February 23 Council Notes: Food Tech, Development, Public Safety, and Langley Senior Resource & Recreation Centre Liquor Service

Langley City Council received an update on our Economic Development Strategy, which focuses on Food Tech. Council recently completed an advocacy mission to Ottawa, and one of our big pushes was for federal support for a Langley City Food Tech Hub centred around the good work at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Over the last year in Langley City, the number of business licenses has increased by 5%, and the number within the food and beverage category has increased by 15%. This is one of our key economic measures.

In support of a Food Tech Hub, the City is also working through planning for the Glover Road Innovation District. Council received an update on some of the marketing work for the new district.

Council received a presentation from Invest Vancouver, the overall economic development organization for our region. They gave us a brief presentation on their work in Agritech and Food Tech. You can learn more on their website.

A few weeks ago, Council gave first, second, and third reading to a road closure bylaw to enable the sale of a small section of cul-de-sac right-of-way located at 200A Street and 45th Avenue, which is no longer required. Over the last few weeks, people had the opportunity to provide written feedback on the closure, or to attend in person yesterday to provide their feedback. Council did not receive any feedback and gave the bylaw a final reading to enable the road closure.

Council gave final reading to a radio amplification bylaw that will enable the City to require equipment to be installed in concrete areas of buildings where first responder radios do not work (such as underground parking). You can read more about this in a previous post.

Council also gave third and final reading to a rezoning bylaw to enable liquor service at the Langley Senior Resource & Recreation Centre to support their growing catering and hall rental business, which supports the good work of the organization. Council also approved informing the provincial Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch that we support their application for a liquor primary license and followed all due process in this determination.

Finally, Council approved a motion asking staff to explore improving the accuracy of closed captioning for our recorded and live-streamed meetings, as well as live captioning for in-person Council meetings, if it is doable within existing staff and financial resources, and report back if this is not possible. We heard that staff are already exploring ways to improve the accuracy of closed captioning.

Have Your Say: TransLink New Transportation Plan for Surrey, Langley, White Rock, North Delta

When I first got involved in transit and urban planning advocacy, I remember going to the old, now demolished Days Inn hotel, which was just south of the King George SkyTrain Station. This was a few years before I started this blog. I remember we were in a planning workshop where they gave us tape segments that represented kilometres of bus, light rail, and SkyTrain service. While I don’t remember the exact number, we could exchange our SkyTrain segment for something like 4 light rail segments or 10 bus segments. I was really impressed by the process, and I remember seeing how the community workshops and feedback actually shaped the plan (of course, at the time we were disappointed it didn’t include reactivating the Interuban).

A woman looks at a transit map for the South of Fraser in 2007.

TransLink adopted the South of Fraser Area Transit Plan in 2007, and it ran until 2013. It is way overdue for an update.

A lot has changed since 2007, and I’m happy to see that TransLink is now working on a new South of Fraser East Area Transport Plan, which covers North Delta, Surrey, White Rock, Langley City, and the Township. The plan will guide transit and regional cycling, walking, and goods movement within these communities over the next 15 years.

TransLink is seeking your feedback as it gets this process underway. You can complete an online survey or attend an in-person event.

An event in Langley City takes place:

Date: Saturday, February 28th
Time: 10am to Noon
Location: Langley City Library Branch at Timms Community Centre

Please visit TransLink’s South of Fraser East Area Transport Plan webpage for more information and to stay up to date.

Langley City’s Citizens’ Assembly Recommendations: Communication, Housing, and Continued Advocacy

Over the last little bit, I’ve been posting about Langley City’s Citizens’ Assembly on Community Safety, including about the Assembly and their first recommendation, their second recommendation, and their third recommendation. This is my last post on their recommendations.

The Assembly also made four supporting recommendations. The first supporting recommendation is to improve how Langley City communicates with residents and businesses, and how residents and businesses can communicate with the City. This means information from the City should be proactive, consistent, accessible, in plain language and available across multiple mediums (online, print, in-person). It also means that residents and businesses should have a one-stop shop for connecting with the City and service delivery partners.

The Citizens’ Assembly members felt strongly that housing is the foundation for safety and well-being, and that a Citizens’ Assembly on Housing would add value by focusing on practical options to deliver affordable housing in Langley City. The members also felt that it would help build community consensus around delivering housing, as it can be divisive at the neighbourhood level today.

The Assembly members also recommended that the City continue to advocate to the province for a Mobile Integrated Crisis Response team for Langley, where a police officer and a health care professional work as a team for certain calls. The Assembly also recommended that the City continue to advocate for the federal and provincial governments to fund the construction of affordable housing in the community across the housing continuum.

As the next step, City staff are working on an implementation plan for the Assembly’s recommendations. Council will then have the opportunity to discuss and potentially approve the implementation plan to put the Assembly’s recommendations into action.

Langley City’s Citizens’ Assembly Recommendations: Balancing Community Safety Prevention and Visibility

Today, I’m continuing my series on Langley City’s Citizens’ Assembly on Community Safety’s recommendations. You can read more about the Assembly and their first recommendation, as well as their second recommendation. Their third recommendation is Balancing Community Safety Prevention and Visibility.

Right now, our public safety system is more reactive than preventive. We all know we get better outcomes when we focus on prevention. This means that we need to shift our safety system so that people can access resources earlier.

A good example of shifting upstream is Project Black Feather, a joint program between the City, Township, and Langley School District, that reduces the likelihood of young people going down a dangerous path of gang and gun violence. Another example is improving how buildings and sites that are slated for redevelopment are secured to prevent fires.

Combining prevention with visibility is one of the Assembly’s major action items. The City and its partners would use data to proactively go to areas in our community with higher social needs or negative activity, working with RCMP, Bylaw, Fire, and other partners to increase visibility while also offering outreach, including housing stability, social support, and health options for all people in those areas. This would be meeting people where they are while also ensuring that parts of our community aren’t under- or overpoliced.

My next post will outline the Assembly’s supporting recommendations and the next steps.