Langley Township Council Report - Monday Afternoon, May 12, 2008
Notes from Langley Township Council's meeting, Monday afternoon, May 12, 2008.
Council received (moved by Fox, seconded by Ward; passed unanimously) the fire department's annual report for 2007. We presently have 138 paid-call firefighters and 54 career personnel. Our average paid-call response time was 10 minutes, 31 seconds from receipt of the call to arrival on scene. The fulltimers averaged 7:42. In 2007, the department responded to 4,074 requests for assistance, up 4.5% in 2006.
We received a letter from the Spirit of BC Committee announcing that they have moved out of the Township offices to a new office at #101 - 20611 Fraser Hwy. in order to accommodate more staff.
A petition was received from the Langley Seniors Village requesting a sidewalk to be run from their facility at 20363 65th Ave. to the corner of 203/65. We referred this to staff to see what we can do (moved by Vickberg, seconded by Richter).
A motion to fund (up to $10,000 from Council contingency) an Aldergrove Youth Academy this summer passed unanimously (moved by Kositsky, seconded by Fox). The Academy will be a 15-hour program given to 60 kids, having them interact with the RCMP, learn about personal wellness and health, and promote awareness of youth issues. The program had applied for a provincial grant but was turned down.
At this point, Coun. Kositsky left the meeting.
A Coun. Richter motion to hold an open house on the Aldergrove sewer line alignment was seconded by Coun. Long, and then amended. The open house will happen when the detailed design nears completion (amendment moved by Long, seconded by Ferguson; amendment passed 7-1 with Richter opposed. The motion, as amended, passed unanimously).
A Coun. Richter motion to inform the Agricultural Land Commission and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of our concern about a soil deposit application at 205 and 411 256th St. passed unanimously (seconded by Long).
A third Coun. Richter motion, this one to hold a roundtable meeting with VALTAC, South Fraser OnTrax, and other transit lobby groups, was referred to the Mayor (referral moved by Fox, seconded by Bateman; passed unanimously). Mayor Alberts will meet with representatives from the two groups to work out a meeting structure. I raised the concern that a meeting, without a proper agenda and some sort of understanding of who should be there, would be unwieldy and ultimately pointless. Off the top of my head, there's TransLink, Ministry of Transportation, South Fraser OnTrax, VALTAC, Rail for the Valley, SPEC, Fraser Valley Heritage Rail, the Abbotsford Inter-Regional Committee, the Bus Riders' Union... well, you get the point. Hopefully, the Mayor and the groups can put together a format that will work.
A Coun. Fox motion to have staff report to us on the steps necessary to connect Fraser Hwy. businesses to the Aldergrove sewer line passed unanimously (seconded by Bateman; passed unanimously after an amendment to remove some superfluous wording).
Another Coun. Fox motion, this one to write various levels of government in support of replacing the New Westminster Rail Bridge, passed unanimously (seconded by Bateman). That bridge is 102 years old, and a huge bottleneck for rail traffic. It's also been identified by the Greater Vancouver Gateway Council as their #1 priority.
Council received (moved by Fox, seconded by Ward; passed unanimously) the fire department's annual report for 2007. We presently have 138 paid-call firefighters and 54 career personnel. Our average paid-call response time was 10 minutes, 31 seconds from receipt of the call to arrival on scene. The fulltimers averaged 7:42. In 2007, the department responded to 4,074 requests for assistance, up 4.5% in 2006.
We received a letter from the Spirit of BC Committee announcing that they have moved out of the Township offices to a new office at #101 - 20611 Fraser Hwy. in order to accommodate more staff.
A petition was received from the Langley Seniors Village requesting a sidewalk to be run from their facility at 20363 65th Ave. to the corner of 203/65. We referred this to staff to see what we can do (moved by Vickberg, seconded by Richter).
A motion to fund (up to $10,000 from Council contingency) an Aldergrove Youth Academy this summer passed unanimously (moved by Kositsky, seconded by Fox). The Academy will be a 15-hour program given to 60 kids, having them interact with the RCMP, learn about personal wellness and health, and promote awareness of youth issues. The program had applied for a provincial grant but was turned down.
At this point, Coun. Kositsky left the meeting.
A Coun. Richter motion to hold an open house on the Aldergrove sewer line alignment was seconded by Coun. Long, and then amended. The open house will happen when the detailed design nears completion (amendment moved by Long, seconded by Ferguson; amendment passed 7-1 with Richter opposed. The motion, as amended, passed unanimously).
A Coun. Richter motion to inform the Agricultural Land Commission and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of our concern about a soil deposit application at 205 and 411 256th St. passed unanimously (seconded by Long).
A third Coun. Richter motion, this one to hold a roundtable meeting with VALTAC, South Fraser OnTrax, and other transit lobby groups, was referred to the Mayor (referral moved by Fox, seconded by Bateman; passed unanimously). Mayor Alberts will meet with representatives from the two groups to work out a meeting structure. I raised the concern that a meeting, without a proper agenda and some sort of understanding of who should be there, would be unwieldy and ultimately pointless. Off the top of my head, there's TransLink, Ministry of Transportation, South Fraser OnTrax, VALTAC, Rail for the Valley, SPEC, Fraser Valley Heritage Rail, the Abbotsford Inter-Regional Committee, the Bus Riders' Union... well, you get the point. Hopefully, the Mayor and the groups can put together a format that will work.
A Coun. Fox motion to have staff report to us on the steps necessary to connect Fraser Hwy. businesses to the Aldergrove sewer line passed unanimously (seconded by Bateman; passed unanimously after an amendment to remove some superfluous wording).
Another Coun. Fox motion, this one to write various levels of government in support of replacing the New Westminster Rail Bridge, passed unanimously (seconded by Bateman). That bridge is 102 years old, and a huge bottleneck for rail traffic. It's also been identified by the Greater Vancouver Gateway Council as their #1 priority.
posted by Jordan Bateman @ 5:54 PM
