Notes from Langley Township Council's afternoon meeting on Monday, May 5, 2008.
South Langley resident
Margaret Ormston asked Council to do what we can to stop a soil deposit permit application at 411 256th St. I think Council shared Margaret's frustrations with the way the senior levels of government manage soil deposits--they look at the impact on agriculture and fish, but not on neighbours. Under provincial law, the Township cannot prohibit soil deposits, we can only regulate them. That being said, we are hopeful the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will stop this permit as it is near the banks of the Bertrand Creek, and proposed to go on top of a tributary stream. Later in the meeting, Councillor
Richter gave notice of a motion that would have the Township send a letter to the Agricultural Land Commission and DFO, asking them to reject this application.
Representatives from two transportation groups--
Sonya Paterson of VALTAC and
Joe Zaccaria of South Fraser OnTrax spoke in favour of my notice of motion to do an Interurban route and ridership study.
Staff gave us a presentation on the new lacrosse/hockey box covered arena at McLeod Athletic Park. The facility was co-funded by the Township and the Provincial Government, through a School Board grant.
Council received a report on the 2006 census. Of interest to me is the fact that the Township is very close to meeting its goal of having one job for every person in our workforce. We're at 0.965 to 1 right now, and we expect to be at 1 to 1 in 2010. The census also broke down our population by generation:
5,180 residents aged 0-5 (up 1.9% from 2001)
20,385 residents aged 6-19 (down 1.7% from 2001)
22,380 residents aged 20-39 (up 2.8% from 2001)
29,680 residents aged 40-59 (up 12.6% from 2001)
16,090 residents aged 60 plus (up 24.3% from 2001)
Council voted unanimously (moved by
Fox, seconded by
Ward) to forgo a full botanical garden at the Derek Doubleday Wetland Arboretum in favour of a much cheaper, and more appropriate, natural site. A powerpoint presentation on this can be seen here:
Essentially, the study endorses the model the Township has been pursuing for the Wetland Arboretum--a not-for-profit society charged with maintaining a site with trails and some observation decks. We would have invested roughly the same amount of money in the site either way, but a society will help us generate volunteer hour and grant dollars.
We voted unanimously (moved by
Vickberg, seconded by
Ward) to endorse the recommendation of the Spirit Square Statue Task Force and pursue a statue in the Salish house post style for River Road and Mavis Ave.
Council voted unanimously (moved by
Bateman, seconded by
Fox) to replace a 65-year-old sewer line at 204th St. under Hwy. 1 after it failed due to old age. Sewage is currently being rerouted through the 201 line. The cost will be $440,000--$300,000 of which will come out of Development Cost Charges.
We voted unanimously to rejig the Sport Langley Advisory Committee's terms of reference, moving it to an annual AGM, with the option of event-specific task forces (moved by
Vickberg, seconded by
Ward). Council made an amendment (moved by
Vickberg, seconded by
Fox; passed unanimously) to the report in order to add Bedford Channel to the list of event venues.
Council unanimously accepted a request from the Langley Agricultural Advisory Committee to meet this month (moved by
Ferguson, seconded by
Fox).
Council voted 5-4 to defeat a motion by Councillor
Long (seconded by
Richter;
Bateman, Fox, Vickberg, Ward and
Alberts opposed) to spend $15,000 and staff time on hosting a BC Day concert at McLeod Athletic Park.
It took a lot of debate and an amendment, but Council passed my Interurban ridership and route study unanimously (original motion moved by
Bateman, seconded by
Fox). These actions come out of the UMA high-level review of community rail service in Langley. These are their suggestions as we pursue the ultimate goal of reviving Interurban service south of the Fraser.
A route and ridership review are key elements to getting this thing moving. We need information, hard facts, about how many people will use this service. These numbers can then be presented to TransLink for their review, hopefully prompting them to put in the service.
Groups like VALTAC, the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society, and South Fraser OnTrax have been working toward this goal. They have done an admirable job of engaging the public, and educating the politicians. Now it's our turn to step up to the plate and take the next step. I saw nothing in the UMA review that was a deal-killer. Indeed, the president of Southern Railway seems keen in the local press to look at passenger rail on their portion of the old Interurban route.
My original motion was to pursue these measures, and offer other municipalities and levels of government the opportunity to participate in both research and funding (a report is believed to cost about $100,000). Some members of Council were uncomfortable with the Township making a financial commitment to doing these studies, believing it to be a TransLink or provincial responsibility. Councillor
Kositsky made an amendment (seconded by
Richter) to change the motion to say "pursue funding from other orders of government and agencies" for this study. The amendment passed 7-2 (
Alberts and
Fox opposed).
Thinking it over later (and this may shock those of you who think elected official are infallible--wait, none of you think that!), I think supporting that amendment might have been a mistake. I don't think Council showed the kind of leadership we are capable of. We passed the buck on this instead of leading the way on this effort and, yes, putting Langley's money where its mouth is.
The regional landscape has changed. We cannot simply wait for TransLink to see our need and get around to giving us proper transit service. There are too many communities lobbying for too many improvements. The north Fraser is not shy about fighting for what they want. In Port Moody, Mayor
Joe Trasolini quit voting for developments until he got his Evergreen Line funded. Coquitlam and Port Moody lobbied long and hard to get the alignment they wanted. They provided hard numbers and political pressure. In Langley City, Mayor
Marlene Grinnell made her case, based on hard facts, for the 204th overpass. She fought for that for years and finally got it. We have to stand up for Langley, and fight and scratch for what our residents need. Instead, we are again relying on some outside agency to see enough merit to give us the facts we need.
While I'm having second thoughts regarding the amendment, I do not think this is fatal to the Interurban's chances. It is always possible that the Province could fund the study (Minister
Falcon has said he is interested in looking at the line). And if no funding is forthcoming, Council can look at the issue again and spend the money ourselves. It's also possible that Abbotsford and Surrey may express interest and we come up with a funding model among the three of us. I do feel instead of taking a big step forward on the Interurban last night, we settled for a quarter-step. Nonetheless, it was forward progress.
We voted unanimously (referral moved by
Bateman, seconded by
Ferguson) to refer a Councillor
Richter motion to form a south Fraser transit task force to the Livability Accord discussions with Surrey, Abbotsford and Coquitlam.
