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- Friday - July 18, 2025 - Farm recycling program begins
Friday - July 18, 2025 - Farm recycling program begins
Tyler Olsen
July 18, 2025
🌦 High 25C
Good morning!
Thank you to everyone who sent a kind message after my announcement Wednesday that I’m leaving The Current at the end of this week. I was a little worried about leaving this little publication in uncertain circumstances, so the response has been incredibly heartening—though it will make me miss everyone even more. For the last four years, I’ve been delighted by our readers and I’ll miss you all. The next little bit will require a bit of adjustment as Lubna takes the helm. She has a big task ahead of her, but she has a great audience behind her.
It’s been a privilege to be in your email inboxes. Take care everyone.
– Tyler
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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
McKee Peak development takes step forward
A 24-hectare property across the road from Ledgeview Golf Course is the first major application to be approved by council in the McKee Peak neighbourhood area. 🗺 Tyler Olsen
Abbotsford council has given the green light to the first major development in the McKee Peak area since the city adopted a sprawling new plan two years ago.
That plan will guide the construction of thousands of homes on the southwestern slopes of Sumas Mountain. The new developments will push Abbotsford’s residential neighbourhoods to the east and represent a departure from the last decade of home-building, which has broadly been focused in established areas.
As The Current wrote in 2023, the McKee Peak plan is a legacy of old promises to developers who control much of the land on the mountain. But the plan has also generated concern and opposition from trail groups and a nearby First Nation. After procedural errors, threats of lawyers, and opposition from Sumas First Nation, council unanimously adopted the plan in June of 2023. But it has taken two years for developers to submit the first proposal to develop a major chunk of land in the area.
Related
Need to Know
🚓 A woman was arrested and charged in connection with an attack that left a victim with severe burns [CTV]
🚛 A dump truck struck and killed an Abbotsford man working as a surveyor on Highway 7 near Mission [CBC] / After racist comments were made on a Mission RCMP Facebook post about the incident, the Mounties urged people to act appropriately (they also clarified the driver was white) [Mission Record]
📽️ Now that the Cottonwood 4 Cinemas have been sold, the Chilliwack Independent Film Festival will take place at Galaxy Cinemas in October [CIFF]
🚨 Abbotsford Mounties asked for help to find a missing 13-year-old boy who was last seen near Mill Lake. The boy has now been located. [Abbotsford News]
🚒 A suspicious fire in downtown Chilliwack destroyed multiple businesses [CTV]
🔥 Mission has banned open burning across the community [City of Mission]
💰️ Langley Township’s council has approved another $109 million in borrowing to fund a variety of infrastructure projects [Langley Advance Times]
🏫 An event held at a Mission school was larger than expected, leading to complaints and ‘multiple cases of public urination and defecation’ [Mission Public Schools]
👉 BC’s representative for children says the government hasn’t done enough to address the failures that led to the death of an 11-year-old Fraser Valley boy who was tortured by his foster parents [The Tyee]
📷️ Abbotsford’s Gur Sikh Temple is hosting an exhibition of historic photographs by Chandra Bodalia [Abbotsford News]
🟩 A Mission councillor says energy efficiency rules are hurting business owners in older buildings [Mission Record]
👮 Police have asked for the public’s help to figure out what happened to four different climbers who have disappeared in the Chilliwack area over the past decade [RCMP]
📷 Congrats to Sterling, who was first to identify the Yarrow Eco Village as the site of Wednesday’s Current Cam.
🪕 Come Find Your Folk! Mission Folk Music Festival, July 25-27, Fraser River Heritage Park. Experience a festival bursting with brilliant tunes, family fun and more!*
*Sponsored Listing
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SPONSORED BY BC DAIRY
From barn to bistro: one farmer’s mission
Russell Reitsema isn’t just milking cows—he’s reshaping how we think about food. A third-generation dairyman with a sharp mind and an open heart, Reitsema runs Westview Dairy in Abbotsford, where the days start early, the work is steady, and the mission runs deep. He’s teamed up with chefs like Ned Bell to connect what happens on the farm with what lands on your plate. “We grow it, they plate it,” he says. “Together, we make it matter.” Whether he’s feeding calves or hosting The Modern Rustic podcast, Reitsema is driven by one thing: real connection—from the soil to the table. Read his story here.
The Agenda
At a May event, a Cleanfarms employee showed how plastics are baled in preparation for recycling. 📷 FVRD
Agri-waste program begins
A program that allows farmers to recycle their excess plastic has finally been launched across the region.
BC farms produce more than 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year. But recycling the waste is costly and expensive and has received limited provincial support. The Fraser Valley Regional District started a pilot project in 2010 with provincial money, but when it ended in 2012, many farmers returned to burying or burning plastic.
As The Current reported last year, Agassiz farmers have worked to keep recycling alive, forming their own organization, while continuing to advocate for a larger program.
Last year, the FVRD signed a deal with the province and recycling company Cleanfarms to start a new program. It kicked off in May at an Agassiz farm already working to recycle its plastic. The first year will see the program focus on expanding from Agassiz to dairy farms in Rosedale and Chilliwack. The FVRD says other farms across the region will be allowed to join in later years.
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As part of a membership, you get our special weekend roundup of all the things you might’ve missed each week!
🗓 Things to do
BBQ and cars: The Barn Burner BBQ & Car Show takes place Saturday from 10am to 4pm at 4540 Simmons Rd. in Chilliwack. Admission is $10, though kids under 12 are free. Details online.
Stock car racing: The Agassiz Speedway hosts stock car racing Saturday starting at 6pm. Details online.
Shakespearean comedy: The Chilliwack Cultural Centre hosts Something Rotten, a Shakespeare-influnced musical comedy, July 18, 19, 25 and 26. Tickets and details online.
That’s it!
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