Holiday Break

Christmas tree in McBurney Plaza. Select image to enlarge.

Have a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year. I hope you get to spend some time with the people who mean the most to you in your life.

Christmas display in McBurney Plaza. Select image to enlarge.

I will be taking a break from blogging over the next few weeks. I will be back on January 6th. See you in 2020!

December Council Meetings: Transit ridership up 30%, Preparing for SkyTrain, and the Magic of Christmas.

In the summer of 2018, council adopted Langley City: Nexus of Community. This is a comprehensive vision for our community focused around preparing for the arrival of SkyTrain. One of the key requirements of this vision is to have City staff report back annually to council on the progress made in implementing this vision. Council received the second annual update at Monday night’s council meeting.

Out of the 23 recommendations made in the Nexus of Community vision, 13 are in-progress including:

• Communication plan about Nexus approved by council
• Community outreach launched about Nexus
• Official Community Plan update in-progress
• Zoning bylaw update in-progress
• Capital budget plan to support Nexus on-going
• Expand Development Services completed
• Advisory Design Panel approved by council
• Nicomekl River Neighbourhood Plan in-progress
• $1 million Prosperity Fund created
• Strategic property acquisition and site assembly on-going
• Economic Development Commission created
• Iconic Entertainment/Cultural development (Performing Art Centre) in-progress
• Annual progress reporting about Nexus on-going

Many of these initiatives will wrap up at the end of 2020 which should free up City resources to move forward with the remaining Nexus of Community recommendations.

Councillor Albrecht and Councillor Wallace presenting awards for the Magic of Christmas parade. Select image to enlarge.

Langley City’s Magic of Christmas parade a few weekends ago was the best yet! Awards were giving for the best parade entries this year at the Monday night meeting.

Transit ridership on 502 & 503 up over 30%. Select image to enlarge.

At the December 9th meeting, council received an update about the various projects occurring in our community. Some of the highlights include:

• Installing new wire theft deterrents on City streetlights
• Completing boulevard maintenance along 200th Street
• Improving the Pleasantdale Creek trail
• Building an off-leash dog area in Brydon Park, plus creating a new trail network within the park
• Building a new washroom at Nicholas Park
• Implementing bus lanes in Downtown Langley to support the 30% increase in transit ridership on the 503/503 since the launch of the new Fraser Highway Express

For a community that is only 10 square kilometres in size, we have a lot of good things going on.

December 16 Council Meeting: Call to Artists for Public Art. Crime Prevention Task Group Mandate Renewed.

Langley City has several committees and task groups which investigate specific topics on behalf of council, and make recommendations for council to consider. These task groups and committees can include members of council, members of the public, city staff, and people who are topic experts.

At Monday night’s council meeting, several committee recommendations were approved by council.

The Arts and Culture Task Group recommended that a Call to Artists be made for the creation of a wrap-around mural on the washroom building at Linwood Park. The mural submissions will be required to be themed around the interurban passenger and freight electric railway that used to run down the middle of Michaud Crescent until the 1950s. The budget for this mural would include $2,000 for materials, and $1,000 as an honorarium.

This recommendation was approved by council.

Another Call to Artist was recommended by the Arts and Culture Task Group for a feature art piece at City Park located near the picnic shelters. This feature art piece would be funded up to $20,000 using money from the City’s Public Art Fund.

This recommendation was approved by council with the Mayor opposed. The City’s Public Art Fund currently sit at $40,000.

The Arts and Culture Task Group will review artists’ submissions, and will present their recommendations to council for final approval.

Council also approved extending the mandate of its Crime Prevention Task Group until the end of 2020 with an updated mandate. This updated mandate will focus the task group’s work on:

• Continuing to advance media messaging around crime prevention and community defense model programs in collaboration with the City’s Communication Officer
• Continuing with the door-to-door “Know Your Neighbour” campaign
• In partner with the Community Police Office, promoting and educating residents about existing RCMP programs such as Block Watch, crime prevention such as CPTED, and community defense model programs such as neighbourhood gatherings
• In partnership with the Community Police Office, Downtown Langley Business Association and Chamber of Commerce, promoting and educating business owners about existing RCMP programs, crime prevention, and community defense model programs

At the December 9th meeting, council received an update on the implementation of some recommendations made by the Crime Prevention Task Group including:

• Three new lights that were installed in the lane north of Fraser Highway west and east of Salt Lane and four additional lights that were installed in Fuller Lane south of Fraser Highway
• Community gardens along Michaud that have been completed, and community gardens that are being built in Douglas Park

Tomorrow, I will post about the remaining items covered over the last two council meetings.

December 16 Council Meeting: Proposed Downtown 6-storey, mixed-use building. Board appointments renewed.

Last night was the final public Langley City council meeting for the year. The next meeting will be on January 13, 2020.

Council gave first and second reading to a rezoning bylaw which will accommodate a proposed 6-storey, mixed-use building that will front Logan Avenue, 203 A Street, and Locke Lane near the casino. This building is proposed to have 114 apartment units and 2,085 square feet of ground-level retail space. An average coffee shop is around 1,000 square feet.

Ground-level view from 203 A Street and Locke Lane. Select image to enlarge.

View from Logan Avenue. Select image to enlarge.

Top-down view from Locke Lane. Select image to enlarge.

Because the site is located next to high-frequency bus transit today, and will be a short walk from the future 203rd Street SkyTrain station, the number of parking spots is proposed to be reduced from the typical 214 spaces to 192 spaces. This helps make the ground-level retail proposed as part of this project viable.

The proposed siting of the project will also allow the upgrade of Logan Avenue to include a wider sidewalk and protected bike lanes in the future.

A public hearing will be scheduled in the new year for this proposed development project.

I posted about City-controlled utility rate changes for 2020 yesterday. These changes were given final reading last night. Also, council gave final reading to a bylaw which updates the intermunicipal business license program which I posted about previously.

Council approved reappointing Mayor van den Broek to the Metro Vancouver Regional District board for 2020 (with Councillor Martin as the alternate.) Council also approved reappointing Councillor Martin to the Fraser Valley Regional Library Board (with Councillor James as the alternate.)

Tomorrow, I will be continuing my post about Monday night’s council meeting.