Afternoon meeting notes--September 10, 2007
Notes from Township Council's afternoon session, September 10, 2007. Councillor Bob Long was away. Every vote passed unanimously this afternoon, so I'll only be recording movers and seconders.
We heard a delegation from Ana David of the Intercultural Harmony Society, imploring Langley to do more for immigrants in our community. She was quite unhappy with the level of service currently offered, comparing Langley unfavorably to communities like Vancouver and Burnaby. Her points were well made and worth further discussion, but I do think we need to be realistic in our dialogue--it is highly unlikely that Langley would be able to match the level of service of large cities like Vancouver and Burnaby. That being said, if there is more to be done, we need to engage the right people to help us.
Shar Dubas of the Langley International Festival Society shared her thoughts on next July's festival.
Council heard from former Premier Mike Harcourt on the needs of high growth communities. Last year, Harcourt delivered an excellent report, From Restless Communities to Resilient Places to the federal government on the challenges facing municipalities across Canada. Harcourt noted that only eight cents of every tax dollar collected in this country is used for municipal purposes like police, fire, sewer, water, stormwater, planning, roads, transit, and parks, and that cities are the engine for economic growth. Harcourt was especially surprised to see that the communities who were absorbing the most growth were receiving very little in senior government funding, while established communities received a lot of infrastructure dollars (i.e. Vancouver and Burnaby, growing at a low rate, receive far more dollars than Langley and Surrey, growing at a faster rate).
This led Harcourt to gather the mayors and senior managers of the four fastest growing communities in the region: Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Surrey, and the Township. Together, they negotiated a deal to work together to lobby Ottawa and Victoria for more infrastructure dollars. When you look at the numbers, it is staggering: Two-thirds of the region's growth over the next two decades will happen in these four communities. By 2031, these four communities will have absorbed 500,000 more people, going from 750,000 to 1.25 million. In fact, that 1.25 million figure would make these four communities the fourth largest city in the country, if we went it alone.
Council voted to sign a Livability Accord (moved by Fox, seconded by Vickberg) with Coquitlam, Abbotsford and Surrey, committing to a collaborative effort to address the gaps in planning and funding that exist between senior levels of government and the four municipalities, produce sustainable strategies to guide our growth, create strategies to work together to address public transit and transportation infrastructure, sustainable land use, public safety and social services, redefining the relationship between cities and senior governments, and developing new partnerships with one another. Over the next year, Harcourt will spearhead several meetings and reports on these topics, and help us get the needs of high growth communities on the public and political radar.
I was very pleased to support this Livability Accord. From small seeds, big things grow, and I think this may be a moment in time that we will look back at as a key turning point in Langley's development. Growing communities need infrastructure, just as Vancouver and Burnaby received when they were booming. I look at how each of the four communities have been successful in certain ways in getting senior government attention--Abbotsford with their new hospital, Coquitlam with transit, Surrey with road improvements and cultural grants, Langley with the arena and rail overpass--but compared to the slow-growth areas, we are still vastly underserved. It's our turn at the table, and with two senior government elections on the horizon, now is the time to act.
Council received a report from the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch of the provincial government on gambling trends in Langley Township, Langley City, Surrey, and Vancouver (moved by Fox, seconded by Ward). You can read it for yourself here. This report only solidified my distaste for casino gambling. Look at some of these statements:
"In 2006, the City of Langley had the highest combined rate of moderate and severe problem gambling (6.0%) of the four communities studied." That's shameful.
This line drove me crazy: "There was no significant change in the community's [the Township of Langley] negative general attitude toward gambling. In 2004, 47.3% believed harms outweighed benefits, compared to 48.6% in 2005 and 55.9% in 2006." No significant change? I beg to differ. Now more than half of Township residents think the harms of gambling outweigh the benefits. And the longer we see the casino in the City, the more certain we are! And the City's residents agree with us: "In 2004, 44.8% believed gambling's harms somewhat or far outweighed the benefits, increasing to 50.0% in 2005 and 54.4% in 2006."
We received a report on the safety of the 248th St. and Fraser Hwy. intersection, and referred it to our budget discussions (moved by Kositsky, seconded by Ferguson). The feeling on Council was that we should upgrade it to include left-turn arrows.
My two notices of motion both passed. The first, to request Hydro and Telus to clear unmoved poles from upgraded roadways, was seconded by Councillor Vickberg. My motion to have staff work with the Province to resolve congestion and resident access issues at the Aldergrove border crossing and 0 Ave. also passed (seconded by Fox).
A Councillor Ferguson motion to get an update on hot air balloon safety from our Airport manager passed. In fact, Council will tour the airport on Oct. 20 and get an update then.
We heard a delegation from Ana David of the Intercultural Harmony Society, imploring Langley to do more for immigrants in our community. She was quite unhappy with the level of service currently offered, comparing Langley unfavorably to communities like Vancouver and Burnaby. Her points were well made and worth further discussion, but I do think we need to be realistic in our dialogue--it is highly unlikely that Langley would be able to match the level of service of large cities like Vancouver and Burnaby. That being said, if there is more to be done, we need to engage the right people to help us.
Shar Dubas of the Langley International Festival Society shared her thoughts on next July's festival.
Council heard from former Premier Mike Harcourt on the needs of high growth communities. Last year, Harcourt delivered an excellent report, From Restless Communities to Resilient Places to the federal government on the challenges facing municipalities across Canada. Harcourt noted that only eight cents of every tax dollar collected in this country is used for municipal purposes like police, fire, sewer, water, stormwater, planning, roads, transit, and parks, and that cities are the engine for economic growth. Harcourt was especially surprised to see that the communities who were absorbing the most growth were receiving very little in senior government funding, while established communities received a lot of infrastructure dollars (i.e. Vancouver and Burnaby, growing at a low rate, receive far more dollars than Langley and Surrey, growing at a faster rate).
This led Harcourt to gather the mayors and senior managers of the four fastest growing communities in the region: Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Surrey, and the Township. Together, they negotiated a deal to work together to lobby Ottawa and Victoria for more infrastructure dollars. When you look at the numbers, it is staggering: Two-thirds of the region's growth over the next two decades will happen in these four communities. By 2031, these four communities will have absorbed 500,000 more people, going from 750,000 to 1.25 million. In fact, that 1.25 million figure would make these four communities the fourth largest city in the country, if we went it alone.
Council voted to sign a Livability Accord (moved by Fox, seconded by Vickberg) with Coquitlam, Abbotsford and Surrey, committing to a collaborative effort to address the gaps in planning and funding that exist between senior levels of government and the four municipalities, produce sustainable strategies to guide our growth, create strategies to work together to address public transit and transportation infrastructure, sustainable land use, public safety and social services, redefining the relationship between cities and senior governments, and developing new partnerships with one another. Over the next year, Harcourt will spearhead several meetings and reports on these topics, and help us get the needs of high growth communities on the public and political radar.
I was very pleased to support this Livability Accord. From small seeds, big things grow, and I think this may be a moment in time that we will look back at as a key turning point in Langley's development. Growing communities need infrastructure, just as Vancouver and Burnaby received when they were booming. I look at how each of the four communities have been successful in certain ways in getting senior government attention--Abbotsford with their new hospital, Coquitlam with transit, Surrey with road improvements and cultural grants, Langley with the arena and rail overpass--but compared to the slow-growth areas, we are still vastly underserved. It's our turn at the table, and with two senior government elections on the horizon, now is the time to act.
Council received a report from the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch of the provincial government on gambling trends in Langley Township, Langley City, Surrey, and Vancouver (moved by Fox, seconded by Ward). You can read it for yourself here. This report only solidified my distaste for casino gambling. Look at some of these statements:
"In 2006, the City of Langley had the highest combined rate of moderate and severe problem gambling (6.0%) of the four communities studied." That's shameful.
This line drove me crazy: "There was no significant change in the community's [the Township of Langley] negative general attitude toward gambling. In 2004, 47.3% believed harms outweighed benefits, compared to 48.6% in 2005 and 55.9% in 2006." No significant change? I beg to differ. Now more than half of Township residents think the harms of gambling outweigh the benefits. And the longer we see the casino in the City, the more certain we are! And the City's residents agree with us: "In 2004, 44.8% believed gambling's harms somewhat or far outweighed the benefits, increasing to 50.0% in 2005 and 54.4% in 2006."
We received a report on the safety of the 248th St. and Fraser Hwy. intersection, and referred it to our budget discussions (moved by Kositsky, seconded by Ferguson). The feeling on Council was that we should upgrade it to include left-turn arrows.
My two notices of motion both passed. The first, to request Hydro and Telus to clear unmoved poles from upgraded roadways, was seconded by Councillor Vickberg. My motion to have staff work with the Province to resolve congestion and resident access issues at the Aldergrove border crossing and 0 Ave. also passed (seconded by Fox).
A Councillor Ferguson motion to get an update on hot air balloon safety from our Airport manager passed. In fact, Council will tour the airport on Oct. 20 and get an update then.