reusing, and then recycling or recovering energy from waste. The bottom of the hierarchy is sending waste to a landfill. Langley City’s Environmental Sustainability Committee asked Council to direct staff to develop a phased Zero Waste Strategy for all events held in the City, with the first phase focusing on large City-run events, such as Community Day. Expansion to other events could be considered in future years. As a note, Langley City had waste sorting stations at Community Day. Council approved this request.

At the same meeting where Council approved these two committee recommendations, Council also gave final reading to implement the 2026 permissive tax exemptions. You can read about these exemptions in a previous post.

On September 29th, Council received a presentation from United Way about its 100 More Homes program in Penticton on homelessness response and coordination. Council passed a motion requesting that City staff provide more information about this program, including whether it would be beneficial for Langley City and any associated funding requirements. Staff provided a report back to Council recommending that Langley City continue its leadership role with the new coordinated access system for people experiencing homelessness, and to invite United Way to collaborate through funding and research contributions to this system.

Finally, Council released the phase two engagement summary for the upcoming zoning bylaw update. Some of the key takeaways from the engagement are:

• Support for sloped roofs in the detached/’plex zone
• Concern about vehicle parking
• Support enhancing public amenities such as green spaces and increasing below-market rental housing, as long as it doesn’t impact the affordability of market units
• Concern about crime, traffic safety, and flood risk as population density increases