July 27 Council Meeting: 400m buffer for vape and tattoo shops, apartment project approved, and walkway/road work paving program approved

Monday was the final Langley City council meeting before the summer break. The next council meeting will be held on September 14th. Council adopted several bylaws on Monday.

This first bylaw adopted amended the definition of “body-rub service” in our currently zoning bylaw. It also updated the zoning bylaw to only permit new body art and tattoo services to be located beyond 400 metres of existing establishments, as well as new vape stores only permitted beyond 400 metres of existing vape stores. You can read more information about this in a previous post.

Council also discharged two land use contracts for 19986 50A Avenue and 19986 50A Avenue.

Council approved an amended to our zoning bylaw, and issued a development permit, to allow a 4-storey, 92-unit rental apartment to be built at 5326, 5334, 5340, 5360 200 Street, and 5321, 5331, 5341, 5361 200A Street. You can read more about this apartment project in a previous post.

Council also approved the purchase of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatuses for the Langley City Fire Rescue Service at a price of $407,996.38.

Council approved a tender to Lafarge Canada Inc in the amount of $516,827.00 to complete the City’s 2020 paving program which includes:

• Paving pathway between Grade Crescent and 48th Avenue
• Paving 62nd Avenue between 200th Street and the Mall entrance
• Paving pathway in City Park
• Installing new raised traffic median on 208th Street at Grade Crescent
• Pavement repairs throughout the City
• Road work on 203rd Street between Douglas Crescent and Fraser Highway

Council also passed a motion from Councillor Albrecht requesting that the federal and provincial governments provide emergency operating funding to protect vital local services including public transportation, public health, and emergency services.

Council received a letter from the lobby group “Clean Energy BC” asking that we support their efforts to keep the “self-sufficiency” requirement in the provincial Clean Energy Act. Council did not act on their request, but some members of council did commit to researching this matter further.

2019 Langley City Expenses: Council, Staff, and Suppliers Breakdown

One of the requirements for every municipality in BC is to disclose the salaries, expenses, and benefits for members of council on an annual basis. The following table shows the 2019 financial information for Langley City council.

Name	Remuneration	Expenses	Benefits	Total
Mayor Valaria van den Broek	$115,446.00	$19,822.00	$133.00	$135,401.00
Councillor Paul E Albrecht	$53,874.00	$4,869.00	$3,990.00	$62,733.00
Councillor Teri L James	$53,874.00	$545.00	$2,760.00	$57,179.00
Councillor Gayle ME Martin	$51,950.00	$7,806.00	$133.00	$59,889.00
Councillor Nathan J Pachal	$53,874.00	$14.00	$133.00	$54,021.00
Councillor Rudolph Storteboom	$55,798.00	$6,444.00	$2,303.00	$64,545.00
Councillor Rosemary HM Wallace	$53,874.00	$7,961.00	$3,990.00	$65,825.00

Benefits include travel and accident insurance, extended health, and dental. Expenses include travel costs and fees to attend conferences or events per the City’s “Travel and Expense Policy.” Travel costs within the City or Township of Langley cannot be expensed.

The total cost of council was $499,593, or 1.2% of total operating expenses, in 2019 for Langley City.

In addition, the salaries and expenses of all municipal employees must also be provided annually. For people with a salary of more than $75,000, this information is broken-down per employee. For people with a salary under $75,000, this information is provided as a group. In 2019, Langley City employees’ salaries and expenses totaled $12,241,663.

Finally, a named list of suppliers of goods or services to municipalities must also be disclosed annually. If a municipality has spent less than $25,000 with a supplier, the name of the supplier is not included in the disclosure. In 2019, Langley City had a total of $43,883,952 in disbursements to suppliers.

For more information about Langley City employees’ salaries and expenses, plus the named list of suppliers, please read the 2019 “Statement of Financial Information (SOFI)” starting at page 25.

Crime stats from first half of the year shows crime down in Langley City

Every quarter, Langley City council receives an update from Superintendent Murray Power who is the Office in Charge of the Langley detachment of the RCMP. The following interactive charts are from the crime statistics that he provided to council which cover a six-month period between January and June in both 2019 and 2020.

As a note, common assault includes things such as bar fights and domestic situations.

So far in 2020, overall offences are down in Langley City though there are some types of offences that have increased including break and enters into businesses, auto theft, and mail theft.

One of the things that Superintendent Power noted was that there has been a decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness on our streets. He attributes this to both Creek Stone Supportive Housing, and the temporary COVID-19 program where BC Housing is placing people who were experiencing homelessness into accommodation.

I asked Superintendent Power if he would consider writing a letter noting the correlation between providing housing for people and a reduction in people experiencing homelessness. He said that he would be willing to work with Langley City and the Downtown Langley Business Association to write this letter to be presented to the provincial government.

The RCMP will also be ramping up traffic enforcement. I’ve received complaints from residents about noisy vehicles and speeding along Grade Crescent and 203rd Street. Superintendent Power stated that he would check if these corridors will be receiving enhanced traffic enforcement.

The following table shows the details crime statistics breakdown.

Person and property related offences in 2019 and 2020. Select table to enlarge.

Connectors, buttons, and sensors that make walking and cycling easier in Langley City

I have been working from home since mid-March, and as part of my morning routine, I have been taking walks around Langley City neighbourhoods. Douglas, Nicomekl, and Blacklock are the neighbourhoods that I frequent the most.

In neighbourhoods like Blacklock, many of the roads are curvilinear. This design helps to reduce the likelihood of people “rat running” on side streets. One of the unintended consequences of this design is that it can discourage people from walking.

When streets are aligned on a grid, you can walk the shortest path to your destination. With curvilinear streets, a 5-minute walk “as the crow flies” can easily turn into a 10- or 15-minute walk.

This is not that case in many Langley City neighbourhoods because where there are curvilinear streets, there are also pedestrian connectors.

Walkway in Blacklock neighbourhood. Select image to enlarge.

These connectors are sort of like the shortcuts in an Ikea. They let you get from point-A to point-B much quicker. These connectors are in most neighbourhoods in Langley City with the exception of Uplands (which could use a pedestrian connector around 46 A Avenue and 206 Street.)

One of the other things that I have noticed while walking around is that more people are cycling on the trail network and on the streets. While bike lanes have been the most visible addition to cycling infrastructure in our community in recent years, there have been some other changes that help make cycling easier.

The City is slowly rolling out bike sensors and bike push buttons as shown in the following pictures.

Bike lane sensor at 200th Street and 53rd Avenue. Select image to enlarge.

Bike lane button at 200th Street and 53rd Avenue. Select image to enlarge.

This allows people to stay on their bikes, and still be able to trigger a traffic signal.

As the City continues to invest in walking and cycling infrastructure, and with the new Official Community Plan looking to provide small-scale neighborhood retail at locations such as 50 Avenue at 200 Street, and 48 Avenue at 208 Street, the walkability of our community will continue to improve.

One of the metrics of success for me will be when parents feel safe letting their tween go to the corner store or school independently by foot or by bike.