Tuesday - Feb. 25, 2025 - A major downtown Abbotsford apartment proposal

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Good morning!

On Monday, a new FVC Insider member emailed to tell us why she decided to support this newsletter.

Here’s what she wrote: “I decided to sign up after seeing the call out for 200 subscribers—I have been subscribed to the free newsletter since I moved to the Fraser Valley and have attended many cool events and checked out amazing local businesses because of the content shared in your articles and curated links, and I figured that the content being provided was well worth the extra $2/3 per week (that I would inevitably spend on something less valuable just as easily) so I thought why not.”

You can become a member here. Our supporter drive has got off to a decent start, but we need more people willing to pay for the journalism they consume. Every week we come across important stories that we don’t have the resources to report. More members means more important stories get told.

– Tyler

(Today, FVC members aren’t getting this. Instead, I’m writing about a book and documentary that have brightened my recent days.)

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

Local governments consider call to ‘buy Canadian’

As tariff threats prompt individual Canadians to buy Canadian-made products, Fraser Valley governments are considering how they may do the same. But they’re also facing some of the same difficulties residents encounter when they try to swear off US goods.

On Thursday, the Fraser Valley Regional District’s board will consider whether and how they might focus their own procurement processes north of the border. Other local municipal governments are doing the same to varying levels.

But they’re also wrestling with the cost, legal, and logistical implications of doing so.

• Today, Tyler writes about what local municipalities are doing—or even have the ability to do—in order to meet their citizens’ call to buy Canadian.

Related

Need to Know

👉 Donald Trump says most Canadian goods will be hit with a 25% tariff next week [CBC]

❌ Chilliwack MLA Heather Maahs was one of 5 BC Conservative MLAs to vote against a motion condemning the proposed tariffs [Rob Shaw/Bluesky] / When Trump first announced the tariffs three weeks ago and blamed border policies, she wrote that BC should ‘comply’ [Heather Maahs/X]

🔽 An Abbotsford manufacturer has reduced production in anticipation of tariffs [CBC]

🔥 A Seabird Island home was destroyed by fire on Sunday [Fraser Valley Today]

⚖ Former Chilliwack school trustee lost his appeal of a defamation ruling against him [Mission Record]

🚔 Abbotsford Police say two young men were arrested after being seen with an airsoft gun in a parking lot [Abbotsford Police/Facebook]

🟩 The Green Party has nominated a candidate to run in the Chilliwack-Hope riding [Hope Standard]

🚑 A scooter rider was airlifted to hospital after a collision with a vehicle in Chilliwack [Fraser Valley Today]

💰 A Chilliwack couple won $675,000 on a scratch ticket bought at a local gas station [Fraser Valley Today]

🥳 Enjoy Vancouver’s vibrant entertainment scene with exclusive rates at Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront. Save up to 20% on stays, dining, and more! Book today!*

*Sponsored Listing

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The Agenda

Large apartment project planned in downtown Abbotsford

Another major apartment project may be coming to downtown Abbotsford.

Developer Montrose Ventures hopes to build a six-storey apartment and retail building at the corner of Montrose Avenue and McDougall Avenue, next to downtown Abbotsford’s bus exchange and across the road from Archway Community Services.

The building would have 132 apartments and eight retail units, and take up nearly an entire city block. The project would become one of the largest apartment buildings in the area. The builder has offered to pay more than $735,000 to the city to make up for a shortfall in the required number of parking stalls.

The original design of the project drew some criticism from the Abbotsford Downtown Business Association (ADBA). In a letter, ADBA executive director Jennifer McEwan suggested that the building didn’t live up to rules requiring historical downtown buildilngs to include historical elements. McEwan also wrote that the building’s design and interaction with the surrounding streetscape could be improved.

City staff say the developer has since revised the building’s design and that the ADBA will be able to make further comments during a future permitting process. Council will vote today on whether to approve a development variance permit.

Second Farmhouse brewpub goes to Abbotsford council

A Chilliwack brewery’s plans to open a mammoth new brewpub at Abbotsford’s EcoFarm has one more hurdle to clear.

As The Current previously reported, Farmhouse Brewing is planning a large brewery and restaurant at the Sumas Way site. The plans have changed slightly since the brewery’s application to the Agricultural Land Commission, which greenlighted the project but forbid the brewery to create a much larger parking area. The brewery is seeking a licence for 170 patrons inside and outside, with a special event area that could host a maximum of 240 people.

The plans still need the sign-off from BC’s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch. Abbotsford council will get a chance to provide input at its meeting today before the plans go to the liquor regulator. Diagrams of the site include an indoor lounge with space for 85 people, a patio with 85 more seats, and another drinking area based with patrons gathering around brewery barrels.

The facility has been given the greenlight from the Agricultural Land Commission because the operators plan to use barley grown at EcoFarm.

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