City of Langley Master Transportation Plan Update

Last Thursday the City of Langley Parks and Environment Advisory Committee, which I am appointed to, got a sneak peak of proposed changes to the cycling and pedestrian network as part of the Master Transportation Plan update which the City is currently working on.

One of the interesting things that the people who are working on the Master Transportation Plan update recognize is that the City needs a full north/south and east/west cycling corridor as they noted that 60% of people would cycle if there was off-street or protected cycling facilities. Shoulder bike lanes really only serve 10% of the population that are considered hard-core cyclists.

In 2010, the Parks and Environment Advisory Committee passed a motion to have the City investigate installing segregated/protected bicycle facilities. I’ve been advocating for segregated/protected bicycle facilities for many years including on 53rd Avenue and 203rd Street.

Draft Concept Bike Network - City of Langley Master Transportation Plan. Click map to enlarge.

The good news about this plan is that it now incorporates the off-street trail network into the cycling network, and even proposes some expansion to the off-street network. The proposed off-street network would serve as the main east/west corridor. The plans also suggests adding on-street bike lanes to 203rd Street to serve as the main north/south corridor.

The thing that concerns me is that this draft plan does not appear to be advocating for protected cycling facility on 203rd Street. 203rd Street is wide enough to accommodate protected cycling lanes will minimal effort, and as the writers of this update noted, protected cycling facilities are critical. I can only hope this gets changed before the updated plan gets adopted. Another observation is that both Surrey and the Township of Langley have installed on-street bike lanes along Fraser Highway. The City of Langley is not, so there appears to be a break in this regional cycling route. This is something that needs to be resolved.

Draft Concept Pedestrian Network - City of Langley Master Transportation Plan. Click map to enlarge.

The updated plan also looks at filling in the sidewalk network, especially around school. This makes a lot of sense. One of the concerns I have is that many sidewalks north of the Nicomekl River and in the downtown core are actually too narrow when you consider the volume of people that use mobility aides in the area. I’m waiting to hear back if the plan will suggest sidewalk widening in those areas.

The maps in this post are draft and could be subject to change before the plan goes to a public open house for further comments shortly.

Upcoming events on sustainable transportation

With the potential referendum on transit expansion funding about a year away, many people and organizations are starting to get information out about the benefits of transit and a multi-modal transportation system. SFU is hosting two events on transportation and transit in the coming months that I believe are worth attending.

The first event is put on by SFU Carbon Talks and is aptly named “Running Campaigns, Winning Votes.”

With the clock ticking, and few public details about the 2014 transportation referendum, this is an opportunity to enter into a dialogue about what has worked, and what hasn't in past referendum votes and ballot initiatives. Join us to hear from three seasoned campaigners about effective strategies and lessons learned.

One of the panellist at this event will be Denny Zane who created Move LA in 2007 to bring together business, NGOs, labour, and environmental leaders to help lead the campaign for the Measure R sales tax which is a voter-approved sales tax in Los Angles that is funding transit expansion.

When: Tuesday, September 24 from 1:00 - 2:30PM
Where: SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings St., Room 1700
Registration: Seating for this free event is limited, please register to attend
Note: The event will also be webcast

The next event will be taking place during the month of October and is called “Moving In Metro: A discussion on mobility pricing.”

Metro Vancouver is a region that relies on many modes of transportation to keep its economy, and its people moving; from trucks to trains to cars to bicycles. Being able to move around our cities is critical for transporting goods, accommodating jobs and population growth, building strong and vibrant communities, and connecting with our partners in the region and elsewhere. But how do we pay for our transportation system in a way that is fair and transparent and provides for our current and future needs?

SFU will be holding the event in Surrey on October 22 and in Langley on October 29. Registration information can be found on that event’s webpage.

Metro Vancouver reaffirms utility markup for non-members

As I posted about in July, things are starting to heat up between the Township of Langley and Metro Vancouver. Metro Vancouver is suing the Township of Langley to prevent the Township from implementing the full University District plan. When news of the legal action broke last year, some Township Councillors mused about leaving Metro Vancouver and joining the Fraser Valley Regional District. As Metro Vancouver’s action against the Township winds its way through court, I’m sure there will be renewed chatter about leaving the region.

Metro Vancouver provides many important services to the Township of Langley with two of the major services being water and sewer. Metro Vancouver provides a good value for the services it provides. For example, water rates in the South of Fraser can be around 50% less expensive than places like Abbotsford. Some of the savvy councillors know this. Like the Quebec Separatist who wants to leave Canada, but keep all the services the country provides, some Township Councillors want to be removed from Metro Vancouver’s regional planning regulations, but keep all the service the region provides. This make sense as the Township has spent or plans to spend close to $50 million connecting eastern Langley (including Aldergrove) to Metro Vancouver’s water and sewer network. Western Langley is already connected to Metro Vancouver.

While I think it is highly unlikely that the Township of Langley will leave Metro Vancouver, if for some reason it was allowed to join the Fraser Valley Regional District, the prices of water and sewer service would go up at least 20%. I wouldn’t want to explain that to citizens if I was a councillor.

When UBC (ironically as it has the School of Community and Regional Planning) had issues with regional planning as it applied to its Point Grey campus, it complained to the province. The province removed the Point Grey campus from the regional district. As a result, UBC pays a 30% markup for water and the University Endowment Lands pays a 20% markup. In June, the Metro Vancouver Utility Committee heard a request to lower the markup for non-Metro Vancouver members like the UEL. This request was denied.

While some people might have issues with regional planning in Metro Vancouver, being a part of the biggest (population and resources) regional district comes with many benefits including as lower property tax bill for utilities.

First look at Highstreet Lifestyle Centre in Abbotsford

If Main Street, U.S.A. and a power centre had a baby, they would produce an urban lifestyle centre. Urban lifestyle centres are the latest trend in shopping mall design that tries to recreate a town centre complete with main street. Urban lifestyle centres are a response to the increasing demand of consumer who are rediscovering the pleasure of shopping in downtowns and along main streets, and urban living in general.

Highstreet in Abbotsford is an urban lifestyle centre that I wrote a post about when it was first proposed in 2010. Now that Highstreet is partially open, I decided to stop by the mall, look around, and take some pictures.

Now for an auto-oriented shopping centre, Highstreet gets some things right. Because most of the parking is enclosed and the majority of the mall is built on top of the parking, Highstreet uses around 50% less land than a traditional power centre. This means that the site is less sprawled. The developers of Highstreet, Shape Properties, are also working toward LEED certification which is good news. Other than that though, Highstreet is no better at creating an accessible or sustainable community than any other auto-oriented shopping mall.

Even though Highstreet has a faux-main street complete with a “public square” and playground, it is missing one of the key ingredients of a real accessible town centre, housing options. In fact, as the pictures show, Highstreet completely turns its back towards the street and Abbotsford. This makes sense as Abbotsford decided that 600,000 square feet of retail should be surrounded by nothing more than single-family housing.

While the Highstreet website using words like pedestrian-friendly, it is only pedestrian-friendly if you happen to drive to Highstreet. Is that really pedestrian-friendly at all? The mall’s main entrance is a roundabout exit off the Mt. Lehman interchange at Highway 1. You can complete avoid going into Abbotsford by shopping at Highstreet!

I actually have no problem with large-format retail or even lifestyle centres in general. There are plenty of good examples of both these forms of retail that integrate into communities, and are surrounded or include a mix of housing types. The mixing of housing and retail is what builds actual accessible and pedestrian-friendly communities.

Highstreet could have been such a place if the City of Abbotsford allowed higher-density housing around the lifestyle centre, Highstreet had a residential component, and the mall didn’t turn its back to the street. Unfortunately, Highstreet is just a twist on your typical power centre that draw people away from accessible town centres to auto-oriented shopping at the edge of town.