Council-Initiated Motions at October 20th and November 3rd Meetings

Langley City Council addressed a series of council-initiated motions at its regular meetings on October 20th and November 3rd.

Council voted unanimously to have staff do no work or action on the topic of amalgamation, but to pursue opportunities to share services with neighboring municipalities where it makes sense. Council also voted unanimously to send a letter to the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs to inquire about the next steps to designate Langley City as a HEART & HEARTH community, which would enable additional provincial resources to house people with support services, as Langley has the third-highest unhoused population in Metro Vancouver.

Council voted to refer a motion on the European Chafer Beetle, an invasive species that is killing grass in our region, and associated repair of boulevard grass to the Environmental Sustainability Committee. Council also voted to refer a motion about litter management to various committees that are already working on litter management. As a reminder, if you do see a mess resulting from European Chafer Beetle or litter, please use the City’s Request for Service tool.

Council voted to defer deciding on a motion to study reducing speed limits on local streets until after Council adopts a new Transportation Plan, which is scheduled for consideration this year. This new plan will also speak to reducing speeds on local streets. Council wanted to ensure we weren’t duplicating staff efforts. Similarly, Council voted to defer deciding on a motion to request that City staff develop a framework to establish a Community Safety Officer department until after Council hears back from our Citizens' Assembly, which will make recommendations on how to enhance community safety in a month's time.

Langley City currently has a simple traffic calming policy where a resident needs to gather signatures from 10 or 50% of residents (whichever is less) in an area that would benefit directly from traffic calming, which is at a minimum the block on which traffic calming is being requested. This is a low barrier, but a barrier nonetheless, to ensure that there is some level of support for traffic calming before City staff will take further action. When I was on Council back in 2020, we implemented the current process, as the City was handling traffic calming requests in an ad hoc manner, which was putting a strain on staff time and frustrating residents. Some Councillors wanted to change the policy, including by removing the need to gather signatures. After a robust discussion, Council voted to maintain the current policy.

Two other motions were not seconded (on council meeting seating arrangements and consulting contracts), which means they weren’t debated, and another was withdrawn (on yard waste collection).