Monday - July 15, 2024 - Derby Reach aims for bigger campground

☀ High 28C

Good morning!

You may have noticed that your newsletter last Friday was a little late coming into your inbox. I would blame computer gremlins, but the fault was entirely my own. I had scheduled the newsletter for 5:45pm rather than the morning. I double-checked the scheduled time for today’s newsletter, so if this notice is late, it really was gremlins.

(I will be on vacation all this week, so if there are any newsletter mix-ups this week, you can blame those entirely on Tyler. See you all when I get back!)

– Grace

Support local journalism by supporting The Current. Become a Current Insider member today and help bring local stories to life.

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

Your train questions answered

Why do trains only run west through Chilliwack? Why do trains whistle at crossings with gates? What qualifications do you need to become a conductor?

We asked for your questions about trains in the Fraser Valley, and you delivered. We received so many questions that we had to divide them into three separate stories.

• Today, we answer your questions about the nitty gritty of train transport in the Fraser Valley.

In future editions, we will answer your questions about passenger rail—including inquiries about the West Coast Express and the old Interurban line—and about the history of railways in the Fraser Valley.

Related

Need to Know

🚨 A woman died after a vehicle tumbled down a steep embankment near Mission [Mission Record]

🌈 Two rainbow crosswalks have been vandalized in Abbotsford over the past week [Abbotsford News]

🚔 A Langley man was killed in a targeted shooting in Surrey on July 5; IHIT is investigating [Langley Advance Times]

👀 A man who exposed his genitals to a woman in Mission was assaulted not long after [Mission Record]

💧 Dredging will get underway on the Vedder River to help prevent flooding [Global News] / The BC Wildlife Federation says the project is ‘unprecedented in scale’ and will damage salmon habitat [BC Wildlife Federation/X]

 🚓 Armoured vehicles were in Mission last week as cops executed multiple search warrants [Mission Record]

🦉 The federal government released a new recovery strategy for the endangered spotted owl, and added 200,000 hectares of critical habitat to planning maps [The Narwhal]

🏠 A half-finished townhouse project in Willoughby will go to a new developer in a $35-million court order sale [Langley Advance Times]

🚦 Upgrading an Abbotsford intersection is expected to cost more than 20% than originally budgeted [Abbotsford News]

🚗 A surge in fatal crashes has prompted the BC Coroner Service to ask people to drive more carefully [Fraser Valley Today]

🐻 Multiple bear sightings in Langley have popped up on social media [Langley Advance Times]

🪕 Hear dance-inducing rhythm-makers, heart-searing harmonizers, beats, banduras and more! Vancouver Folk Music Festival, July 19-21 at ʔəy̓alməxʷ Jericho Beach Park. Buy weekend, 1-day, and evening-only tickets.*

*Sponsored Listing

Enjoying our newsletter? Help us make it even better!

Become an Insider member and help keep local journalism and storytelling alive in the Fraser Valley.

SPONSORED BY YOU

Your ad can be here

Advertising in The Current is easier than ever and supports our journalism. Just shoot us an email to learn how you can advertise.

The Agenda

Derby Reach to get upgrades, if ALC approves

Langley’s Derby Reach Regional Park could see a new parking lot and an expansion to its campground—if the Agricultural Land Commission agrees.

The park is operated by Metro Vancouver and includes a campground, several trails, a heritage area with a historic house and barn, and a bog with no public access. The park opened in 1976 and is almost entirely within the Agricultural Land Reserve, which was established in 1973.

Metro Vancouver is planning to add a new parking lot on Allard Crescent near the heritage area, adding 29 parking spaces to the regional park. Metro Vancouver said that the current parking lot is often so congested that official park programming can’t happen on weekends. The new parking lot would also include an information kiosk, benches, and garbage cans.

Metro Vancouver also hopes to add 30 spaces to the Edgewater Bar Campground. It noted that the registration for the campground opens in March each year and fills up “quickly.” Although the campground is across the road from active farms, and adding 30 campsites would reduce the vegetation barrier between the farm and the park, Metro Vancouver said an existing hedgerow should be enough of a visual and physical buffer.

Because campgrounds and parking lots are not farm uses, Metro Vancouver will need to submit an application to the ALC for approval before beginning any work. Roughly 5,000 cubic metres of soil would need to be brought in to do the upgrades, and the ALC will need to approve that as well.

Share

You can share this newsletter by forwarding it or copy and pasting this link—https://fvcurrent.com/p/july-15-2024—into a social media post.

Community journalism needs the entire community for it to succeed.

Become a Current member today and join 1,200+ other local supporters who help keep our lights on.

As part of a membership, you get our special weekend roundup of all the things you might’ve missed each week!

🤝 Now hiring

• Key Worker at Hope & Area Transition Society

• Cabinetmaker at Decent Cabinets & Doors in Abbotsford

• Dispatcher at DeVry Greenhouses in Chilliwack

• Club K.I.D.S. Instructor - Summer Camps at the City of Mission

• Butcher - Wholesale at Fivebutchers Meat in Langley

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

🗓 Things to do

Kids camp: Kids aged eight to 12 can participate in a tech-free, hands-on half-day camp at the Pencil Patch in Abbotsford from Tuesday to Thursday. Learn about growing flowers and helping the bees. Register online.

Movie screening: The Abbotsford Film Society will screen Shadow of the Rougarou from Metis filmmaker Jordan Waunch on Wednesday at 7:30pm. Tickets $15 in advance. Details online.

Museum day: The Agassiz Harrison Museum shows kids what life was like in early Agassiz on Thursday. The program will teach kids how to use a washboard, make jam, churn butter, and play historical games. Register online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

That’s it!

Thanks for reading Fraser Valley Current today ♥️ 

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another local.

And before you go, please let us know:

Help share The Current

Wouldn’t the Fraser Valley be better if more people had access to local, quality news – and didn’t have to rely on social media? Share The Current with your friends and help us build better communities.