Friday - Nov. 17, 2023 - Clayburn, Hope, Hatzic: 2 years later

🌤️ High 9C

Good morning!

It’s hard to believe it’s already the middle of November. It feels like it was September two days ago. And then suddenly all the leaves are gone, the air is cold, and the sun is setting at 4:30 like a teenager who takes a nap after school and doesn’t wake up until the next morning. If only there was some easy solution…

– 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

Small towns and the Fraser Valley’s next flood

Normally, tiny Clayburn Village, on Matsqui Prairie, would be an unlikely place to find the prime minister of Canada shaking hands with dozens of members of the Canadian military.

But November 2021 wasn’t a normal time for Clayburn, nor for several other small Fraser Valley communities faced with a major disaster.

• Today, two years after the floods and landslides of that November, we’re looking at what has taken place in Clayburn Village, Hope, and the Fraser Valley’s rural areas to fix the damage caused in 2021 and prepare for the next atmospheric river.

• You can find our previous stories on the recovery of—and future of—Sumas Prairie, and the region’s highways here. 

Related

Need to Know

🚌 A new rapid bus line will connect Langley and Maple Ridge [Langley Advance Times]

🌷 A saffron farmer in Abbotsford is starting over, two years after his farm flooded [CBC]

🪵 An Abbotsford company is part of the push for bigger and taller mass-timber buildings [The Tyee]

🔥 A fire in an empty building on Lougheed Highway caused minor damage to nearby businesses [Mission Record]

🐷 An Abbotsford hog farm is facing more allegations of animal cruelty from animal rights advocates [Abbotsford News]

🚎 Aldergrove-based electric bus and truck manufacturer Vicinity has a big backlog of orders [Langley Advance Times]

📄 The RCMP are investigating a leaked Abbotsford Police document containing information on gang conflict [CTV]

👮‍♂️ Former Abbotsford Police Chief has been appointed as a one-person replacement for the Surrey Police Board, which has been suspended [CityNews]

🇫🇷 Mission’s mayor and three staff members are going to a real estate conference in France [Mission Record]

🏍️ The Vancouver Motorcycle and Powersport Show will return to Abbotsford next year [Abbotsford News]

👉️ A Chilliwack business received provincial recognition for hiring people with developmental disabilities [Chilliwack Progress]

🪴 A Langley cannabis business is asking the courts to overturn a township council decision [Langley Advance Times]

🏠 An upcoming Official Community Plan amendment will enable Abbotsford Tech District to build affordable housing for young people and families alongside high-quality education and well-paying jobs.*

*Sponsored Listing

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The Agenda

Concept designs next step in Aldergrove Gateway project

New concept designs for an expansion to the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre are planned for next year.

The land for the expansion, a township-owned plot on the corner of 270 Street and the Fraser Highway, has been under the eye of both residents and local government officials for the last 13 years. It’s adjacent to the current community centre and was first noted as a good future spot for new public space in 2010. At the time, the plan was to create outdoor space with federal funding.

The buildings on the lot were leased to several stores until 2020, and some have since been removed. One of the buildings is still occupied by a KFC (its lease is up in 2025). 

Last January, Langley Township council expanded the municipality's plans for the site after a survey revealed residents wanted more than just an outdoor space. The township had asked the public what it might like to see the land become. The largest groups of respondents wanted theatre and events spaces (31%) and space for shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars, closer to what it is now (29%). Twenty-two percent of respondents wanted outdoor space.

Township staff were asked to include funding for concept designs based on those themes in next year's budget. Should that pass, 2024 would include further planning work.

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💾 Flashback Friday

Outdoor adventures—in any season—have long been a staple of life in and around the Fraser Valley. Armed with pickaxes, pipes, and (in one case) a toque topped with a pompom, this posse of boys snowshoed up either Mount Stewart or Mount Foley in the Cheam range in the 1920s. Both peaks remain popular—though difficult—mountaineering routes today.

🗓 Things to do

🎄 Holiday lights: Harrison Hot Spring’s Lights by the Lake will open for the season on Saturday, Nov. 18 with free hot chocolate and Christmas carols. Details online.

⚔️ Christmas and combat: The Viadrina Yuletide Festival will be held at Yarrow Community Hall on Saturday, Nov. 18. Expect demonstrations of medieval combat, historical games and tournaments, and sword-fighting classes for teenagers. Details online.

🏒 Hockey: The Vancouver Giants will play the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday, Nov. 18 at the Langley Events Centre. Details online.

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Catch up

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