Langley Township Council Meeting Report--Monday Afternoon, Oct. 5, 2009
Notes from Langley Township Council's special meeting on Monday afternoon, October 5, 2009. All of the reports and correspondence can be seen here.
Deirdre Goudariaan of the Healthy Eating and Active Living For Youth program made a presentation to Council about her pilot project, and asked for a $5,000 grant to continue her work. Later in the meeting, Coun. Richter gave notice that she would make a motion to issue the grant at our next meeting.
After a presentation on two planning concepts being considered for downtown Aldergrove, Council voted unanimously to send them out for public input (moved by Long, seconded by Fox). I was extremely impressed with the plans and think they are a huge step forward for Aldergrove. They include a good mix of residential density and commercial redevelopment downtown, opportunities for transit links, and will showcase Bertrand Creek as a significant community amenity. (The Times has more on the plan here.) I'm looking forward to hearing what Aldergrove residents have to say--the open house should be held at the end of October (we'll post details as soon as we have them).
Peter Holt, on behalf of Mayor Green, Lee Lockwood, Roy Mufford, and Terry Lyster, made a presentation to Council about a south Fraser task force they wish to strike in order to lobby senior levels of government to fund a light rail demonstration project somewhere along the old Interurban route. Unfortunately, the presentation started with some nasty politicking, as Coun. Richter lit into the Mayor regarding his involvement with this presentation, trying to draw parallels to his recent 64th Ave. overpass ALC presentation. However, as I pointed out at the meeting, there is a significant difference between the Mayor's work on this issue and his ALC presentation. Bringing light rail to the south Fraser has been a long-time Township pursuit, and therefore the Mayor is acting within the scope of the Community Charter. The six councillors' concerns (echoed and shared now by Coun. Richter, apparently) about his ALR presentation revolved around the fact that he acted opposite to the direction given by Council.
Once we got that out of the way, we heard the presentation, and after some reluctance and frankly head-scratching comments from Councillors Richter and Kositsky, Council voted unanimously (moved by Fox, seconded by Kositsky) to endorse the idea of a task force and to appoint me as the Township representative, with Coun. Ferguson as an alternate. It's a bit of a lottery ticket, but hopefully the combined work of Langley Township, Langley City, Surrey, Delta, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, will be hard for TransLink and the Province to ignore. It certainly doesn't hurt to pitch a plan--the worse they can say is "no," and then we're where we are now. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.
A report on the Master Transportation Plan was withdrawn by staff as the key Township engineer involved was away. For the same reason, Council voted to defer a report on upgrades to Fraser Highway/248th St. for two weeks.
Council voted unanimously (moved by Long, seconded by Bateman) to grant permission to the Heart and Stroke Foundation to hold their annual canvassing campaign in February.
We also voted unanimously (moved by Ferguson, seconded by Ward) to grant permission to the two Legions to hold their annual poppy sales from Oct. 19 through Nov. 11. We also requested that the two Legion presidents sit down with the Mayor to work out some territory details, as there has been some conflict in the past.
Council voted unanimously (moved by Fox, seconded by Ward) to approve a Heritage Advisory Committee recommendation to add the Willoughby Methodist Church, Tom and Dorothy Campbell residence and the David Jones residence (all in Willoughby) to our Community Heritage Registry.
We voted unanimously (moved by Long, seconded by Bateman) to approve a Heritage Advisory Committee recommendation to issue a $5,000 grant for repair and restoration of the Coronation Block in Fort Langley. The grant comes from a fund set aside by the Township for such heritage projects.
Council voted unanimously (moved by Richter, seconded by Ward) to approve the Community Safety Advisory Committee's workplan for the remainder of 2009.
Township staff gave us an update that we have partnered with the Recycling Council of BC to launch a new website to help residents seek out ways to reuse or give away things they might otherwise throw out.
Deirdre Goudariaan of the Healthy Eating and Active Living For Youth program made a presentation to Council about her pilot project, and asked for a $5,000 grant to continue her work. Later in the meeting, Coun. Richter gave notice that she would make a motion to issue the grant at our next meeting.
After a presentation on two planning concepts being considered for downtown Aldergrove, Council voted unanimously to send them out for public input (moved by Long, seconded by Fox). I was extremely impressed with the plans and think they are a huge step forward for Aldergrove. They include a good mix of residential density and commercial redevelopment downtown, opportunities for transit links, and will showcase Bertrand Creek as a significant community amenity. (The Times has more on the plan here.) I'm looking forward to hearing what Aldergrove residents have to say--the open house should be held at the end of October (we'll post details as soon as we have them).
Peter Holt, on behalf of Mayor Green, Lee Lockwood, Roy Mufford, and Terry Lyster, made a presentation to Council about a south Fraser task force they wish to strike in order to lobby senior levels of government to fund a light rail demonstration project somewhere along the old Interurban route. Unfortunately, the presentation started with some nasty politicking, as Coun. Richter lit into the Mayor regarding his involvement with this presentation, trying to draw parallels to his recent 64th Ave. overpass ALC presentation. However, as I pointed out at the meeting, there is a significant difference between the Mayor's work on this issue and his ALC presentation. Bringing light rail to the south Fraser has been a long-time Township pursuit, and therefore the Mayor is acting within the scope of the Community Charter. The six councillors' concerns (echoed and shared now by Coun. Richter, apparently) about his ALR presentation revolved around the fact that he acted opposite to the direction given by Council.
Once we got that out of the way, we heard the presentation, and after some reluctance and frankly head-scratching comments from Councillors Richter and Kositsky, Council voted unanimously (moved by Fox, seconded by Kositsky) to endorse the idea of a task force and to appoint me as the Township representative, with Coun. Ferguson as an alternate. It's a bit of a lottery ticket, but hopefully the combined work of Langley Township, Langley City, Surrey, Delta, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, will be hard for TransLink and the Province to ignore. It certainly doesn't hurt to pitch a plan--the worse they can say is "no," and then we're where we are now. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.
A report on the Master Transportation Plan was withdrawn by staff as the key Township engineer involved was away. For the same reason, Council voted to defer a report on upgrades to Fraser Highway/248th St. for two weeks.
Council voted unanimously (moved by Long, seconded by Bateman) to grant permission to the Heart and Stroke Foundation to hold their annual canvassing campaign in February.
We also voted unanimously (moved by Ferguson, seconded by Ward) to grant permission to the two Legions to hold their annual poppy sales from Oct. 19 through Nov. 11. We also requested that the two Legion presidents sit down with the Mayor to work out some territory details, as there has been some conflict in the past.
Council voted unanimously (moved by Fox, seconded by Ward) to approve a Heritage Advisory Committee recommendation to add the Willoughby Methodist Church, Tom and Dorothy Campbell residence and the David Jones residence (all in Willoughby) to our Community Heritage Registry.
We voted unanimously (moved by Long, seconded by Bateman) to approve a Heritage Advisory Committee recommendation to issue a $5,000 grant for repair and restoration of the Coronation Block in Fort Langley. The grant comes from a fund set aside by the Township for such heritage projects.
Council voted unanimously (moved by Richter, seconded by Ward) to approve the Community Safety Advisory Committee's workplan for the remainder of 2009.
Township staff gave us an update that we have partnered with the Recycling Council of BC to launch a new website to help residents seek out ways to reuse or give away things they might otherwise throw out.
posted by Jordan Bateman @ 9:08 AM
