March 20, 2023 edition — New bus routes will funnel Langley residents to SkyTrain

Mon, Mar 20, 2023 | Today: 🌧 High 11C, Low 5C | 7-day forecast

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NEWS

Modified bus routes will funnel Langley commuters (but not Abbotsford ones) to new SkyTrain station

Some bus routes will be reconfigured to accommodate the new Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. But there are no plans for a direct bus connection for riders travelling from Abbotsford, Chilliwack and other Fraser Valley communities.

Once operational, the new 203 Street in Langley City is expected to be the busiest on the new extension, executive director of the project Jennifer McLean told both the Langley City and township councils recently. The 152 Street station in Surrey and the 196 Street station in the township are also expected to be particularly busy.

Today, Joti writes about the station designs, a pending environmental review, and how local bus routes will (and will not) be reconfigured to accommodate transit users.

Need to know

🚍 Bus drivers are escalating their strike, halting bus service indefinitely in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission and the Fraser Valley’s smaller communities begnning today; handyDART service will still run [BC Transit]

🚔 A spike belt was used on Highway 1 early Sunday morning to stop a car driven by a prolific offender [Global]

🚨 A disturbing fraud targeting youth includes texts supposedly coming from The Fraser Health Child Abuse and Neglect – Maple Ridge Services; it’s a scam [Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre)

🔊 Chilliwack’s school board has censured trustee Heather Maahs over comments made at a meeting [CityNews]

🏥 A new Health Centre will be built on Lougheed Highway and be operated by Sts’ailes First Nation [BC Government]

👉 A Langley home was vandalized with anti-Ukrainian graffiti for a second time [Global]

⚖ Clients of BigSteelBox’s Sumas Prairie operation are suing over damage from the 2021 floods [Abbotsford News]

💰 Langley Township says the rezoning of eight suburban lots for industrial uses will net it $22.3 million [Township of Langley]

✍ Harrison Hot Springs council has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a resident it accuses of posting ‘derogatory’ comments [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

The Agenda

Mission considers policy that would allow Pride Flag to fly

Mission’s council will consider Monday whether to change its flag policy that could pave the way for the city to fly the Progress Pride Flag this year.

Last year, the city rejected a request to fly the flag, with council pointing to unclear policies about when flags are flown. Instead, the city put the flag on display at the Mission Leisure Centre during pride week. Staff, meanwhile, began reviewing the policy. (The “Progress Pride Flag” is a version of the rainbow pride flag, with the addition of several arrows representing transgender people and marginalized communities of colour)

Now, staff have completed that review and council will have the chance to greenlight a new policy that would govern the flying of flags at city facilities. Council has been given three options: 1) fly only the municipal, national and provincial flag; 2) also raise flags in recognition of a “nationally recognized holiday or event” like the poppy flag at City Hall; or 3) consider all written requests to raise flags.

Politicians in other municipalities have suggested that a policy that would allow a pride flag might also force a city to fly flags for unseemly causes. But the pride flag-friendly Mission policy to be considered by council states that the city would “not display flags supporting discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, political or religious movements, or commercial entities.”

At its Monday meeting, council will also consider renaming Mission’s “Freeman Award” to the “Freedom of the City Award” to make the honour gender neutral, along with proposed new subdivisions on Wilson Street, Dewdney Trunk Road, and Turnbridge Avenue. You can see the entire agenda here.

FVC a finalist for National Newspaper Award

Fraser Valley Current managing editor Tyler Olsen has been named a finalist for a National Newspaper Award. Tyler is a finalist in the Explanatory Work category for his stories last year on the Nooksack River’s geologic history and the complicated politics of its flooding. You can read The Life and Times of the Nooksack River here, and a follow-up piece on how political choices and complications here. The Current is one of only two non-newspaper publications up for an award (The Narwhal is the other) and the only newsletter-based publication.

The others nominated in the category are The Globe and Mail’s Kathryn Blaze Baum, for a piece on the impact of rising temperatures on the human body, and La Presse’s Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot, for an analysis of immigration numbers in Quebec.

Vancouver Sun reporter—and Abbotsford resident—Glenda Luymes is a finalist in two categories: for Project of the Year and best Indigenous Issues-Climate Change project, for her work on an investigation into the disaster readiness of BC communities.

The winners will be announced at an awards gala in Toronto in early May. You can find links to all the pieces here.

Langley City council to consider policy to help developers recover costs

Langley City council will consider a policy during Monday’s meeting that will allow developers to recover costs from other developers for infrastructure that benefits multiple sites.

Developers can be required by the city to construct infrastructure that can benefit their development but also future sites. At Monday’s council meeting staff will present a report to council outlining a new latecomer policy that would allow developers to get paid back when other builders follow in their footsteps.

The meeting will also include presentations from the TransLink CEO about the agency’s 10-year plan and from HUB Cycling about the Glover Road protected bike lane.

Also, for her 32 years of service on council, Gayle Martin will be granted the city’s highest honour: Freedom of the City of Langley. View Monday's agenda here.

Around town

THIS WEEK

🍿 The Abbotsford Recreation Centre will be screening Luca and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 tonight for just $2. Register online.

🎵 Quebecois folk band Le Vent du Nord will play a concert at the Clarke Theatre in Mission on Monday. More information and tickets available online.

🎲 Boardwalk Cafe and Games is hosting a kids Dungeons and Dragons Day camp all this week for children aged eight to 14 of all skill levels. Details online.

🪗 Say “bonjour” to Festival du Bois, March 24-26 in Coquitlam’s Mackin Park. Come for great music and dance, shows for kids and so much more!*

COMING UP

💐 The Bradner Flower Show takes place April 14 to 16 from 10am to 4pm. Proceeds from cut flower sales will be donated to the Abbotsford Regional Hospital. More online. (The Current wrote about the history of one of the longest-running events in the Fraser Valley, read that story here.)

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