Wednesday - July 9, 2025 - Mission council reverses course on city hall plan

🌧 High 20C

Good morning!

Humans have a strange relationship towards ponds. Or maybe I do. I love a good wetland or pond. Even when it’s totally unnatural—as in my hometown of Vernon. Seventy years ago, city officials were worried about a creek that often flooded the city’s main downtown park. To try to lessen the threat, they turned the creek into a deep, cement-lined canal of sorts. They also created a large pond, again with concrete banks. For a kid, it was a wonder. The pond was home to all sorts of birds and ducks, and people even fished in it occasionally.

This year, the city demolished the pond as part of a “re-naturalization” project. They will try to restore the original creek to better support local fish stocks. They also noted that the idea to pen in a creek with concrete can actually aggravate flooding because water doesn’t naturally seep into the ground.

Having studied flood behaviour more than a little since 2021, these moves all make sense. They are based on the same principles as some of the work done along the Vedder River in Chilliwack. And yet, I can’t help mourning the loss of Vernon’s urban pond. There is something about a bit of open water in a city setting that feels particularly special and bucolic in a way that a simple creek does not. Even if the pond is completely artificial.

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

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🛣 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

‘Relatively unstoppable’

Sasha Anzulovich’s ankles went numb. She was a teen, and worried that no one would believe her if she told them. But something had to be done. She couldn’t move her feet and soon began to have issues with her sight.

In 2012, Anzulovich was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic and unpredictable disease that affects the body’s nervous system.

Today, a little more than a decade later, Anzulovich is a Langley realtor and body builder who can bench press 300 pounds. But her journey has not been smooth. After managing to keep the disease from progressing, a car accident last year triggered her MS and caused her to lose mobility. Although she can now walk again, she is dealing with the treatment that stops MS from progressing.

But she is resilient.

“I am relatively unstoppable, I can still get the job done,” she said.

Now she is hoping that her experience with fitness and body building can help others with the disease, thanks to a fundraiser she is holding this summer.

• Today, Grace chats with Sasha Anzulovich about her journey with MS, and how body building helped her give back to her community.

Related

Need to Know

💦 A new splash pad in Abbotsford won’t be completed this year [Abbotsford News]

🚔 A 48-year-old man was hospitalized after a shooting in Langley Monday afternoon [CityNews]

🚓 A stolen truck was found shot up on a Mission-area forest service road [Mission Record]

👉 A camper says more than a dozen vehicles were broken into in Manning Park [Hope Standard]

👏 Agassiz’s legion is celebrating its 100th year [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🏊‍♂️ An impaired driver who crashed his car Sunday evening attempted to flee police by backstroking across the Sumas Canal [CTV]

⚽ The 2026 World Cup will shut down Supreme Court trials at courthouses in Abbotsford and Chilliwack for nearly a month next year [Global]

🧓 BC badly needs more long-term care homes, the CEO of the Langley Care Society says [Langley Advance Times]

🐻 A black bear was spotted at UFV’s Abbotsford campus Monday [Abbotsford News]

🚧 Aldergrove’s redeveloped town centre development is almost complete [Aldergrove Star]

👉 A Chilliwack high school student has created a low-cost wrestling camp for kids, but they still need more financial support [Chilliwack Progress]

🎉 Free live music, an artisan market, Children's Day, evening concerts and more at the Harrison Festival of the Arts. July 11-20. Check it out!*

*Sponsored Listing

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The Agenda

Mission backtracks on city hall plan

Mission council has made an about-face on its plans to borrow money to finance the acquisition of a new city hall.

In the face of significant public opposition, council voted unanimously Monday to scrap plans to buy a new three-storey building for $25 million. Last week, Mayor Paul Horn said the building was the best possible solution to a lack of space for city staff. But the issue had sparked angry rhetoric online, and more than a hundred residents had rallied before council’s Monday meeting.

“It’s our responsibility to try and solve problems but not to do it on our own,” Horn said at Monday’s meeting. “You really do have to, at the end of the day, put something before the community, and then listen. And that’s what has happened here.”

Coun. Jag Gill said that while the municipality does need to find space for additional staff, the purchase of the city hall building wasn’t the right long-term solution.

“No one was arguing city hall was running out of space,” Gill said. “People were concerned of the plan that was put forward. There were too many holes in that plan.”

The meeting was held in a council chambers packed with the plan’s opponents. Horn and his colleagues spoke about the heated comments left on social media.

“One of the things that did disturb me in some of the comments was the suggestion that this was somehow an ego project or a self-interest project for myself or others,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe people have lost faith entirely in their community leaders. I could see why when I look at the news these days.”

He continued: "I don’t have any interest in being anything other than a good community servant. I don’t think anybody else up here does either, and I’m sorry if people have done something to give you a different impression.”

A plan to borrow more than $30 million to finance the construction of a new fire hall and public safety building is also now up in the air. Council voted to let the public veto the project through a process that will mimic the “alternate approval process” used in place of a referendum in other communities. If 10% sign a petition against the project, council will scrap its plans.

For more, you can read the Mission Record’s story here.

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🗓 Things to do

Nature Days: The Hope Recreation Centre hosts its Family Nature Days, with events and activities for kids aged four to 12 and their families, the second Saturday (July 12) of each month until September. The free event runs from 9 to 11am. Details online.

Pride history: The Chilliwack Pride Society and the Chilliwack Museum and Archives are partnering to find out more about Chilliwack’s queer history today from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Two-spirit, trans, and queer Chilliwack residents are invited to share their memories of living in Chilliwack, and loan personal artifacts for the upcoming exhibition. Details online.

Park music: The Morning Glories & Thistle Dew perform at Fraser River Heritage Park as part of Mission’s weekly twilight concert series. Details online.

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Catch up

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