Tuesday, April 4, 2023 edition - How to farm an airport

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 | Today: 🌦 High 10C, Low -2C | 7-day forecast

Good morning!

A seemingly simple experience to an adult could be a memorable one to a kid. I was reminded of that sentiment when I caught the Chilliwack Thunder minor hockey team take to the ice at Rogers Arena this weekend during a Canucks intermission. The match-up was brief, but I bet that memory will stay with those kids for years to come. (Although, I’m sure any adult would find playing on an NHL rink memorable too.)

Also, a big thank you to William, David, Tanya, and Roderick for signing up to become an Insider Member and supporting The Current.

NEWS

How to farm an airport

In a valley where rental deals of any sort are hard to come by, $425 won’t go very far.

But in the Hope area, that monthly rent will get one farmer 17 acres of farmland over the next five years at a particularly interesting site: the local airport.

The arrangement isn’t actually all that unusual; the deal will mean every airport in the region is used to grow crops. Today, Tyler writes about plans to farm part of Hope’s airpark, and how it fits in with other airport-farming endeavours in the region.

Need to know

🚧 The Glover Road overpass was demolished over the weekend [Langley Advance Times] / You can see video of some of the demolition here [dowotyalike/YouTube]

🚔 The victim of Saturday’s gang shooting has been identified; his teen brother was killed in a 2020 shooting [Vancouver Sun]

😰 Hair-raising video shows a skier desperately digging out a trapped snowboarder on Mt. Baker [CBC]

🏘 BC’s latest plan to address the housing crisis will invest $4 billion in the next three years on new construction and legislation permitting secondary suites [CTV]

🏊‍♀️ The City of Abbotsford is looking for feedback about its pools [City of Abbotsford]

🚧 Lane closures will be in effect on Highway 11 between Agassiz and Rosedale until Thursday while crews complete road paving [KentBC/Twitter]

☹️ Drug dealers are exploiting people picking up welfare cheques, says a Langley City building owner [Langley Advance Times]

🛍 Zellers opens today at Abbotsford’s Sevenoaks Shopping Centre [Zellers/Intagram]

🌱 A tree planting event in Mission on Saturday drew in 300 people who helped plant 130 trees [City of Mission]

😔 Langley parents want changes to UBC’s dorm policies after their son was found dead in his room after calling 9-1-1 [Langley Advance Times]

🆘 RCMP are asking the public to help find a 48-year-old Chilliwack man last seen operating a boat on the Harrison River [RCMP]

⚖️ A Hells Angel member who worked for a Langley company had his extradition hearing in a stock fraud case rescheduled [Aldergrove Star]

📝 An Abbotsford mother believes her autistic son is being discriminated against by the school district; the 12-year-old boy is only allowed at school two hours a day [Abbotsford News]

🅿️ Construction could begin this summer on a downtown Chilliwack parking lot at Young Road and Victoria Avenue [Chilliwack Progress]

⚠️ RCMP respond to a ‘handful’ of mental health incidents on Mission Bridge each year but the province said ‘stakeholders’ have not shared concerns to add suicide prevention measures to the crossing [Mission Record]

👮🏻‍♂️ A pair of men from Chilliwack and Burnaby were arrested in Hope for car theft [Hope Standard]

⚖️ Two former executives of the Kwantlen First Nation’s business group allege they were wrongfully dismissed from their jobs and are suing the organization and the band [Langley Advance Times]

🔥 A wildfire near Sasquatch Provincial Park, east of Harrison Lake, in now under control [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

☺ TODAY’S SMILE: A 95-year-old Chilliwack farmer was the star of this weekend’s 101st annual plowing match [Chilliwack Progress]

TOGETHER WITH M&M FOOD MARKET

Open an M&M Food Market franchise in Abbotsford or Mission

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M&M Food Market is seeking passionate franchise partners to introduce the brand into new markets and local communities across the country.

For a limited time only, eligible franchise partners will receive up to 50 percent of the cost of construction for their new store, reducing the upfront investment and capital required to get started.

Whether you’re a local entrepreneur looking to own your own business, a professional ready to switch careers, or an investor seeking to diversify your portfolio, don’t miss this unique opportunity.

Contact Liz Riley at [email protected] or 905-814-2420 to inquire further about the opportunity of owning an M&M Food Market store in Abbotsford or Mission.

The Agenda

Most calls for Mission fire rescue crews are medical

Mission fire rescue crews responded to a record number of calls last year, but most involved neither fires nor rescues.

Fire crews responded to 3,472 incidents in 2022—an average of more than nine each day—according to the department’s annual report. That’s up about nine per cent from 2021, and dramatically higher than the years preceding that.

Nearly two-thirds of those calls were for medical incidents, and their number continues to rise. The number of fires was roughly level from last year, while the number of vehicle accidents attended by crews declined.

The department’s annual report says more firefighters will be needed to keep response times down. Its average response time is under seven minutes, well within national targets. But the report says those figures are “skewed” by excellent nighttime responses from a engine staffed by career full-time firefighters. (Like in other Fraser Valley municipalities, many Mission firefighters are part-time “paid-on-call” firefighters who work other jobs, and their responses are inevitably slower.)

A new group home, a workplace impairment policy, and more on Chilliwack council agenda

A new group home in Chilliwack is sitting in limbo as they wait for provincial approval.

The home, operated by Touching Hearts Family Services, is for children and youth in care. Most of the approvals for the charity’s plan—which, long-term, is to house up to 10 kids and two staff members—are done through the province.

The property, however, is on the end of Allison Place. A portion of it (including the land under the house) is in a problematic geological area where the ground continues to shift. The city zoned it and the surrounding area to keep future development and investment off the unstable land.

The organization applied for a temporary use permit from the city to keep operating with two children in care and two staff members. The permit is necessary because the home’s unusual zoning does not allow any business use.

A previous permit was issued last year with the condition that the Fraser Health licence (required for three or more people in care) would arrive within six months.

A decision to grant the temporary permit while the health authority’s licence is pending, as well as a decision on a workplace impairment policy, and several different developments are on the agenda for the Chilliwack council meeting this afternoon. See the entire agenda here. 

NEWS

‘No one is keeping track’

There’s little data on how long people evacuated from their homes remain displaced.

People evacuated from their homes often remain out of their homes for more than three weeks. With many people who are evacuated from their homes displaced for weeks at a time, BC needs to update its framework for helping people evacuated from their homes, Stó:lō Tribal Council Chief Tyrone McNeil recently told The Tyee.

The province doesn’t keep track of how long most people remain displaced, but The Tyee combed census and open data sources to come to its own estimate. It found that the vast majority of evacuation orders over the last five years have lasted more than three days.

You can read the story here.

Like The Current, The Tyee partnered with the Climate Disaster Project. They spoke to survivors of local disasters, including Lytton residents, for a story on what it’s like to be evacuated, and the difficulties of navigating the aftermath.

You can find their coverage here.

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