Friday - April 5, 2024 - The three-bedroom rule

☀️ High 14C

Good morning!

The past week involved a rather elaborate treasure hunt. It was my birthday on Thursday, and every year I want to make sure I get every birthday freebie offered, from Starbucks to Sephora to Red Robin. But I’m not quite as efficient as some of my friends. My sister, for example, maintains a spreadsheet that she checks and updates every year. While some might say this shows different levels of dedication to the free-birthday-stuff process, I think it’s more an example of our very different organizational abilities.

– Grace

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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

Will Langley's family-sized apartments
mandate help more than it hurts?

Hopes, dreams, and ideals die hard when it comes to housing economics.

In the realm of housing, well-meaning policies can sometimes hurt as much as they help. Homeowner grants can boost demand—and prices; some rental restrictions can discourage the building of desperately needed new rental buildings; and ad hoc land use changes can stoke speculation. 

Most policies come with a trade-off of one sort or another. But not all are necessarily doomed.

Langley Township’s council is considering new rules that would require a certain number of family-sized three-bedroom units in new apartment buildings. Buildings up to six storeys tall would need to ensure that at least 10% of units have three bedrooms. Taller buildings would need 5% of buildings to have three bedrooms or more.

It’s a move aimed at addressing a shortage of family-sized units in the Township’s growing number of apartment buildings. But is there a downside? And, if so, do the benefits still outweigh the costs?

• We called up UBC professor Tom Davidoff, one of the province’s foremost experts on housing policy, economics, and finance, to learn more about the pros and cons of such a policy.

Related

Need to Know

🏢 Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province “simply cannot save” Mission’s nearly-finished affordable housing building [Mission Record]

🚓 Langley Mounties are asking for the public’s help to locate a missing man [Langley Advance Times]

⛪️ A Langley megachurch is planning to expand to Abbotsford [Abbotsford News]

🚘️ Chilliwack’s famous old pink car sold for $9,250 at auction [Chilliwack Progress]

🏎️ A pair of fancy cars racing on Highway 1 in Chilliwack were impounded [Chilliwack Progress]

🔥 The first wildfires of the year have been reported outside of Agassiz [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

💵 The province announced more funding for immigrant families at an event in Langley [Langley Advance Times]

➡️ An Abbotsford man is competing in the province’s biggest Lego show [Abbotsford News]

⛵️ A boat caught fire and sunk in Mission’s harbour [Mission Record]

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Sakura Days Japan Fair April 13 and 14

Sakura Days Japan Fair celebrates all things Japan, from Japanese food, performances, to arts and culture.

Immerse yourself in Japanese culture, food and art – participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, try some Japanese festival food, sample premium sake, learn new Japanese games, and enjoy cultural performances.

The Agenda

New urgent care centre opens in Langley

Fraser Health has quietly opened a new urgent care centre in Langley City.

The centre is downtown on 56th Ave. and housed in Fraser Health’s Home Health Office. It opened on March 20. A Facebook post announcing the new clinic said the location is temporary and the clinic is expected to run in its current building for about a year.

Now one of three such clinics in the Fraser Valley, the centre is open on weekday evenings from 5pm to 9pm and all day on weekends, from 9am to 8pm.

The last urgent care centre to open in the Fraser Valley was in Chilliwack two years ago. The clinic’s opening was marked with a visit from Health Minister Adrian Dix and a ribbon-cutting ceremony a few days before the doors officially opened. Langley’s clinic opened with little fanfare by comparison and has been up and running for about two weeks.

Urgent care centres serve patients who need medical help quickly and don’t necessarily have access to a family physician. Cuts can be stitched, antibiotics prescribed, and sprains and strains treated, among other things. A patient with a broken bone, chest pain, or other more serious symptoms should seek help at an ER.

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💾 Flashback Friday

Members of the Musqueam First Nation camped on the Fraser River when they visited for the Queen’s birthday celebrations in 1865. Travel for holidays, celebrations, or meetings in those days was less of a leisurely vacation than they can be today. Everyday life and all its chores and glories tended to continue. A kid traveling with their family is getting lice picked out of their hair in the corner of the photo.

🗓 Things to do

🎸 Rock music: Abbotsford classic rock band New Variant plays a fundraiser Friday, April 5 at the Abbotsford Arts Centre Addition for Hope for the Nations Romania and its work in Ukraine. Tickets online.

🌱 Plowing tournament: Greendale Acres is hosting the Chilliwack Plowing Match on Saturday, April 6. Details online.

🏒 Hockey: The Abbotsford Canucks host the Coachella Firebirds at Abbotsford Centre April 6 and 7. Tickets online.

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Catch up

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