Squash for Chilliwack, a pond for Langley, sand for Abbotsford: 2022 budget highlights

By Tyler Olsen, Grace Kennedy, and Joti Grewal

Chilliwack is set to get a new squash facility, a second pump track, and a wider road over the next year.

The projects are just a few of a wide range of new amenities and infrastructure projects planned by local municipalities and revealed during recent budget discussions.

Just down the valley, Abbotsford will start building a new downtown bus interchange, create new trails infrastructure on Eagle Mountain, and dump sand at Albert Dyck Park to make the beach, well, beachier. Langley Township will spend more than $30 million to create a new pond to contain run-off during storms, and the Fort Langley spray park also appears to be finally set for approval. And in Mission, the 2022 spending list is shorter, with the 7th Avenue Greenway the big ticket item and larger projects coming in future years.

Every new year brings a new budget for your local city hall. Each year, local municipalities and governments collect millions of dollars from taxpayers to maintain the vital infrastructure that keeps city life from grinding to a halt, and to pay for police officers and firefighters.

Like any household budget, only a slim part goes toward buying or building new things. But those investments can transform a park, a road, a commute, or a city, and dramatically change life for some residents.

Mission and Abbotsford’s budgets were rolled out last fall, while Chilliwack’s spending plans are going for the planning tonight. The city is holding an information session tonight in city hall and over Zoom, after which council will vote on third reading for the budget. (Final adoption will take place on Feb. 1.) Details on the meeting, along with information on how to add your input by email, can be found here. Langley’s public meeting took place Monday—you can watch it here.

We will have more on spending plans for smaller municipalities and rural areas in future editions of The Current. (We will also have more on next year’s budget, which for some cities include many more projects. Abbotsford, for instance plans to spend around $750,000 on new park projects this year, but $5.5 million next year.) For Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley Township, and Mission, we’ve assembled a list below of some of the most transformative planned projects for those cities in 2022. They include park upgrades, new traffic signals, road improvements, and important transit improvements. (Details for several projects aren’t yet available.)

Details below.

Chilliwack

View the capital plan here

• $8.13 million — Upgrades on Vedder Road from Knight Road to Britton Avenue

• $640,000 — Rosedale firehall improvements

• $1.05 million — Hope River trail boardwalk

• $100,000 — Lickman park and ride

• $2.2 million — Skwah Dike upgrades

• $1.6 million — Vedder trail bridge

• $3.25 million — Artificial turf field at Stitó:s Lá:lém Totí:lt

• $2.5 million — New squash facility

• $225,000 — New mini pump track southeast of the current pump track

• $950,000 — LED street lighting

• $1.8 million — Parking expansion at Landing

• $3.25 million — Artificial turf on south side

• $65,000 — Disc golf course

• $300,000 — Outdoor pickleball facility

Abbotsford

View the capital plan here

• $7 million — Abbotsford International Airport terminal expansion

• $910,000 traffic signals — George Ferguson/ Babich, Mt. Lehman/Harris, McKee Rd/McKee Dr

• $342,000 — Eagle Mountain trail development

• $100,000 — Shelters in Delair Park

• $5.4 million — Montrose transit exchange ($200,000 to design a new exchange at High Street)

• $20,000 — Addition and sifting of sand at the beach at Albert Dyck Park

Mission

View the capital plan here

https://pub-mission.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=4379

• $280,000 — Replace the roof of the Mission Leisure Centre

• $50,000 — Repair the pathway at Centennial Park

• $222,000 — Upgrade lighting at Rotary Sports Parks’ baseball fields (a soccer lighting upgrade is coming in 2024)

• $48,000 — Griner Park pathway

• $2 million — Phase 1 of the 7th Avenue Greenway Project (includes $500,000 from a grant)

• $84,700 — Bus shelter improvements

• $50,000 — Interpretive signage in the Stave West forestry area

• An array of new playground equipment, pathways, and park upgrades

Langley

View the capital plan here

• $60,000 — Feasibility study for public wi-fi

• $600,000 — Replace Fire Hall #6 roof

• $475,000 — W.C. Blair Recreation Centre expansion; the project has already received money from the federal and provincial governments, but the Township must pay for higher wood and steel costs.

• $1.45 million — A new scoreboard at the Township-owned Langley Events Centre

• $2.9 million — Two new fire engines

• $30 million — Design and build a stormwater detention facility in the Smith neighbourhood, an area located on both sides of 208 Street from about 72 Avenue North to approximately 76 Avenue.

• $700,000 — Construct pedestrian and cycling infrastructure on 96 Avenue in Fort Langley from Trattle to Wright streets

• $1 million — Replace the Fort Langley outdoor pool with a spray park

• $292,000 — Install electric vehicle charging stations at the RCMP Main Detachment

• $150,000 — Demolish washroom structure that once served the former Aldergrove Outdoor Pool, and replace with turf grass

• $396,000 — Upgrade network and cybersecurity equipment at the Langley Events Centre

• $800,000 — Replace synthetic turf on Aldergrove Athletic Park West

• $540,000 — Outdoor amphitheatre on the south side of Salishan Place in Fort Langley

• $150,000 — LED lighting for various tennis, basketball, volleyball courts

• $100,000 — Fort Landing Marina Improvements to include new boat launch, boat trailer and vehicle parking, as well as a day-use area