Township of Langley Cycling Update

Last night, I attended the third annual Greater Langley Cycling Coalition’s stakeholders meeting. This is a chance for all organizations in Langley that have an interest in cycling and cycling infrastructure to get together and share what they are up to. The Township of Langley’s transportation department was at last night’s meeting and shared the progress they are making on cycling infrastructure improvements in that community. The Township provided an overview of the projects completed in 2012, and the projects they plan to work on in 2013. I’d like to share some of the highlights.

2012
-Completed 224 Street Shoulder Widening
-Completed 48 Avenue and 222 Street Bike Lanes
-Received funding for Allard Crescent Shoulder Bikeway

2013
-Complete 200 Street Bike Lanes (72 Avenue to 86 Avenue)
-Complete Fraser Highway Bike Lanes (228 Street to 264 Street)
-Complete 96 Avenue Shoulder Bikeway (204 Street to Glover Road)
-Complete 40 Avenue Shoulder Bikeway (200 Street to 240 Street)
-Complete Glover Road Shoulder Bikeway (Highway 10 to Mavis Avenue)
-Complete 48 Avenue Cycling Project (210 Street to 222 Street)
-Complete a 5 year cycling infrastructure funding plan with an open house for the plan scheduled in June 2013

As you can see, 2013 will be a busy year for cycling projects in the Township. Right now the Township of Langley sets aside about $160,000 for cycling infrastructure improvements in the community. This is over and above the money spent on building shared off-street trails and money spent on incorporating cycling infrastructure into major road capital projects. The Township of Langley is working on developing a 5 year cycling infrastructure funding plan, and part of that plan will also be to ask Township council to double their annual investment in cycling infrastructure. This is important because the Township relies on grants from TransLink, the provincial and federal governments, to build cycling infrastructure. Most of these funding programs are fund-matched. So every municipal dollar spent on cycling infrastructure could actually translate into two dollars of infrastructure. The proposed increase in municipal funding for cycling in the Township is a positive sign, and should be a wake-up call for the City of Langley, which spends $0 annually on cycling-only projects (though they do build cycling infrastructure into major road capital projects.) I’m pretty excited about the future of cycling in the Township of Langley.

One last general observation about cycling infrastructure in the Township of Langley, is the plan to build an extensive network of off-street, shared-use trails and on-street bike lanes in the urban parts of the community, and provide well-signed, wide shoulders for cyclists in the rural parts of the community. I think the most exciting part of the plan will be the build-out of the off-street network as research shows this is how to attract people to cycling.

Charleston Place Update

Rendering of Charleston Place

Last year, I posted about Charleston Place, a 15-storey, mixed-use building that has been approved for construction at the corner of 203rd Street & Industrial Avenue in the City of Langley. Since the project was approved by the City last year, I’ve chatted with many people in the community who have questioned if this sort of building makes financial sense in the City of Langley.

Because this will be the tallest building in either Langley, it will use concrete construction which costs more than wood-frame construction. Some developers I’ve talked to don’t believe the numbers make sense for this project, and wonder if the Charleston Place backers will be able to get the price per unit needed to make a profit on the building. Langley City is a great community and is also one of the few affordable places left in Metro Vancouver.

Either way, I’m excited about a new mixed-use building coming to Langley. I’ve noticed that a sales office is opening up near the project and that a website has been launched. If you check out the website, they are marketing the leasing of the five ground-floor retail units and the first three floors of office space. In total, there will be six floors of office space. It looks like they haven’t started the marketing for what will likely be premium-priced residential units on the top floors of the building.

I’ll be following this project closely and will be curious when it breaks ground. The next step will be the demolition of the existing building on the property which was a night club.

Tired of transit bashing

Last night I was at a friend’s birthday dinner and funny enough, the topic of TransLink came up at the table. It’s funny because I wasn’t the one to bring up the topic of transit in our region. One of the people at the dinner takes the West Coast Express into work from Langley and was talking about how she loves the service. Not surprisingly, she wanted to have more West Coast Express service and didn't understand why there wasn't more service. I had to speak up and say that more service costs more money, and that the real question we should be asking is how as a region can we pay for the transit service that we clearly need.

Another person at the table blamed TransLink for being bloated as the reason why we don't have better service. It’s interesting that he had that opinion because audit after audit of TransLink shows that it is a well-managed organization, but of course people don’t hear that.

I was talking to another person last week about TransLink. He told me that one of the problems is that there are local politicians that still talk about how TransLink is a poorly run organization, even though they know the fact speak differently. These politicians do a huge disservice to the region because they don’t bring any meaningful discussion around how to actually improve transit service.

Another challenge is that there are certain media outlets that publish and produce anti-transit opinion pieces that have little to do with fact, and more to do with an ideological opposition to transit. I guess they are hoping that if you tell a lie enough, it will become truth.

All this to say is that I’m not surprised that, even though the facts say that TransLink is a well-run origination, some people still believe it is wasteful.

It also still amazes me that even though some in the media and some local politicians have a field day bashing transit at every possibility, the vast majority of people in our region support improving transit, and paying for transit improvements with a combination of new taxes and users fees. That should speak volumes to the importance of public transit in Metro Vancouver.

Office Construction in Carvolth

This weekend, I was at the Starbucks near 86th Avenue and 200th Street, and noticed construction directly to the east of me. A four-storey and six-storey office building are being constructed as part of the Langley 200 Business Centre which was approved back in June of 2011. Interesting enough in March of 2010, Township staff started the process of updating the neighbourhood plan for the area. The current preferred concept for the area recommends that 86th Avenue become a mixed-use commercial street in light of the new Carvolth Park and Ride.

Site Plan for Langley 200 Business Centre Building Fronting 86th Avenue and 201 Street. Click Image to Enlarge.

While these two new office buildings will provide jobs near the Carvolth transit exchange, I feel that there was a missed opportunity. Because Carvolth is still a business park, all these buildings are surrounded by surface parking. These office buildings also include underground parking which is a good thing, but it would have been better to see the building that faces 86th Avenue, front the sidewalk and greenway with no setback. This would have been a good start to creating a pedestrian-oriented street.

New 6 Storey Office Building (View from 86th Avenue)

New 6 Storey Office Building (View from 200th Street)

I hope that when the Township actually adopts the updated Carvolth plan, they will require more thought around the pedestrian realm along 86th Avenue. I’m glad that there are office buildings higher than two-storey being built near transit in Langley, but I still feel like we are clinging to the business park past.

The latest information on the Carvolth plan update is from last summer and suggests that Township staff are still working on the bylaws and documents needed to update the plan which will hopefully see the creation of an 86th Avenue mixed-use corridor.