Enhancing and Protecting the Urban Forest, Metro Vancouver’s Updated Toolkit

As I posted last week, more work needs to be done to grow the tree canopy in Metro Vancouver. The region’s goal is to have 40% tree canopy coverage in urban areas. Today, Langley City has about 21% tree canopy coverage.

Average canopy cover by various land-use in Metro Vancouver in 2020. Select the image to enlarge.

The Regional District created the Metro Vancouver Tree Regulations Toolkit in 2021. This toolkit provides information for municipalities that are developing or updating their own tree protection and urban forest management plans and requirements.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District is updating the toolkit to provide more guidance to municipalities. These updates include more direction on how to manage trees in development, subdivision, and municipal serving bylaws. The updated toolkit also includes guidance on promoting urban forest management practices through development permits.

How regulatory tools can be used to preserve trees and grow tree canopy in the region – Trees in Forest Stands and Naturalized Areas. Select the image to enlarge.

How regulatory tools can be used to preserve trees and grow tree canopy in the region – Trees in urban areas. Select the image to enlarge.

The new toolkit includes checklists for local governments to consider for higher-level plans, land-use bylaws and development plans, and serving bylaws, which helps make it easier for municipalities to incorporate the updated toolkit. They also include the latest data and best practices around tree protection and urban forest management, including new regional district targets such as the 40% tree canopy coverage.

You can read the proposed updated toolkit in the Friday, April 5 agenda of the Regional Planning Committee.

Deadlines: Youth Art Exhibit Submissions Welcomed. Free 55+ “Choose To Move” Program

I’d like to draw your attention to two upcoming deadlines at Langley City.

Through Langley City’s Arts, Culture & Heritage Program, we are putting out a call to young artists to display their works in the “A Step Above Gallery” on the second floor of Timms Community Centre.

The requirements are:

• The art must be able to be hung on a wall
• It shouldn’t exceed 3’ by 4’

If you are interested or know someone interested in displaying their work, please email or have them email Kim Hilton at khilton@langleycity.ca. Be sure to include a picture of the art piece, its name, unframed size, medium, and sales price (if interested in selling.) The deadline is April 22nd, 2024.

Langley City is also holding “Choose To Move” for people 55 and older. This program helps people get more active and connects them with others, strengthening community and making new friends. This program is more than a fitness class and includes personalized guidance. This free program runs from April 20th until June 22nd.

For more information or to sign up, please visit the City’s website page, drop by Timms Community Centre, or call 604-514-2940.

You must be able to attend an information session for “Choose To Move” on Saturday, April 6th, at 1:30 am.

Tree Crover Decreases While “Grey” Surfaces Increased in Metro Vancouver, but It Isn’t All Bad News

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently completed a study, Tree Canopy Cover and Impervious Surface - 2020 Update.

Map showing tree canopy cover (%) by city block within the Urban Containment Boundary. Select the map to enlarge.

Unfortunately, the study found that between 2014 and 2020:

• Tree canopy cover decreased by 1%, from 32% to 31% within the Urban Containment Boundary.
• Impervious surface increased by 4%, from 50% to 54% within the Urban Containment Boundary.

It isn’t all bad news; some municipalities, like Langley City, White Rock, Vancouver, and Maple Ridge, increased their tree cover.

Graph of tree canopy cover within the Urban Containment Boundary for each member jurisdiction showing 2020 and 2014 levels. Select the graph to enlarge.

While Langley City does have a large amount of impervious surface, we held the line as it only grew 0.3%, hovering at 62% between 2014 and 2020.

Like other municipal Councils in Metro Vancouver, Langley City Council understands the importance of growing the tree canopy to help mitigate some of the impacts of climate change and promote a clean, healthy environment. We also understand that we must increase the surfaces where water can filter back into the ground.

Many municipalities, including Langley City, are developing urban forest management plans for these reasons. Langley City’s new Official Community Plan also promotes the creation of less impervious areas.

You can read the “2020 Regional Tree Canopy Cover and Impervious Surface” report from Metro Vancouver’s website.

We Need a New Deal for Water and Sewage Treatment Projects in Metro Vancouver

Two Fridays ago, the Metro Vancouver Regional District released an update stating that the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant will cost $3.86 billion to build and be in service by 2030. The original project cost was around $700 million, and it was to be in service by 2020. Many folks have provided commentary about the challenges of this project; I wanted to focus on the overall costs of water and sewage treatment in our region.

Sewage treatment is a significant regional district service, though you wouldn't see it directly on your property tax bill. The line item for Metro Vancouver on your property tax bill mainly funds regional parks and other regional services. Water and sewer costs are embedded into the cost of new construction through development cost charges and are part of your municipal water and sewer fees.

For example, about 40% of the Development Cost Charges applied to each new apartment unit in Langley City go to the Metro Vancouver Regional District for water and sewer service, and about 50% of the water and sewer fees for Langley City also go to the Metro Vancouver Regional District.

For Metro Vancouver Regional District sewer services, our region has five sewerage areas based on wastewater treatment plants. Langley City is in the Fraser Sewerage Area, while the North Shore is in a different sewerage area. Currently, costs are not shared among sewerage areas. For today, this means that the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant project costs would only impact North Shore property owners. Around 200,000 live on the North Shore, meaning these folks would have massive property tax increases to pay for the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Now, there are other significant wastewater treatment projects throughout the region with costs similar to or greater than those of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, including those that serve Langley City.

Some of these costs are due to federal regulations, and others are due to population growth. Certainly, we need to ensure that the Metro Vancouver Regional District can deliver projects as cost-effectively as possible. We may also need to consider whether sewerage areas still make sense, but this will not solve the growing financial capacity problem with property tax and development charges.

We use development charges and property tax to pay for regional, municipal, and TransLink services and projects. We are having conversations as a region about how we need the province and feds to do more to help financially with transit. We need to have the same conversation about water and sewer because, looking at the needs, I cannot see property tax and development charges as the primary ways we fund these projects.

I am happy to see that the federal government is increasingly understanding that they must play a bigger role in funding these basic infrastructure needs.