Conversation about urban issues extends beyond Boundary Road, Metro Vancouver Councillors say.

A group of City Councillors from around the Metro Vancouver region want to bring “urbanist” conversations to their communities. Their first event will be in New Westminster on November 23 with a conversation about AirBnB, and how it fits into the city-making context.

The idea started at a Vancouver urban planning event. A group of newly-elected City Councillors from “the suburbs” were invited to Downtown Vancouver to take part in the SFU City Conversation program, a regular meet-up series dedicated to talking about urban issues.

“We were all interested in continuing the conversation,” says Mathew Bond from the District of North Vancouver. “We recognized these issues are relevant to the entire region, not just Downtown Vancouver, and we wanted to bring the conversation out to our own communities.”

Bond, along with Nathan Pachal of the City of Langley, Kiersten Duncan of Maple Ridge, and Patrick Johnstone of New Westminster, are putting together a series of meet-up events visiting each of their communities, as part of a plan to create a larger conversation, in person and online. The City Conversation format is short on experts talking and longer on a facilitated discussion with the audience, perfect for sharing diverse ideas.

The first topic for discussion is the prickly issue of regulating Short Term Rentals.

“The topic of Short Term Rentals is being discussed around the region,” says Johnstone. “Lots of people see AirBnB and VRBO as a great boon for tourism, while others worry about what it means for their neighbourhoods and for our really tight rental stock. We can’t put our head in the sand, we need to understand the issues.”

“We have brought together a panel of people who understand the issue, including an AirBnB operator, a Tourism expert, a researcher who studies the impact on housing affordability. It won’t be boring lecture; we are going to make this a conversation between the panel and the audience.”

The first Metro Conversation will be on November 23rd at 6:30pm at the Network Hub in the River Market in New Westminster. It is free to everyone, but seating is limited, so the organizers ask that you register at their Eventbrite page to assure your seat.

Date and Time
Wed, November 23, 2016
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST

Location
The Network Hub @ The River Market
810 Quayside Drive
New Westminster, BC V3M 6B9

Register now at Eventbrite.

November 7th, 2016 Council Meeting Notes: Fentanyl Overdoses, Business Walk Program, and Motions Approved

Today is my last post about Monday night’s City of Langley council meeting. You can read Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s posts to learn about other items that were on the agenda.

We heard from Rory Thompson who is the Fire Chief. He presented the third quarter report for Langley City Fire-Rescue Service. Similar to last year, 78% of incidents that the Service responded to were medical-related or motor vehicle crashes.

As you can see, drug overdoses are significantly higher compared to last year due to fentanyl. There were 28 overdoses in October for example. Thompson noted that Naloxone is a critical live saving tool, and was happy that it is now available over-the-counter in BC.

Overdoses that Langley City Fire-Rescue Service responded to in 2015, and this year-to-date. Select image to enlarge.

The most significant fire loss in the third quarter was $40,000 from a garage fire. Our on-call firefighters also distributed 200 bags of goodies on October 31st which according to Thompson was a relatively quiet night compared to other years.

One of the roles of our Fire-Rescue Service is to do building inspections as a preventative measure to identify and reduce fire risks. I asked Thompson how many inspections have been done this year. He didn’t have the information on-hand, but said he would have this information available at a future date.

Thompson noted that there have been some people taking their 4-wheel power scooters into the floodplain onto submerged paths. Several people have had to be rescued. He is warning people not to drive these scooters on submerged paths.

Langley City Council has a Business Walk Program where certain members of council visit local businesses to “obtain a pulse” of that segment of our community. In October, businesses in both Downtown and along the Bypass were visited. The following common themes were noted:

• Current state of businesses is very positive
• “Location”, “Cost of Doing Business”, “Business friendly local government” and supportive “Downtown Langley Business Association”, were identified as what they liked most about doing business in the City of Langley
• Most businesses identified they are experiencing recruitment challenges
• Most businesses indicated that they are not considering future expansion at this time, primarily due to their recent expansion
• Business Walk Businesses identified several issues leading to the following common themes: Increased business competition, Criminal activity increasing, Desire for freestanding reader-board signage, Union wages too high for small business to complete, Visible Homelessness, Improved Downtown sidewalk and lane maintenance, Negative impact on road construction, Cost of advertising, Desire to develop mentorship program for new businesses, Expand networking receptions and special events to enhance business awareness.

Later in the meeting, council approved a recommendation from the Parks, Recreation & Environment Advisory Committee to partner with Green Teams of Canada to run habitat restoration events in the City of Langley.

Finally, council approved a motion from Councillor Martin to wave the usage fee for McBurney Lane to support the Langley Soroptimist’s vigil calling for end to violence against women on November 25th.

November 7th, 2016 Council Meeting Notes: Engineering, Parks, Recreation Updates. Millions of dollars worth of projects on the go.

Today, I’m continuing my post about Monday night’s council meeting. After hearing about Tourism Langley, Rick Bomhof gave an update on Engineering in the City.

Bomhof noted that DreamRider Productions is currently presenting a live play at elementary schools within Langley City called H2Whoa! over the next month. This play is about water conservation, and you can find more information about it at the production's website.

The City’s engineering and parks departments have been extremely busy this year. One of the most visible projects is along the 203rd Street Corridor which will result in making walking and cycling safer, and calming traffic. Earlier this year, water and sewer mains were also upgraded along a section of that corridor.

New sidewalks and bike lanes along 203rd Street under construction. Select image to enlarge.

Sendall Gardens has also been significantly upgraded. If you’ve never been to the Secret Garden of Langley, or haven’t been there in awhile, I suggest that you check it out.

Last month, I posted about Laminated Root Rot in Hunter Park. To combat the disease, the City is currently in the process of removing all infected trees, and trees that could be infected from that park. Unfortunately, Laminated Root Rot has spread throughout the whole park. There are some trees, such a cedars, that the City is currently planning to retain. The City also plans to have a public consultation process to determine the next steps for the use and restoration of Hunter Park.

The City recently completed the upgrading of 51st Avenue east of 209th Street with new water mains, sidewalks, curbs, and paving. The City is also in the process of upgrading traffic signals throughout the community. Traffic calming is continuing throughout Langley.

There has also been improvements in the Nicomekl Floodplain including trail upgrades and culvert replacement along Baldi Creek.

Some future projects in the pipe include upgrading Production Way, the replacement of the 200th Street Bridge in the floodplain, and renewing 56th Avenue from Glover to the Bypass. I’m hopefully that these projects will result in improved walking and cycling infrastructure as they progress to being built.

The City is also studying what to do with the 200th Street/Grade Crescent/50 Avenue intersections. One of the options include extending Grade Crescent through to 50th Avenue. One of the other options is to look at traffic signal synchronization. One of the concern that I have is that 50th Avenue/Grade Crescent could become a short-cut route into Surrey. This is something that I don’t want to see as I know there are strong feelings in our community about traffic calming.

Later on in the meeting, council authorized staff to seek federal funding for the $3.7 million Douglas Crescent Utilities Project which would see water, sewer, and road renewal between 204th and 208th Street.

Our City’s engineering and parks departments are extremely busy, and with required infrastructure renewal, will only get busier. It may be time to look at increasing the amount of staffing resources available to that department.

Kim Hilton next gave a recreation and community events update. I suggest that you check out the City’s website for a full list of recreation options and upcoming events. I did want to highlight the upcoming Remembrance Day Ceremony in Douglas Park, and the Magic of Christmas on December 4th.

Hilton noted that the sound quality will be improved for the Remembrance Day Ceremony. There have been some challenges in the past with sound.

The Magic of Christmas will start with a craft fair and live entertainment in McBurney Plaza at 4pm. There will be a parade starting at 6pm, and it will finish with tree lighting and carolling in the Plaza around 7pm.

Hilton also noted that the Al Anderson Memorial Pool boiler system has been upgraded to be more energy efficient, and that a new flooring system has been installed in Douglas Recreation Centre.

There were many other items on the council agenda which I will cover tomorrow.

November 7th, 2016 Council Meeting Notes: Service Awards, McBurney Plaza Summer Series, and Tourism Langley

There were no development related items on last night’s City of Langley council meeting agenda, but it was still a full agenda due to the number of departmental updates heard and information items received.

The meeting started off with the presentation of long-service awards to City staff. Francis Cheung received a 10-year service award for being the City’s CAO for 10 years. Many other staff members also received service awards.

Jim Smith is retiring from Langley Youth and Family Services. He received recognition last night for his decades of service to the community.

Mayor Ted Schaffer recognizing Jim Smith for his decades of service.

Teri James who is the executive director of the Downtown Langley Business Association (DLBA) gave a presentation on this year’s McBurney Plaza Summer Series. The series programmed McBurney Plaza with family-friendly events for five Saturdays this summer from June to the beginning of September. Combined with other public events during that same time period, there was always something going on in Downtown Langley on Saturday this summer.

The City contributed $20,000 to the series, the DLBA contributed $23,000 plus $7,000 in in-kind donations. There is good value for the money that the City invested into these series of events. I would like to see more free, family-friendly public events in our Downtown, as do residents of Langley City.

The McBurney Plaza Summer Series brings positive active to our Downtown, reduces negative activity, supports local business, and creates a since of pride and ownership in our community.

James noted that planning for the 2017 Summer Series is already underway and some events could include: Sports in the Plaza, Jedi’s in the Plaza, Aquarium in the Plaza, Science in the Plaza, and World Music in the Plaza.

Councillor Storteboom gave an update on what’s happening at Metro Vancouver including the most recent Council of Councils meeting which I posted about earlier.

Councillor Martin provided an update on the situation with Tourism Langley. According to Martin, Tourism Langley has been successfully providing tourism market services to both the City and Township of Langley for close to a decade. The Township has never reported any issues with Tourism Langley up to this point, and it has strong support for the tourism industry. Their work has helped increase tourism in both communities.

The Township of Langley recently decided to explore leaving Tourism Langley, and create its own tourism market program. While the Township is certainly free to do whatever it chooses, leaving Tourism Langley, an independent destination marking organization, may not result in a net benefit to that community.

Regardless of the path that the Township chooses to take, City of Langley Council moved forward with giving first, second, and third reading to Bylaws 3004 which renews the 2% hotel tax within our municipality that currently goes to Tourism Langley for an additional five years starting August, 2017. This money currently supports Tourism Langley, but it could be used for other tourism marketing purposes.

Tomorrow, I will be posting about the city departmental updates and other information reports received.