Two decades of change: Langley

This is one of a series of articles using satellite imagery to chart the changing face of Fraser Valley communities—and the land on which they sit. These images are best seen using a computer or tablet. You can click each image for a larger version.

Part 1: Abbotsford

If you want to learn about how to use online tools to explore changes across the Fraser Valley, please become an Insider Member. When the series concludes, Tyler will give members a step-by-step guide to how they can use the same techniques to survey changes in their neighbourhood, or across the world. Become an insider here.

The incredible recent growth in Langley is strikingly apparent and on a scale seen nowhere else not only in the Fraser Valley, but in BC as a whole.

But different parts of the community have undergone different types of change—and at different rates

Fort Langley

The densely packed Bedford Landing development is the most obvious change in Fort Langley since the above 2006 image was taken. Like some other communities with a small town vibe, major change has come slowly to Fort Langley.

But the above image shows the expanded runway at Fort Langley Airport, the newly constructed salishan Place by the River, and expansions to the Brae Island RV park. The left-most small circle is a new, but relatively small, commercial building. The fact that it sticks out says something about the relative slow pace of change in the area.

Golden Ears Bridge

The Golden Ears Bridge was the largest, most-impactful Langley-area infrastructure project in the last 20 years. The images underscore the transformative scale of building a new Fraser River crossing—and how that crossing is at a particular wide point of the river’s path.

North Langley

The area just south of the bridge has seen significant change since the bridge’s building. Most obviously, Golden Ears Way and its 200 St/201 St interchange transformed the area’s streets. But the area also saw dramatic industrial growth, along with new housing developments.

In the top-right corner, Costco dramatically expanded its distribution centre. New industrial buildings were constructed on vacant land (bottom left and bottom right). And near the new junction, Vitrium Glass Group built a major new facility on what had once been one of the many parking and storage lots in the area. That building illustrates a key transformation in the area: the intensification of industrial land. While politicians have warned the region is running out of industrial land, companies and landowners have been turning parking and storage lots into building sites. Of course that has had a trickle down effect of making it harder for truck drivers to find places to store their vehicles.

South Langley City

Langley City has seen comparably little growth in the last two decades. Its 203 St intersections at 56 Ave and 53 Ave are among the most notable changes. But the region has also seen the gradual densification of formally single-family neighbourhoods. Townhouses have been built in many areas, though the Legacy on Park Avenue apartments also stick out.

On the left side of the above image, more industrial development has taken place, though those new buildings rest in Surrey, not Langley City.

Willoughby

Finally, there’s Willoughby. We’ve zoomed way out in this image and haven’t bothered with the circles because, frankly, the transformation is obvious and the scale massive. Thousands upon thousands of homes have transformed the area, replacing small hobby farms and single-family houses.

Gordon Estate

Zooming in just to the south of the above image, we can look at the Gordon Estate area. By 2006, when the bulk of Willoughby development had not yet started, this area was already neck-deep in its building boom, with many neighbourhoods just being finished.

The image above, though, shows the completion of RC Garnett Park in the middle of the area. But it also shows that development comes at different paces to different areas, with building only now beginning—or not yet begun—on large swaths of area. That also suggests that Langley has a long way to go before its population rise begins to slow.